8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Suzanne Flon, Michel SimonDrama | 100% |
War | 42% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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'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 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.
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