Director:		John Frankenheimer
Year:		1964
Language:		English with some French and German
Time:		133 minutes

As Paris is about to be liberated by the Allies in August 1944, a German officer (Paul Scofield) plans to remove priceless art from French museums and transport it to Germany by train. A French railway worker and resistance leader (Burt Lancaster) organizes a series of plans to stop the train without destroying the art. Train buffs will get a feast of technical activity in switching yards, on locomotives and on rolling stock. The rest of us can ponder the question of whether saving the art was worth the loss of life.

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Not Rated.

Post-film discussion led by Dr. Phil Bufithis, Professor Emeritus of English at Shepherd University.

Links

About the director John Frankenheimer

About the film career of Burt Lancaster

Other background on the film

A selection of reviews of the film