THE TRAIN
U.S./France, 1964, 140 minutes, Black and white.
Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Michel Simon, Suzanne Flon.
Directed by John Frankenheimer.
The Train is a documentary-like war film concerning the transporting of art treasure from Paris by a German General and the attempts of the French Resistance to halt the train. The ingenuity and energy given to this task make The Train a good suspense war film. However, the film has much more to it - Burt Lancaster's (too American?) verve as the central resistance man matching the bleak obsession of Paul Scofield's General. Michel Simon and Jeanne Moreau contribute atmospheric character performances. Highlights of the film are the action sequences which were all authentically reproduced. The theme is also of interest; the worth of one life compared with the worth of works of art.
John Frankenheimer directed the picture as a favour to Burt Lancaster. It had been begun by Arthur Penn. It belongs to Frankenheimer's early period - The Manchurian Candidate; Birdman of Alcatraz; Seven Days in May - all excellent thought provoking black and white films. Later he moved to explorations of the problem of ageing and the physical challenges of life. Burt Lancaster made - The Young Savages; Birdman of Alcatraz; Seven Days in May; The Gypsy Moths with Frankenheimer.
1. Was this principally a Burt Lancaster action film or did it present itself as something more?
2. The film looked partly documentary. Was it successful in this - how?
3. What impact do Resistance films have on audiences? Why?
4. What motivated Waldheim to transfer the paintings? What right did he have? As the difficulties and opposition increased, how much of an obsession did the transfer become for him? Why?
5. Why did Papa Boulle want to save the paintings?
6. Comment on the impact in the film, for suspense as well as the theme, on - the making ready of the train despite bombardments, the stratagem of painting the roofs of the carriages, of changing the names of the stations, of engineering the accident, of Christine's contribution to helping Labiche.
7. Why did the film ultimately become a confrontation between Labiche and Waldheim? How had Waldheim lost touch with reality?
8. Was the ending satisfying - the irony of the paintings lying on the ground?
9. What attitudes to war and to encountering an enemy did Labiche, Waldheim, Christine and Papa Boulle represent?
10. The film raises the dilemma - are art treasures worth any human lives, whether to steal them or to protect them? Why? John Frankenheimer said that they were not worth one human life. Is this evident in the film? How?
11. The action depicted was far less than occurred in fact. Was the plot plausible? (Should the Resistance have spent so much time and energy saving the paintings?)
12. How did Labiche stand as a symbol of the Resistance - in changing his attitude to the paintings and becoming involved with the train? The symbolism of his shooting Waldheim?
