The Train

The cab of a moving steam locomotive is noisy even when there aren't air raid sirens sounding.

Papa Boule should never have been able to hear Labiche shouting at him from 50 feet away.

Labiche shouts that "You can't get through" because the switch is set wrong, but it is a trailing switch (convergence), and hence would move under the weight of the train to the right position.

Waldheim originally orders the train to depart on the morning of August 3, but in all later scenes everyone knows that daylight runs are much too dangerous due to the risk of bombing (which did not suddenly increase on that date).

When the train is to resume its journey from Rive-Reine after the engine failure, Waldheim knows he must wait for nightfall before it can safely leave.

Sunset on August 5, 1944, would be at 9:20 pm, but he sets its departure time at 7 pm.

Yet when the train leaves it is dark.

In the bar, when Papa Boule approaches the counter to pay the bill, he leans the left hand on the counter.

In the subsequent shot his left hand is by his side, with his thumb in his pocket.

In the switch tower, after the sirens sound, Labiche uses binoculars to watch Papa Boule engineering the train.

Next shot the binoculars disappear.

In the final sequence, Labiche is seen unbolting the rails on one side only because he is out of time.

Yet when the locomotive with the hostages on it derails, it stays level because both sides of the track have been loosened.

During the yards bombing scene, several SNCF class 141R steam engines are visible.

These engines were manufactured in USA and Canada and were only delivered after the end of World War II.

Once the train starts on its run to Germany, it passes through all the stations without stopping (except briefly at "St.

Avold" for the phone call).

In reality, the steam locomotive would have had to stop at occasionally to take on water.

Later, when they orchestrate the train crash, in the sudden stop, a large amount of water comes sloshing out of the engine, when in reality because they had not stopped, at best, the engine would have been very low on water because it had not stopped to replenish its water supply.

Gerd von Rundstedt was commanding the Germans in this movie, which took place in August 1944.

In reality, von Rundstedt was fired in June for losing Normandy and wasn't reinstated until September, when Operation Market-Garden began.

When the German officer throws his pipe down, it lands on a chair, spilling ashes onto the chair seat.

The next time we see the pipe, there are no ashes.

A camera shadow is seen on the ground and on Labiche's back as he climbs over the hill and through some trees as he continues to try to sabotage the rail line.

- PLOTWhen the art train is rerouted in the wrong direction to return to Paris instead of going to Germany, the soldiers on the train should have noticed the deception when they saw the sun rising behind them instead of in front of them in the morning.

They were supposed to be traveling East, but were in fact traveling West.

The first time we see the sign for the station "Rive-Rennes," it reads "Rive-Reine.

" When the armored German locomotive is moving into position in Vaires to haul the art train, several 1960 era automobiles can be seen in the far background parked on a street.

(at around 35 mins) When Labiche starts to resolve the "problem" with switch 10, he bends down and reaches in with pliers in his hand.

When he pulls out the obstruction (the German officer's pipe), there are no pliers in his hand.

During the scene where the rail yard at Vaires is being bombed, the whistle of bombs is heard, but none are seen falling before the explosions are seen on the ground.

Bombs fall fairly slowly, and are almost always visible before they impact.

As Pesquet moves the armored locomotive out of the engine shed, the hissing sound of steam blowing from the cylinder drain cocks can be heard, but no steam can be seen coming from the cocks.

While some of the German riflemen have ammunition pouches on their belts, not a single one of the soldiers armed with MP40 submachine guns have any magazine pouches.

When Paul Scofield has loaded the art train and is called to the hut for a telephone call, the boom Mic is briefly visible at the top of the frame right when he says the words "Von Waldeim Speaking".

When the Armored Locomotive is blown up during the air raid at Vaires, one of the drive wheels tumbles toward the camera.

You can see that it is made out of wood.

The black and white adds to the tone of the movie, drama, weight, with excitement. I loved how it shows the incapacity to enslave a resisting people, who will continue to inflict small accidents into the captor machinery.

John Frankenheimer directed this masterpiece about the french resistance trying to stop a train loaded with art from leaving. Paris is about to fall probably in only 3 or 4 days.

John Frankenheimer does a first-rate job directing this riveting and atmospheric WWII film set in August 1944, as the approaching Allies are forcing a German retreat from France, but a German commander(Paul Scofield) arranges for the French art treasures he values to smuggled out of the country in secret by train. Burt Lancaster plays station master Labiche, who is in charge of making the trip run smoothly, but is also a member of the resistance, so must delay the train as much as possible, then when no more delays will be tolerated, actively tries to sabotage the train, no matter the cost, though he is also ordered to not damage any of the valuable paintings, which are France's heritage.

Although John Frankenheimer's 'Manchurian Candidate' probably has greater resonance historically there is no doubting that 'The Train' is an accomplished and satisfying film. He was brought in to replace Arthur Penn whose concept of the film did not exactly agree with that of Burt Lancaster who felt that Frankenheimer would be more 'accommodating'.

The Train has a good story and quality visuals, lacks the characterization though.It's comprehensive, but the situation obstructs dialogue.

Songs are good , script and direction is as bad it can get.

An excellent movie, very exciting, riveting actually. However the entire plot falls flat.

Considering the year it was made and the superb cast , the screen play , I think it worth 10 stars out of ten . Everything was great.

Plenty of knowledgeable, inciteful comments here. I want to commend the casting and performance of Michel Simone (Papa Boule).