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The Train (1964), starring Burt Lancaster


stratasfan
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A fictional story that has its' roots in the real story by Rose Valland - "La Front de l'art". It tells the story of a train load of French paintings that a German officer is trying to ship to Germany in the last days of the occupation of Paris. With the Allies just days away, the lady who was curator of the museum where the paintings had been stored goes to a local resistance group for help. The goal - to keep the train from going to Germany. However, railroad resistance leader and manager of the train yards Labiche (Burt Lancaster) feels that it is not worth risking the lives of his last two engineers on a seemingly hopeless mission to save some art. Circumstances (and the actions of an old engineer who is his friend) lead him to changing his mind and the three men embark on the last mission of their group. Labiche must outwit and outmaneuver the one-track minded German officer (Paul Scofield) who is determined to get his art into Germany at any cost.
This is a fantastic WWII film and so worth the viewing time! Burt Lancaster gives an outstanding performance as the railroad saboteur who is swept into a mission that he does not believe in, only to end up going with it to the end to try and see the job finished. For the last 20 minutes, he never says a word, but you know everything that he is thinking. This must be one of the shining moments in his acting career! Paul Scofield is great as the fanatic German officer who is intent on getting his train into Germany regardless of the cost. Wolfgang Preiss gives a very solid performance as the military manager of the train yards who gets a little exasperated over the train.

Burt Lancaster went golfing during filming and wrenched an old knee injury when he stepped in a hole. They had to write in a scene in the film where Labiche gets injured in the leg, as Burt Lancaster was limping so badly. It really tells during the last sequence and you can see his limp get worse and worse until he is practically dragging his leg. Ah, well . . . as the saying goes - "pain is temporary, film is forever".

This DVD (photo on left) is an early transfer and the film and soundtrack are not very restored. The film ratio is an odd widescreen that is slightly taller than the standard 16:9. However, you can watch it zoomed on the screen and not loose anything. The DVD outputs a 4:3 signal, resulting in the need to choose the zoom setting on the TV screen. It does come with the original theatrical trailer and a music-only track.
Kino Lorbor released this DVD version (photo on right), and it is totally restored and makes up for everything the early version lacked! If you can only get one, it is still worth watching, but try and get the KL version. You won't be disappointed!
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