Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

elvircorhodzic THE TRAIN is a war thriller that, through a realistic story and intense plots brings a kind of sabotage of Nazi forces during their smuggling of art treasures from France. This is an extremely popular form of struggle between a small resistance movement against a preeminent enemy. Labiche is a French railway inspector and a member of a resistance movement. Allied forces are trying to liberate Paris. During this time, a German colonel tries to move the priceless works of art from the Jeu de Paume Museum to his fatherland. The head of the museum attempts to convince Labiche that he should sabotage the train on which they are transporting the art. However, he is focused on destroying enemy's weapons. Labiche changes his opinion, after an old train driver is killed trying to stop the train with the art...A certain dose of skepticism by the main character is a very pleasant surprise. A masterpiece of art in relation to human life. The national heritage or the pride of France. An obvious lack of emotion and connections is a serious flaw in this film. However, a constant tension, danger and uncertainty raises the atmosphere to a very high level. An exciting and detailed conflict is certainly better than a melodramatic background.The scenery is pretty authentic. Characterization could have been better.Burt Lancaster as Paul Labiche is a strong and stable character with war instincts and fighting spirit. Well, he looks, at times, like a hero, who is fighting for a way out from the general madness. Opposite him is a Nazi colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) as the embodiment of rage and violence. Their support are Jeanne Moreau (Christine) as a brave and angry widow in a small hotel on a railroad. Frankly, I was expecting a romance between her and Labiche. It seems that there is not the time or place for that exhibition. Michel Simon (Papa Boule) is an initiator of a turning point in the story. Albert Rémy (Didont) is a sturdy engine men who lurks every opportunity to sabotage the Nazis. Wolfgang Preiss (Maj. Herren) is a quiet voice on the other side of common sense.It seems that the great courage is to lose life because of a precious work of art. I thought that human life is priceless.

Leofwine_draca Wow. I wasn't expecting anything like this. THE TRAIN is a black and white suspense thriller set in the dying days of Nazi-occupied France. It's one of John Frankenheimer's earliest films and it has all of the suspense, action, and excitement of his late-era productions like RONIN. I thought this would be a typical gung-ho war effort of the kind that Frank Sinatra and George Peppard used to star in, but it's something else entirely.The subject of the film is trains, in particular steam trains. The plot's Macguffin is a shipment of priceless French paintings which Nazi colonel Paul Scofield is attempting to transport to Germany before the Americans arrive in Paris. Burt Lancaster is the tough and imposing resistance fighter who opposes him. The rest of the film is a battle of wills and wits between the two men.Although this is a quite lengthy production it's never boring. Even the dialogue scenes are snappy and bristle with suspense. However, it's the action where this film really hits. The action is terse, realistic, and fast. Frankenheimer was determined to make his film as realistic as possible so there are no special effects or model shots here, just real engines that get crashed and blown up with regularity. I liked Lancaster here better than anywhere else, Scofield's bad guy is perfectly hateable, and the supporting cast are excellent. The last twenty minutes in particular remove dialogue from the equation and focus on nail-biting suspense and heroism. It's a fantastic little movie and one which deserves to be wider known.

michaeljayallen Of course this film wasn't very successful originally. It's a black and white European art film with an American budget. It's got long periods of silence, including toward the end. The black and white cinematography is consistently gorgeous, aided by the dramatic lighting. Steam at night? Are you kidding? No, the Nazis aren't clichés but believable. Jeanne Moreau is of course right there. Never a beauty really, and close to 40 here, but always perfect. Burt Lancaster never tries a Frenchy accent, although everyone else speaks English with a bit of German or French accent. At least he doesn't sound as old time New York City as his real accent probably was. It doesn't matter. He's great.The situation is that the war is about over and everyone knows it even if some of the Germans don't want to admit it. So the French heroism is even more heroic or maybe foolhardy than before, and the Germans are even more crazed than they might have been earlier. A perfect situation for existentialist drama.There are a few obvious melodramatic stating the obvious speeches, but given the period not many at all. The story is mostly made up, but the Nazi art theft and destruction is real. Nothing looks like a set. Everything seems real, if better lit than reality. The cinematography/lighting is as stunningly good as anywhere. Highly recommended.

AaronCapenBanner John Frankenheimer does a first-rate job directing this riveting and atmospheric WWII film set in August 1944, as the approaching Allies are forcing a German retreat from France, but a German commander(Paul Scofield) arranges for the French art treasures he values to smuggled out of the country in secret by train. Burt Lancaster plays station master Labiche, who is in charge of making the trip run smoothly, but is also a member of the resistance, so must delay the train as much as possible, then when no more delays will be tolerated, actively tries to sabotage the train, no matter the cost, though he is also ordered to not damage any of the valuable paintings, which are France's heritage.Burt Lancaster is excellent here, both in his performance and how he handles the physical action, which is most impressive, as is the on location filming, giving this picture a welcome look of authenticity, and building to an action-packed finale.