Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Great Train Robbery Blu-ray Movie Review

It takes several thieves.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 15, 2014

Michael Crichton was probably a bit too long of tooth to be accurately called a wunderkind when he first attracted international attention with The Andromeda Strain in 1969, but in virtually every other way, he easily met the criteria for such a description. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Crichton had been churning out novels for at least a few years before The Andromeda Strain hit the bestseller charts, but once Crichton had gotten a foothold in the entertainment industry, he achieved rather remarkable success in a number of different roles and media. By the early seventies he was already writing and directing both for television (Pursuit, a tv movie based on his novel Binary) and film (Westworld ), even as his continued literary efforts regularly topped bestseller lists around the globe. (He would go on of course to properly conquer television some time later with ER.) Many of Crichton’s works in both literature and film had a technological component (Congo, Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy), but Crichton’s 1975 novel The Great Train Robbery eschewed the author’s futurist tendencies to gaze backward at the Victorian Era in England, fictionalizing a real life train robbery that Crichton alleges was probably the first ever of its type (and one where the highest “tech” employed in the robbery is making wax impressions of keys that will open safes). The Great Train Robbery made it to film some four years later, with Crichton assuming the dual roles of screenwriter and director. He wasn’t especially faithful to his own novel, further fictionalizing events and providing a rather whimsically comic ambience to much of the film, including a completely fanciful ending. The story plays out like a fairly straightforward heist or caper film, with intricate plans falling by the wayside as unexpected events disrupt the proceedings. Buoyed by an opulent production design and some lovely cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth, who died shortly after he completed this film and to whom The Great Train Robbery is dedicated, The Great Train Robbery is brisk and exciting fare that still occasionally reveals a few shortcomings of Crichton as a director.

Edward Pierce (Sean Connery) is a smooth and suave upper crust gentleman who—really isn’t, or at least that “upper crust” part. Instead, Pierce is a scheming thief who has managed to parlay his social graces into a spot at the table with England’s landed gentry, where he listens intently at a private men’s club to train executive Henry Fowler (Malcolm Terris) haughtily dismiss a recent attempt at a train robbery which ended with the robber’s death. What Fowler is unaware of is that Pierce was the mastermind behind that robbery, sending in an expendable patsy to check out the train’s security measures. Fowler willingly gives up the supposed corporate secret that safes of gold being transported on the train (to finance Britain’s involvement in the Crimean War) can only be opened with a combination of four keys, two of which are in the personal possession of Fowler and train owner Edgar Trent (Alan Webb).

Crichton wastes little time setting up how Pierce is going to manage to overcome this rather formidable obstacle, instead simply diving headlong into the caper, a rather convoluted plot that also involves Pierce’s mistress Miriam (Lesley-Anne Down) and a former collaborator named Agar (Donald Sutherland). Agar is aces at making wax impressions of keys, but of course the problem here is actually getting to the keys. The gang’s first mark is Trent, whom the men stake out and ultimately figure out is a participant in a truly horrifying “sport” known as ratting, where a box full of rats is set upon by a dog, with betters wagering on how many rodents will be killed within a certain time frame. Pierce already knows that Trent lives at home with a second, much younger, wife and her unmarried daughter, and at a ratting tournament, he strikes up a conversation with the elderly banker, letting it “slip” that he’s single and in search of an appropriate spouse. That brings Pierce into contact with the Trent household, where he supposedly starts courting Trent’s stepdaughter, Elizabeth (Gabrielle Lloyd). Through patient determination, Pierce finally gets some salient information out of the girl about where the mysterious first key might be hidden in the expansive Trent mansion.

After a brief and frankly not particularly suspenseful interlude in the Trent house, Pierce and Agar do of course manage to get impressions of that key, though in the meantime Miriam has become a bit jealous of Pierce’s feigned interest in Elizabeth (especially after Miriam’s own attempts to “interest” the aged Trent fall by the wayside). However, Miriam herself is the bait for Fowler, whose womanizing proclivities play right into Pierce’s plans. (The film changes an important aspect of Fowler’s character from the novel, probably to attain a PG-13 rating.) With Miriam masquerading as a “working woman”, the trio gets the key off of Fowler’s body (where he keeps it at all times), and manages to make impressions of that one.

