Search - The Train on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1965 DVD Release: 02/23/1999 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 13 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 9 Genres: War, War Adventure, Resistance Film

John Frankenheimer directs Burt Lancaster in the tense spy thriller The Train. Lancaster plays Labiche, a French railway inspector. Allied forces are threatening to liberate Paris, so Col. Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is ordered to move the priceless works of art from the Jeu de Paume Museum to the fatherland. The head of the museum (Suzanne Flon) attempts to convince Labiche that he should sabotage the train on which they are transporting the art. Labiche is more focused on destroying a trainload of German weapons. After his friend is killed trying to stop the train with the art, and after a consciousness-raising conversation with a hotel owner (Jeanne Moreau), Labiche resolves to save the antiquities. Lancaster and Frankenheimer had worked together previously on both Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days in May. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Burt Lancaster - Labiche
Paul Scofield - Col. von Waldheim
Jeanne Moreau - Christine
Michel Simon - Papa Boule
Suzanne Flon - Mlle. Villard

Released in 1965, the gritty World War II movie The Train holds up exceptionally well on this deluxe DVD release from MGM Home Entertainment. Director John Frankenheimer was riding a creative peak when he made The Train and his commentary here is engaging as he reminisces about the complicated shoot and good times with various co-workers. Frankenheimer also offers insight into star Burt Lancaster, who got to employ his experience as a gymnast in the film in a breathtaking extended action sequence. The Train was released a year before composer Maurice Jarre's popular breakthrough with Doctor Zhivago, but his fine score is rightly featured here on a separate "music only" track. The widescreen transfer is also flawless on a DVD that bears repeated viewing. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide