The Train

Burt Lancaster as a French Resistance fighter trying to stop a German train with stolen art

Paris is on the verge of liberation from Nazi occupation in 1944, so a German colonel (Paul Scofield) loads a train with a priceless cargo of French paintings to take to Germany, which Resistance fighters led by engineer Labiche (Burt Lancaster) are intent on stopping. Jeanne Moreau is on hand as a hotel owner.

The Train (1964) is a B&W war picture with the unconventional tone of contemporaneous WW2 films The Young Lions (1958), 36 Hours (1964) and Morituri (1965). The story starts slow, but becomes increasingly compelling with lots of non-CGI carnage involving tracks and trains. The last act is creative and leaves you with the question: ...

Great war suspense-thriller from John Frankenheimer. Heard of this one but never got around to checking it out, just excellent from beginning to end, not to mention wonderful use of sound design along with Maurice Jarre's score. Performances all around were great, especially Paul Scofield. Surprising to see it didn't receive more Oscar love outside of the writing. 4.5/5

I think this might be my favourite Burt Lancaster role, as he leads the French resistance through an ethical maelstrom involving a trainload of looted artworks. It's "Col. Von Waldheim" (Paul Scofield) who manages to coax and cajole his Göring-fearing superiors into allowing him to load up a train with priceless artefacts and convey them to safety in Germany. The Nazis are starting to lose the war, though, and their logistics are stretched to the point where he basically has to lie to get his train packed and moving. "Labiche" (Lancaster) is in charge of the railway station and is generally charged with thwarting the activities of their occupiers - be here he sees merit in letting this train depart. He decides that maybe it can be diverted ...