The true story of a French railway inspector who goes up against the Nazis to prevent a trainload of France's most treasured paintings from being stolen… or damaged.
As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is desperate to take all of France’s greatest paintings to Germany. The French resistance however wants to stop him from stealing their national treasures but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche (Burt Lancaster), is tasked with scheduling the train and making sure everything runs smoothly, but he is also part of a dwindling group of resistance fighters tasked with preventing the theft. He and others stage an elaborate ruse to keep the train from ever leaving French territory. This film from John Frankenheimer (‘The Manchurian Candidate’) is a marvel of old-fashioned action craft.
USA 1964 John Frankenheimer 133m
