X
- 1965
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 13 m
- 1965
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 13 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: John Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn
- 1965
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 13 m
- 1965
- Approved
- United Artists
- 2 h 13 m
The Train
80
8.5
Summary 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.
Directed By: John Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
80
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
80
94% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Paul Scofield contributes a telling performance as an art-obsessed German officer who cares more about Monet than the lives of his men. [20 Jul 2002, p.E01]
Set in mid-1944 France, it's a contest of wills between a Resistance railway inspector and a smooth Nazi general (Quiz Show's Paul Scofield) over purloined French art treasures. Filmed on location, often in inhumanly cold weather, the film eschewed the use of railcar models - running real trains into each other and off the track when the script frequently calls for it. [30 Sep 1994, p.3D]
One of director John Frankenheimer’s best nail-biters of the ’60s, a gritty, realistic war flick in which Burt Lancaster and a host of terrific French character actors try to keep an obsessed Nazi colonel (Paul Scofield) from shipping a bunch of plundered masterpieces to Germany.
A superior WWII film that provides plenty of edge-of-the-seat thrills, THE TRAIN also poses a rather serious philosophical question: is the preservation of art worth a human life?
In Frankenheimer's hands, the whole paraphernalia of trains, tracks and shunting yards acquires an almost hypnotic fascination as the screen becomes a giant chessboard on which huge metallic pawns are manoeuvred, probing for some fatal weakness but seemingly engaged in some deadly primeval struggle.
In simplifying the stakes, narrowing the focus, giving us a fixed villain, and shooting in “WWII period piece” black and white, Frankenheimer gives us a riveting ride through a war fought over values and fundamental freedoms — among them, the freedom to create, value and appreciate whatever artistic expression you choose, and not just the oompah music, idealized landscapes and muscular propaganda of the tasteless goons in charge.
Reasonably entertaining, if too long and too literal.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 4 User Ratings
8.5
100% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 4 User Ratings
8.5
100% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Les Films Ariane,
Les Productions Artistes Associés,
Dear Film Produzione,
Polyphony Digital,
United Artists,
Vides Cinematografica
Release Date Mar 7, 1965
Duration 2 h 13 m
Rating Approved
Tagline They bombed it. They strafed it. Sabotaged it. Cursed the train!
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
National Board of Review, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Nomination
