Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Train Blu-ray Movie Review

Monuments Man.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 13, 2014

The Monuments Men turned out to be one of the unexpected flops in the relatively recent cinematic universe, despite having a starry cast and director and a fairly redolent plot involving the securing of incalculably valuable (both monetarily and culturally) pieces of art that the Nazis had sequestered over the course of the conflict and which in some cases were in danger of being destroyed by the Allied incursions as the war entered into its endgame circa 1944-45. John Frankenheimer’s riveting 1965 film The Train traffics in much the same material, albeit from a totally different perspective, centering on one furtive effort by French Resistance forces to keep a, yes, train full of stolen treasures from being secreted out of the country and back to Germany (under the watchful eye of an art loving German Colonel). Both The Monuments Men and The Train had literary antecedents, but it’s perhaps notable that The Train was based on a book by a French art historian who worked at a museum which was overrun by the Nazis, something that gives the film an immediacy that The Monuments Men lacked. There’s perhaps something to be said for the fact that The Train appeared only about twenty or so years after the events it depicts, when memories were still relatively fresh and the subterfuge and daring of the French Resistance could still offer a requisite adrenaline rush. Ironically, The Train had a somewhat troubled production history, with star and power broker Burt Lancaster dismissing original director Arthur Penn in favor of Frankenheimer, in an attempt to up the action elements and keep the film from being a somewhat more intimate character study. Character still plays an integral part in The Train, however, with the somewhat strangely formulated “showdown” between Lancaster’s French train inspector Paul Labiche and German Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) providing a fascinating dialectic that drives the bulk of the film’s forward momentum.

Von Waldheim is seen in the film’s opening moments eyeing a bunch of so-called “decadent” modern art by the likes of Picasso, even admitting that the Nazi perspective means that he really should hate it, and yet it’s obvious from the get go that this particular Colonel is extremely cultured and worried about what ultimately might happen to such priceless pieces. Waldheim has engineered a “rescue mission” of sorts to get a trainload of masterpieces out of besieged Paris (which is about to be liberated by the Allies) and back to Germany. Unbeknownst to the Waldheim, the curt curator of the museum he’s looting is actually in league with the French Resistance, and a desperate plan is hatched to delay the train’s departure until the Allies can arrive and save the day (not to mention the paintings).

Perhaps surprisingly, the Resistance is not that pumped to pull of what would be an extremely dangerous mission, and in fact Labiche is shown to be at least somewhat ambivalent toward cooperating, albeit perhaps in a curmudgeonly way, with some of the Germans who traipse through the train yard. Things change, though, when an independent French worker does try to sabotage the train, something that enrages von Waldheim and summarily leads to the French man's execution. In a none too subtle but still effective lap dissolve, Frankenheimer focuses on Lancaster's face after the execution, which slowly gives way to a kiln fire that is used to forge metal. The implication is clear: Labiche is burning mad and he's developing a spine of steel.

That sets the film on its main course of action, where Labiche works, initially with a group of cohorts but then through attrition more and more by himself, to block the train’s progress toward Germany. Several attempts do have the effect of at least throwing the timetable off considerably, adding to von Waldheim’s increasing rage. The actual plot is quite ingenious, and involves a huge prank of sorts which is meant to fool the Germans into thinking they’re going one way when in fact they’re going quite another. But while the subterfuge that Labiche is involved in gives the film its requisite amount of suspense, it’s really the unfolding “relationship” between Labiche and von Waldheim, much of which takes place without the two sharing screen time, that actually propels the film. Frankenheimer always liked to dabble in areas of moral ambiguity, and here he has a field day with two characters who have their own peculiar foibles, along with (perhaps surprisingly, at least with regard to the German) a certain nobility.

In fact the dialectic between the patrician von Waldheim and the working class Labiche provides a great deal of the emotional subtext of the film, especially in the fantastic showdown at the climax when von Waldheim more or less berates Labiche for his proletarian tendencies. Frankenheimer invests a lot of time making these characters very real, but he also doesn’t shirk on the action elements, and there are at least two or three huge set pieces in The Train that are astounding to this day, especially since they were realized with practical special effects. These sequences include explosions (so forceful that the cameras shake), a derailing and a spectacular collision that make the desperation of the French to preserve their cultural heritage viscerally palpable. The Train stands as one of the prime examples of a thinking man’s action film. While a variety of philosophical ideas about Art and war and even day to day life spill out of various characters’ mouths, it’s all in the service of a really exciting, propulsive film that, unlike its titular vehicle, stays resolutely on track at every turn.

The Train Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Train is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. While there's some slightly variable sharpness and clarity at times throughout this presentation, overall this transfer boasts appealing crispness and stability, especially impressive when Frankenheimer utilizes wide angle lenses and a variety of extremely complex tracking or dolly shots. Depth of field is excellent in the many outdoor scenes. Grayscale is well modulated, though blacks are occasionally not quite as deep as some might hope. There are no problematic signs of artificial sharpening or denoising, and the film retains a healthy grain layer which is noticeably increased during opticals. The elements are in generally very good shape, though eagle eyed videophiles will certainly see minor signs of age related wear and tear, including dust specks and other similar issues. There are also no compression artifacts to cause worry.

The Train Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Train's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is surprisingly fulsome, more than adequately rendering some of the huge explosions and gunfire with quite a bit of vividness. Dialogue and Maurice Jarre's interesting score (which in a way presages Lalo Schifrin's flute and percussion cues for Mission: Impossible) are cleanly and clearly delivered. Fidelity is excellent, if occasionally just slightly shallow sounding, and the track has no problems of any kind to report.

The Train Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director John Frankenheimer is ported over from the DVD release and is a fairly low key and rather sporadic affair. When Frankenheimer does deign to speak, he gets into some interesting information like how he managed the huge unedited tracking shot of the German headquarters in Paris being emptied.


• Audio Commentary with Paul Seydor, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. Seydor and Kirgo do the bulk of the talking here, with Redman acting mostly as a moderator. There's quite a bit of interesting information here, including background on the source book and tidbits about some of the set pieces, including the spectacular derailment scene which evidently took out all but one of the cameras set up to film it.


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (480p; 4:23)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:07)

The Train Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Train is one of a very few films that provides fodder both for adrenaline junkies and those who consider themselves more intellectually inclined. The film is buoyed by superb performances by Lancaster and Scofield, and further enhanced by some extremely well choreographed action set pieces that are all the more amazing in that they were achieved practically, obviously long before the days of CGI and in this case without even utilizing miniatures. The fact that film ends without a clear resolution of what actually happens to the invaluable art is a hint that The Train has more on its cinematic mind than what provided the main focus for The Monuments Men. This new Blu-ray has solid technical merits and comes Highly recommended.