“The movie’s central moral question — Can we justify the loss of human life to save inanimate objects? — remains as potent as ever. And one of this film’s greatest attributes is that it leaves the answer to the viewer. ”
In occupied France of 1944, art-loving Nazi Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Schofield) arranges for a trainload of priceless French paintings to be transported to Germany before the liberation of Paris. However, the French Resistance (lead by Burt Lancaster's Paul Labiche) are determined to stop the train and rescue their national treasures - though how to do so without accidently destroying the paintings themselves proves tricky... Based on a true story, John Frankenheimer's The Train is as thrilling as it is beautifully shot - and both Schofield and Lancaster give typically brilliant performances.