Good movie. Great train. Good adventure. I have not seen it before.
I assume you refer to the Burt Lancaster movie about the French railways in WW II? I have it on video and enjoy it from time to time but I also saw it in the theater when it was new. I love that movie and there are some great performances by esteemed character actors in it.
Dave Nelson
Hadn’t heard of it but I’ll look for it.
underworld[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
Art–
Absolutely TERRIFIC film! I’ve got the DVD with commentary by the director, John Frankenheimer, and his comments on exactly how they made the film are fascinating. There is not a model in it, all those trains are the real thing, and the suspense is incredible. One of my all-time favorite WWII adventures, and one of the best ‘train’ movies ever made by anyone!
Tom
Those wreck scenes are masterfully done especially so in pre CGFX days. Another one of my favorites is Von Ryan’s Express, 1965 Frank Sinatra; James Brolin.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059885/
Thanks, ED
I have given up trying to watch this movie. Over the past 7 or 8 years, (or possibly longer), I have watched the first half of the movie 3 times only to have it interrupted at about the half way mark each time by a power failure. By the time the power came back on, the movie was over. Another time, we got home just in time to catch the final 10 or 12 minutes of the show when we turned the TV on.
I am certain that a Higher Power does not want me to watch this movie in its entirety for reasons know only to Him.
The parts of the movie that I have seen though, I thought were very entertaining.
Blue Flamer.
Knew it was coming on but in the rush of a few other things I completely forgot about it - I periodically google the title to get a reading on next TV appearance. My favorite “train” film - great photography; the black and white gives such a strong sense of somberness to the story’s theme - Shindler’s List was done up the same way.
Von Ryan’s Express has some great (night) photography scenes but the plot is a little inane - reminds me of a runaway dump truck wending it’s way through rush hour traffic with the cops running interference for it.
its on the DVR for this weekends movie night [:D]
The first time I saw 'The Train’ was in June of 1969. Considering I was an 8 year old train nut, this was a must see! The part with the bombing of the rail yard was particularly fascinating and cost the film company almost nothing to do. It seems that the French had a rail yard that needed to be demolished and a certain film producer found out about it and worked out a deal with the demolition crew.
TCM ran it last night - what a great movie. The black & white gave it depth that would have been lost in color. Papa Boule was my favorite character - very believable and he never backed down. I gotta get this on DVD.
This film is enough to convert anyone to the virtues of European steam. Papa Boule’s last words were, if I recall correctly, “three francs are three francs” – fatal last words
The shot of Burt Lancaster virtually diving down from the yard tower are a good reminder that before he became an actor, he was one of America’s finest and most famous acrobats.
I seem to recall reading that some camera men were badly hurt making that film – especially the scenes were the camera is RIGHT THERE at the point of a derailment.
Dave Nelson
Four Francs are four Francs.
I don’t know where you read that, but it’s incorrect. The camera positions at the points of the derailments were unmanned cameras. The only person that really got hurt was Burt Lancaster. He had an old knee injury that became aggravated. Instead of stopping production to let it heal a bit, it was written into the script. Remember the part when he was shot in the leg on the bridge? That was the rewrite.
I got a double treat last night. The Train was was on Channel 64, while Modern Marvels : Freight Train was on Channel 63!
I kpet switching back to The Train whenever MM was on break then once it ended I watched the rest.
I would have watched one and recorded the other, then watched it afterward.
I taped it & will watch it this weekend. Have seen it before & it is A+ at least in my book
An interesting historical sidelight on that movie is that the 4-6-0s shown were actually built for the Prussian State Rys. before WWI, and came to France as part of Germany’s war reparations for that conflict. These German-built engines were actually still serving on French railways during the German occupation of WWII.
So long,
Andy
I always liked that movie. I believe it is at least based in part on a true story. Jeanne Moreau looked a lot like my mother, but my mother would have been out there with a gun shooting Nazis. I still can’t get too turned on by “puny” European" steam.
Jeff–
What fascinated me about that incredible railyard scene was the way they kept switching the locomotive to interfere with running out the armored loco from the shop. Really intricate. I loved the German officer’s pipe under the one control, LOL! OOPS!
BTW, the man responsible for ‘blowing up’ the railyard was the same special effects wizard who ‘burned’ Atlanta for Gone With The Wind in 1939. And according to director John Frankenheimer on his commentary on the DVD, the first derailment in the yard (just before the big wreck) wiped out an unmanned Panavision camera, but they were able to salvage the film. Man, that freight car comes right AT you, doesn’t it? I remember my wife actually ducking, the first time we saw it at the theater.
Tom