The last two keys actually prove to be the trickiest and involve one of the bigger suspense set pieces of the film. These two keys are kept in an office at the train station, an office which is wall to wall windows and which is guarded night and day by roving policemen. A quick reconnaissance mission gets some valuable information to Pierce and Agar, and they plot a sneaky overnight attack on the premises which relies on split second timing. And while this is a fun and even funny sequence, it’s also shot and edited a bit clumsily, depriving the film of at least a little bit of anxiety producing moments. I couldn’t help but think of a somewhat similar sequence in Alfred Hitchock’s Marnie (coincidentally co-starring Connery, of course), where the troubled heroine is attempting to sneak out of an office where a cleaning lady is working nearby. It’s of course a completely different context, but the same “will they be able to escape?” setup, and the difference between the staging in the two films is quite notable and instructive. Hitchcock utilizes the appearance of the cleaning lady to amp up the suspense immeasurably, while Crichton instead concentrates on the perpetrators, only hinting that danger is approaching by a countdown engaged in by Pierce and yet another gang member, Clean Willy (Wayne Sleep).

It should probably come as no surprise that these two last keys are in fact finally utilized to make impressions, and the gang now has all four keys to open the safes. A little well primed bribe money to a train employee is the final “key” (so to speak), and all seems to be set for a successful heist. Unfortunately, Clean Willy’s sticky fingers get him into trouble, and his confessional attempts to get himself out of trouble lead to last minute problems, which in turn result with some drastic realignments of plans so that at least one gang member can get into the train car with the safes.

The film has an absolutely spectacular climactic sequence where Agar (who has been pretending to be a corpse in a coffin in the safe car) and Pierce, who’s riding in the train, work together to steal the gold. Pierce goes up on top of the train, narrowly getting decapitated by several low slung overpasses (Connery rather incredibly did almost all of his stunts, and his face is clearly visible in some truly frightening moments). The film barrels through to first success, then failure, then ultimate “victory” of sorts, despite the long arm of the law reaching out and attempting to deal with Pierce.

There’s a lightheartedness to a lot of The Great Train Robbery which some thriller fans may feel works against the film’s attempts to create any lasting suspense. And it must be stated that some of the comedy is a bit forced (an early interchange by Trent’s young wife and Pierce is full of not exactly subtle sexual innuendo, none of which is all that amusing). But the combination of an accurate feeling period setting, interesting (even flamboyant) characters, and a convoluted enough caper keep this rail journey mostly captivating.

The Great Train Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Great Train Robbery is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Elements are in very good condition, with only very minimal wear and tear in evidence. Colors are nicely suffused and generally accurate looking, though once again reds tend to shift ever so slightly toward rust brown territory. Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth utilized some diffusion filters here, and sections of the film have a gauzy soft almost glistening ambience that some may mistake for some sort of anomaly. The film is bookended by brief segments that have been desaturated and which have a kind of sepia toned look (see screenshot 6). Clarity is still very good, and close- ups reveal some great fine detail in the opulent sets and costumes. Outdoor location work offers excellent depth of field. There are a couple of relatively minor issues of concern here, including somewhat inconsistent contrast and perhaps more importantly grain management. While the grain field is certainly apparent, it's variable, tending to clump unnaturally at times and occasionally tipping toward noise territory.

The Great Train Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Great Train Robbery features both 2.0 and 5.1 iterations of the soundtrack delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio. You can't really go wrong with either of these tracks. The surround option ups effects like the train roaring through the countryside or elements like Jerry Goldsmith's enjoyably energetic score, but nothing sounds overly artificial here, and there's some fine attention paid to opening up ambient environmental effects in sequences in crowded environments like the train station. Dialogue and effects are very cleanly presented on both tracks. There are no issues with dropouts, crackling or any other problems that might cause concern.

The Great Train Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features a low key but very informative Michael Crichton discussing a number of aspects of the story and shoot. Even he seems gobsmacked by the stunts that Connery pulled off in the big heist sequence.


• Trailer (1080p; 2:51)

The Great Train Robbery Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Great Train Robbery probably dissipates at least some of its tension with its reliance on cheeky humor, but there's no denying the adrenaline pumping action of the big heist scene, especially when it's more than apparent that Connery himself is doing the lion's share of the scary looking stunts on top of the train. The production design here is incredibly opulent and one of the chief calling cards of this film, as is Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful music. Crichton may admittedly have been a better writer than he was a director, but The Great Train Robbery is one of his most enjoyable efforts. Highly recommended.