The Train
Published August 25, 2025
Film info
- Title The Train
- Director John Frankenheimer
- Year 1964
- Run time 2hrs 13m
- Genres War, Thriller
- Tagline It carried their hopes, their nation's honour!
As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to take all of France’s greatest paintings to Germany. He manages to secure a train to transport the valuable art works even as the chaos of retreat descends upon them. The French resistance however wants to stop them from stealing their national treasures but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche, is tasked with scheduling the train and making it all happen smoothly but he is also part of a dwindling group of resistance fighters tasked with preventing the theft. He and others stage an elaborate ruse to keep the train from ever leaving French territory.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 0:55 | It’s rough when your ‘count of days since’ has tipped over into the 1000s. |
| 9:25 | In busy rooms like that, how does anyone know what they’re doing? |
| 15:49 | “I won’t waste lives on paintings.” Same. |
| 29:23 | All those people working so close to the trains, and not a hi-vis in sight! |
| 35:12 | Woah, have they genuinely blown up a train yard?? |
| 42:48 | “Hurry it up, we’re working on a locomotive, not a pocket watch.” |
| 1:00:58 | Hope Christine isn’t the only woman we get to see in this film, but if it is, good name! |
| 1:04:11 | Tad too much train whistling in this portion of the movie. |
| 1:13:55 | Sneaky sign-changing is genius! |
| 1:30:13 | “Where the hell are the Allies? Are they taking the tourist route to Paris?” |
| 1:36:50 | Amazing they’re protecting these paintings and they’ve never even seen them. |
| 1:44:04 | What is this white paint thing about? Is that real? |
| 1:57:27 | Who knew there were so many ways to sabotage a train? |
Thoughts
Probably not one of the best war films I’ve seen, but I do like all the train action (minus the incessant screeching of the whistle). It probably doesn’t get off to a good start for me because I’m not a big fan of paintings, so the whole endeavour seems a little bit pointless to me. So much anger, death and destruction for a bit of paint on canvas. But I get the concept - stop the Nazis being greedy, etc - and that makes it a bit of an adventure worth a watch if there’s nothing else on.
Rating: 2 / 5
