Movies - The Train

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	Movies - The Train

The Train is a 1964 war movie written by Franklin Coen and Frank Davis, and directed by John Frankenheimer. It starred Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield. The film is based on the factual 1961 book Le front de l'art by Rose Valland, the art historian at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume who documented the works of art placed in storage there that had been looted by the Germans from museums and private art collections throughout France and were being sorted for shipment to Germany.

Set at the end of World War II, the film essentially details the efforts of the French Resistance to prevent a trainload of French art reaching Germany. The art, having been looted by the German Army from French museums is now being shipped out supposedly for it’s monetary value however the officer in charge of the operation, Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is clearly captivated by the art and wants it for his own enjoyment.

After the Germans clean out the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume where the art is stored, the museum keeper Mlle. Villard seeks help from the French Resistance. Given the imminent liberation of Paris by the Allies, they need only delay the train and prevent it reaching German soil for a few days – still an extremely dangerous operation in German-occupied France.

Although the Resistance initially reject the plan (…“we won’t waste lives on paintings”… “don’t you have copies of them?”..), the men have a change of heart after an elderly engineer is killed trying to sabotage the train. It falls to French railroad area inspector Paul Labiche (Burt Lancaster) and his small band of well-connected men who gradually devise increasingly elaborate ruses to divert, reroute, interrupt and incapacitate the train, all the while hoping against hope each day will bring the allies and liberation. Every attempt generally results in varying numbers of executions as von Waldheim becomes increasingly frustrated and maddened by Labiche’s efforts.

The film is an intelligent blend of drama and action and is brilliantly photographed from start to finish. It includes a number of exceptionally filmed sequences, many involving long tracking shots and real locations – a style of filmmaking rarely seen today. Much of the film is photographed using wide angle lenses allowing both foreground and background action to be in focus simultaneously.

Standout scenes include the Vaires railyard bombing sequence; Labiche’s poignant confrontation with Jeanne Moreau’s money-obsessed hotelier; the day-run delivering the engine; and ofcourse the exhilarating night run where the Resistance divert the train south while allowing the Germans to think they are progressing east into Germany, eventually climaxing in a spectacular crash of actual locomotives.

Noteworthy tracking shots to look for are -: Lancaster attempting to flag down a train, then sliding down a ladder, running along the tracks and jumping onto a moving locomotive; Lancaster in the railroad workshops casting pushrod bearings from molten steel right through to installing the finished product on the engine; A scene in which the camera wanders around Nazi offices which are hastily being cleared, eventually focusing on von Waldheim and following him back through the office; A long dolly shot of von Waldheim travelling through a railyard at high speed on a motorbike; Lancaster rolling down a mountain, across a road and staggering down to the railroad track. Frankenheimer notes on his DVD commentary that Lancaster performed the entire roll down the mountain himself, filmed by several cameras at various points along the hillside.

Throughout the film, Frankenheimer often juxtaposes the value of art (or money) versus the value of life and this is what the viewer is left to ponder at the end of an exhaustive journey.

The film is often referred to as “The last great black & white action film”

Artists

At the start of the film, while the credits are running, the boxes of paintings are being loaded. The names of the following artists are spray painted on them, in this order: #Gauguin #Renoir #Van Gogh #Manet #Picasso #Degas #Miro #Cezanne #Matisse #Braque #Seurat #Utrillo

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