THE TRAIN Movie Review

Le Train
Il Treno

1965 John Frankenheimer

Though John Frankenheimer's fine suspense film doesn't have the strong cult following of The Manchurian Candidate, it is every bit as enjoyable, with a dirtier, more realistic atmosphere. The key plot twists are based on the physical characteristics of railroads—engines and tracks, cars and switches—all shown in enough detail to keep the viewer informed. On a purely technical level, the film deserves comparison with Hitchcock's best.

In August 1944, as the German occupation of Paris is about to end, Col. Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) decides to appropriate dozens of Impressionist masterpieces from a museum and ship them back to Germany. Miss Villard (Suzanne Flon), the museum's curator, alerts a Resistance cell to the plan. The group's leader Labiche (Burt Lancaster) is a railway inspector and so is in a position to do something. But he states flatly, “I won't waste lives on paintings” and it is difficult to argue with him. Miss Villard claims that the paintings are part of their cultural heritage, the priceless “glory of France.” Labiche is not impressed. He won't ask men to risk their lives for so much dried pigment.

When a grizzled old engineer, Boule (Michel Simon), takes over on his own, Labiche is forced into some kind of action. It begins with a long sequence where an armaments train and the art train are both trying to leave the yards at Vaires. As they are being shuttled across tracks, the viewer knows that a British bombing raid is moments away. New complications are introduced whenever the pace flags, but the central conflict always returns to Labiche and Von Waldheim. The German's motivations do not change. He is obsessed by the art. Labiche is always more interested in the human cost. He'll sacrifice the paintings to save lives, though he seldom has such a simple choice.

Two forces drive the film. The first is Frankenheimer's ability to choreograph the actual trains. No miniature models were used. All of the filming was done on location with real railroad equipment. Frankenheimer and cinematographers Jean Tournier and Walter Wottitz capture the hulking size and heat of the engines, the noise and sway of the cars in motion, and the crushing power involved when the machines collide.

The second force is Burt Lancaster. At 51, he did his own stunts, and he handles them with an athletic grace that few actors of any age have ever possessed. Most of the critical action sequences are filmed in long, unforgiving takes. Notice the scene where he slides down the ladder at the Switch Tower and then later, another long single shot in the machine shops when he casts a bearing. This is certainly not his most complex dramatic work, nor does it demand the flashy gymnastics of such earlier films as Trapeze and The Crimson Pirate, but it is a physically demanding role, unusually so.

The film can be criticized for going too far with its contrived plot, but Frankenheimer and Lancaster ground the heroics so firmly in a real setting that the outlandishness of it all becomes apparent only after the closing credits have rolled. The Train is simply one of the best.

Cast: Burt Lancaster (Labiche), Paul Scofield (Col. Von Waldheim), Jeanne Moreau (Christine), Michel Simon (Papa Boule), Suzanne Flon (Miss Villard), Wolfgang Preiss (Maj. Herren), Albert Remy (Didont), Charles Millot (Pesquet), Jacques Marin (Jacques), Donald O'Brien (Schwartz), Jean-Pierre Zola (Octave), Arthur Brauss (Pilzer), Howard Vernon (Capt. Dietrich), Richard Munch (Gen. Von Lubitz), Paul Bonifas (Spinet), Jean-Claude Bercq (Major); Written by: Frank Davis, Walter Bernstein, Franklin Coen; Cinematography by: Jean Tournier, Walter Wottitz; Music by: Maurice Jarre. Producer: United Artists, Jules Bricken. French, Italian. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards ‘65: Best Story & Screenplay. Running Time: 133 minutes. Format: VHS, LV, Letterbox, DVD.