During the last days of the German occupation of Paris, Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield), an art-obsessed German colonel, arranges to steal all of the city’s great art treasures and send them by train to Berlin.
When the French Resistance learns of the plan, French railway engineer Labiche (Burt Lancaster) is ordered to stop the train.
Not wishing to risk lives or the paintings – which are part of the French national heritage – Labiche concocts an elaborate scheme to keep the train in France.
Both Labiche and Von Waldheim become obsessed with their missions.
The Train begins with a dedication “to those French railwaymen, alive and dead, whose magnificent spirit and whose courage inspired this story”.
The film also seems a tribute to Lancaster’s athletic prowess. He leaps over walls and on and off trains. Even when he’s shot in the leg he moves faster than anyone else in the mostly genuine French cast.
The fast-paced action is very well handled by John Frankenheimer, replacing Arthur Penn after several days shooting.
Real trains, not models, were used throughout, with multiple cameras catching as much action with as few takes as possible. During one crash sequence, a locomotive came in too fast and destroyed six of seven cameras at one blow.
The film also raises the question of whether any work of art is worth anyone’s life.
Paul Labiche
Burt Lancaster
Colonel von Waldheim
Paul Scofield
Christine
Jeanne Moreau
Papa Boule
Michel Simon
Mademoiselle Villard
Suzanne Flon
Major Herren
Wolfgang Preiss
Didont
Albert Rémy
Pesquet
Charles Millot
General von Lubitz
Richard Münch
Jacques
Jacques Marin
Spinet
Paul Bonifas
Captain Schmidt
Jean Bouchaud
Sergeant Schwartz
Donal O’Brien
Octave
Jean-Pierre Zola
Lieutenant Pilzer
Arthur Brauss
Captain Dietrich
Howard Vernon
Sergeant Grote
Richard Bailey
Robert
Christian Fuin
Tauber
Christian Remy
Gestapo chief
Max Fromm
Hubert
Jacques Blot
Bernard
Bernard Lajarrige
Director
John Frankenheimer
