The Train (1964)
Country: US
Technical: bw 140m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Synopsis:
During the closing days of WW2 a railway controller in charge of a Resistance cell is reluctantly enlisted to hamstring a German officer's determination to spirit away French art treasures ahead of the Allied advance.
Review:
Unusual subject matter, superb ensemble playing and a documentary feel for location and milieu mark this war film out as a unique piece of work. Unsurprisingly, for the film lionizes the French Resistance, the producers benefited from considerable state cooperation - and a band of French acting personnel (whose English is not always easy to catch). The payoff lies in the detail of the railway sequences, and the use of full scale trains, even for (most of) the air raid. Frankenheimer brings his mobile camera to bear, with some wonderful Dutch angles, and Lancaster is at his grimly implacable best.
Country: US
Technical: bw 140m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Synopsis:
During the closing days of WW2 a railway controller in charge of a Resistance cell is reluctantly enlisted to hamstring a German officer's determination to spirit away French art treasures ahead of the Allied advance.
Review:
Unusual subject matter, superb ensemble playing and a documentary feel for location and milieu mark this war film out as a unique piece of work. Unsurprisingly, for the film lionizes the French Resistance, the producers benefited from considerable state cooperation - and a band of French acting personnel (whose English is not always easy to catch). The payoff lies in the detail of the railway sequences, and the use of full scale trains, even for (most of) the air raid. Frankenheimer brings his mobile camera to bear, with some wonderful Dutch angles, and Lancaster is at his grimly implacable best.
Country: US
Technical: bw 140m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Synopsis:
During the closing days of WW2 a railway controller in charge of a Resistance cell is reluctantly enlisted to hamstring a German officer's determination to spirit away French art treasures ahead of the Allied advance.
Review:
Unusual subject matter, superb ensemble playing and a documentary feel for location and milieu mark this war film out as a unique piece of work. Unsurprisingly, for the film lionizes the French Resistance, the producers benefited from considerable state cooperation - and a band of French acting personnel (whose English is not always easy to catch). The payoff lies in the detail of the railway sequences, and the use of full scale trains, even for (most of) the air raid. Frankenheimer brings his mobile camera to bear, with some wonderful Dutch angles, and Lancaster is at his grimly implacable best.