The Train (1964)

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Franklin Coen (screen story) and
Frank Davis (screen story) ...

Release Date:

7 March 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | War | Action

Tagline:

It carried their hopes, their nation's honour!

Plot:

In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Art | Sabotage | Painting | Nazi

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Labiche
Paul Scofield	...	Von Waldheim
Jeanne Moreau	...	Christine
Suzanne Flon	...	Mlle Villard
Michel Simon	...	Papa Boule
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Herren
Albert Rémy	...	Didont (as Albert Remy)
Charles Millot	...	Pesquet
Richard Münch	...	Von Lubitz (as Richard Munch)
Jacques Marin	...	Jacques
Paul Bonifas	...	Spinet
Jean Bouchaud	...	Schmidt
Donald O'Brien	...	Schwartz (as Donal O'Brien)
Jean-Pierre Zola	...	Octave
Arthur Brauss	...	Pilzer (as Art Brauss)

Also Known As:

Il treno (Italy)
John Frankenheimer's The Train (USA) (complete title)
Le train (France)
El tren (Argentina) (Mexico) (Spain) [es]
Der Zug (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
A vonat (Hungary) [hu]
Juna (Finland) [fi]
O Comboio (Portugal) [pt]
O Trem (Brazil) [pt]
Tåget (Sweden) [sv]
To traino (Greece) [el]
Toget (Norway) [no]
Toget (Denmark) [da]
Tren (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Trenul (Romania) [ro]

Runtime:

133 min | UK:140 min

Country:

USA | France | Italy

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1965) | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Acquigny, Calvados, France

Company:

Dear Film Produzione

Trivia:

The air raid on the yards was filmed at Gargenville yard, outside Paris. More than 50 people under Lee Zavitz needed six weeks to plant and wire all the charges, which were blown up in less than a minute.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Once the train starts on its run to Germany, it passes through all the stations without stopping (except briefly at "St. Avold" for the phone call). In reality, the steam locomotive would have had to stop at occasionally to take on water.

Quotes:

Miss Villard: I knew of books being burned, other things... I was terrified that these would be lost.
Colonel von Waldheim: A book is worth a few francs; we Germans can afford to destroy those. We all may not appreciate artistic merit, but cash value is another matter.
Miss Villard: You won't convince me that you're cynical. I know what these paintings mean to you.
Colonel von Waldheim: You are a perceptive woman.
[Schmidt enters, with several other soldiers.]
Colonel von Waldheim: We're removing the paintings. Pack them carefully.
Miss Villard: Where are you taking them?!
Colonel von Waldheim: To a safe place.
Miss Villard: But no place is as safe as Paris!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

An intense suspense War drama from the beginning to the end…

The big star of Frankenheimer's film is the train itself... And the plot is based on the characteristic of railroads—engines and cars all over the tracks, cabs and steam—all shown on enough detail to keep the viewer in great suspense… The aerial strike shots are also wonderfully taken…

The film begins in Paris, August 2, 1944…

It's 1511th day of German occupation… The liberation of Paris seems very close…

Nazi Colonel Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) decides suddenly to remove by train to Germany the best of Impressionist masterpieces… His objective is clear: "Money is a weapon. The contents are as negotiable as gold and more valuable."

Mademoiselle Villard (Suzanne Flon) informs the Resistance of the shipment…The Resistance reaction is to stop the train without damaging the national heritage… "They are part of France." But stopping the train is not a simple task… You can get killed especially if you are French and the train is German…

Labiche (Burt Lancaster), the Chief Inspector of the French Railway System, is not impressed… However, he never communicates his political, ideological, or nationalistic convictions, "For certain things, we take the risk," he said; "but I won't waste lives on paintings."

When an aged engineer, Papa Boule (Michel Simon), is accused of sabotage in spite of saving the train through the Allied's bombs at the risk of his own life, Labiche is forced into combat…

It begins with a long sequence where an armament train and the art train are both trying to leave the yard in the morning… As they are being moved back and forth across the tracks, the viewer knows that British planes will hit the yard in that moment at exactly 10:00 o'clock…

New complications are introduced, but the central conflict always returns to an obsessive art lover against a man with no appreciation for art… Labiche's only concerns is to slow down the Nazis keeping himself and his compatriots alive…

Now, two forces control the film… The first is Frankenheimer's cleverness to choreograph the real trains… Frankenheimer and his cinematographers capture the heat of the engines, the noise and sound of the cars in motion, the fault in the oil line, the crushing strength implicated when the machines come into collision and the derailment… The second force is Lancaster, the "headache" of the fanatical obsessed Colonel whose desire is to see the priceless paintings in Nazi Germany...