Rating: 
Summary: A strangely neglected masterpiece
Review: A strangely neglected masterpiece, which uses black-and-white photography to evoke the WW2 atmosphere (over thirty years before Spielberg used the same trick in 'Schindler's List'), this is a truly compelling piece of film-making. If you're a fan of WW2 action movies, it is unmissable. If you're a fan of steam railways it is also unmissable. If you're a fan of both, put the answerphone on, order in a pizza and prepare yourself for a real treat. The harshness of the Nazi regime and the bravery of the French Resistance are both vividly portrayed in splendid performances by the various cast members. The action scenes are little short of breathtaking. This film deserves classic status.
Rating:
Summary: treasure train
Review: A truly great movie about a french train loaded with stolen art treasure by a German colonel who is attempting to transport the shipment back to Germany. Lancaster turns in a brilliant performance as a railroad worker who sabotages the German's efforts at every turn. It will hold you to the edge of your chair to the very end.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: An engrossing WELL-WRITTEN story (Hollywood, PLEASE take note), excellent cast, superb acting on the part of all the actors (not just the leads), painstaking staging and Frankenheimer's direction blending all these essential elements into a thoroughly enjoyable movie. What can you say about a rousing action movie that also makes you think? You can say it's rarely found in today's films. The primary quandry here is just what is the value of art in terms of the human lives that must be expended to preserve it? Is it truly a country's heritage or just oils on canvas for which the people who will have to die for it have little or no real appreciation? Is it worth saving because of its beauty or its value? And when does the cost of saving it become too high? The movie works on all levels, but the characters (and the actors portraying them) are exceptional. The stand-outs: Burt Lancaster, the yardmaster/resistance leader who really doesn't want to do this one last (and seemingly unimportant) job so close to the end of the war; Paul Scofield, the intense German colonel who loves (obsesses over) the art and is taking Lancaster's attempts to thwart his plans for it very personally; Wolfgang Preiss, the "good German officer" who does not agree with his superior but does his duty until he can do it no more; Jean Moreau, the pragmatic French hotel proprietress who has had to comfort one too many fellow widows and Michel Simon, the old engineer who fondly remembers dating a girl who posed for Renoir and decides to make this fight his own. No one who loves a good movie should miss this film. It's not just for action/war movie fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Very detailed and suspenseful ww2 film.
Review: Based around the French railway men and how they managed to derail NAZI efforts to smuggle french art treasures out of the country before the allied advance. It really is a good movie, don't let the first 5 minutes or so throw you for a loop, it just sets up the main 'evil nazi guy's ' madness.
Rating:
Summary: "All Aboard!"
Review: Bookend this film alongside THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY and one comes to the easy realization that Director John Frankenheimer has captured three of the most riveting, enthrallings, and incredible explorations of human conflict on black-and-white celluloid.I won't trouble you with the typical rehash of the plot here except to add that the screenplay is based on factual events. That isn't to say that Frankenheimer delivers a documentary; instead, he takes a relatively documentary-style approach, throwing in several fictional embellishments as plot intricacies, and he delivers an exuberant twist on a wartime "race against the clock" with only a handful of curious slow moments. THE TRAIN starts slow, much like the vehicle itself, but it reaches full steam quickly and comes to an equally brilliant and disturbing crash-filled climax (in more ways than one) with a statement about the ugliness of human conflict.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome war/action movie!
Review: Burt Lancaster is one of our best action heroes of all time and he surely makes his presence felt in this intense war/action movie, i.e., The Train VHS ~ Burt Lancaster. The stories centers around a shipment of priceless art that is being transported on train heading towards Germany. Lancaster is amazing in his portrayal of the French train operator/resistance fighter. The costume, dialague and setting all have a very authentic feel to it. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The title says it all!
