The Train Tribute

Another video tribute to a classic movie. The Train. At least one that I feel is a classic. Directed by John Frankenheimer, it's a story about obsession that could be seen as a variation of Moby DIck. As Paris is about to fall to Allied forces in 1944, Paul Scofield is Colonel Von Waldheim, a German officer that steals a trainload of "degenerate" art to Germany to help finance the Nazi war effort. Burt Lancaster is French Resistance leader Labiche. He initially refuses to waste lives stopping the train. But as he watches his friends die one after the other trying to stop The Train, he becomes obsessed with stopping The Train. An epic battle of wills ensues. Von Waldheim, obsessed with his goal of taking the paintings to Germany, and Labiche, who doesn't give a shit about the paintings, but becomes obsessed with preventing Waldheim from achieving his goal.

All the train crashes are real. The steam engines had been decomissioned, and were to be sold off for scrap. So the producers could do whatever they wanted. A couple of cameras were destroyed during the filming of the trainwrecks. And they blew up the train station for real.

Music is from the soundtrack to Sicario.