Review: Detail, Detail,Detail. This movie about the great art treasures of France and how the railroad played a role in saving this treasure. The movie focuses on the personalities of the railroad crew and stays "on Track" with giving action illustrations of railroad operations and all that goes with it during "war time" This movie is black and white- and because of this, the movie was quite dramatical. Casting was great. The ongoing action of the different trainins and the fantastic -very real train wreck was impressive. This is a good movie for all WWII fans, train lovers, and those that like seeing the very personal side of people that were involved in WWII.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Action Film Focuses on the Price of War
Review: Director John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN was released in 1965. Set in the final days of Nazi occupied Paris during the WWII it tells a tale of how the French Resistance attempted to stop a train carrying a cargo of paintings from entering into Germany. The paintings had been held in a museum in Paris throughout the German occupation. These were not works by the old masters but instead were works painted by the impressionist and post impressionist artists whose paintings had been labeled degenerate by Nazi Germany. Though labeled degenerate or depraved by the Nazis these paintings had not been destroyed. At the beginning of the film we are introduced to German Colonel von Waldheim played by Paul Scofield. At first he appears to be a sympathetic character who allowed the museum curator Miss Villard to remain in charge of these paintings. She thanks him for not removing her and expresses that she detects his appreciation for the paintings after he admits to her that as a German officer he should not have been moved by degenerate art. When German soldiers come into the museum and crate all the paintings for railway shipment to Germany it is evident that the paintings have a monetary value to the Nazis if not an aesthetic one. Colonel von Waldheim uses this point to procure a military train. Miss Villard seeks out the help of the French Resistance namely Labiche, a railway yardmaster, played by Burt Lancaster to stop the train. Labiche is at first disinterested because the efforts of the Resistance should be aimed at military targets. However, Villard pleads that the paintings are part of the French culture and part of France itself and should never leave the country. Labiche gives in and the story focuses on the determination of Labiche and German Colonel von Waldheim to thwart each other's attempts from accomplishing their tasks. This is one of Burt Lancaster's greatest performances demonstrating his athletic abilities and his intuitive sense of histrionics to create a visual screen presence of pure determination to stop an equally determined foe who represents a [badness] gone beyond the limits of an already [horrible] Nazi regime. Paul Scofield's performance is the complete opposite but equally determined played with a strange and enigmatic detachment. As the movie progresses we see that von Waldheim's [character] degenerates even though he remains oblivious to his own shortcomings as a human being. The more obstacles that Labiche puts in the way of the train we see von Waldheim respond with firing squads for all those that assist Labiche. Colonel von Waldheim has stolen and transports the paintings under the pretense that they a resource to the Reich. In fact von Waldheim has convinced himself that he alone or only a man like him is capable of appreciating such paintings. Air raids, derailments, staged locomotive crashes, diversions, detours and so on hamper the train ever mile on its way to Germany. Near the end of the movie von Waldheim puts French hostages along the walkways of the locomotive to stop Labiche from blowing up the tracks and engine. ... Composer Maurice Jarre's score ends the film on a melancholy note of reflection using the dynamic melody he created for the French Resistance now played on a muted harmonica in a bittersweet comment on the futility of war. ... Director John Frankenheimer created this epic with such precision that you just can not appreciate the labors of all the technicians and actors went into making this film. John Frankenheimer is one of my favorite directors. He's way up there on the list. This film is a cinematic achievement of storytelling, action and great ... soul searching.
Rating:
Summary: An excellant film.
Review: Excellant cinematography and gripping suspense make this film a must see. The acting, writing, and Frankenheimers direction are all top notch. A stunning film.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Frankenheimer¿s Best
Review: Fankenheimer is a director's director - something of an icon in contemporary American Film. He has worked with the best, and has made some of the most innovative and intelligent movies of the last forty years. While always a director of "smart" films, he mastered the action-film early in his career and to a certain extent this has over-shadowed his deeper (and darker) side. On a superficial level "The Train" is the last of the "full-scale" action films. They blow up everything in sight for real, they crash real steam-locomotives, and many of the actors are doing their own stunts. In fact Burt Lancaster not only does all his own stunts, he stands in for other actors too! But unlike most action-flicks, "The Train" goes deeper. Lancaster plays the French resistance leader asked to stop Nazi Colonel Paul Schofeild from leaving Paris with a train load of paintings. "Let them have the paintings," Lancaster replies. He doesn't see the point in risking anyone's life for a work of art. "But they are the soul of France". And this is where the real interest (and the subtext) starts. Imagine your house is on fire. You run inside and you can save your favorite pet, or the Van Gogh hanging on the wall. What do you choose? Well that's the thesis behind "The Train" - why are these paintings worth dying for? Why are they worth killing for? (Incidentally Lancaster took a similar position a few years later in "Castle Keep"). Lancaster could care less about the paintings. And Schofeild will kill anyone and anything that tries to stop him leaving with them. Not only is it a clash of cultures, it's a clash about culture. A Nazi kills to save the artwork his own ideology has called degenerate; a partisan kills to save the art he has never wanted to see. The DVD has an excellent commentary by Frankenheimer. He describes the behind the scenes action, the difficulties and joys of this production, the demolishion of locomotives (and cameras), and the joys of working with Burt Lancaster. And he's very articulate about it. The DVD is also in the original wide-screen aspect, opening up the image considerably. If you're a fan of the war film or the action genre, The Train is a must have. And if oyu just like good film making, then it's still a must see.
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