1965 saw two train escape movies. One was "The Train," the ultimate at-least-you-know-what-the-movie's-about title, and the other was the much more creatively monikered "Von Ryan's Express." The latter film more closely resembles a good old-fashioned Hollywood action movie, maybe because it's in color and Cinemascope, but both films have their bleak moments.
In "Von Ryan's Express," Frank Sinatra plays an American soldier shot down in Italy and interred in a prisoner of war camp mostly full of and run by the British. They commandeer a transport train and take off for the Swiss border and freedom, sort of like the last half of "The Sound of Music" but without music, nuns, or Julie Andrews. Trevor Howard is a pain in Sinatra's ass, because he wants to be in charge and doesn't think Sinatra ever knows what he's doing. It's all pretty entertaining if not groundbreaking action movie tropes.
Of the two films, "The Train" is probably the more artistically satisfying of the two, though I have to say I was probably more straight up entertained by "Von Ryan's Express." Both of the them competed for an Oscar in 1965, the first for Best Original Story and Screenplay and the second in the minor category of Sound Effects.
Grade: B+
In "Von Ryan's Express," Frank Sinatra plays an American soldier shot down in Italy and interred in a prisoner of war camp mostly full of and run by the British. They commandeer a transport train and take off for the Swiss border and freedom, sort of like the last half of "The Sound of Music" but without music, nuns, or Julie Andrews. Trevor Howard is a pain in Sinatra's ass, because he wants to be in charge and doesn't think Sinatra ever knows what he's doing. It's all pretty entertaining if not groundbreaking action movie tropes.
Of the two films, "The Train" is probably the more artistically satisfying of the two, though I have to say I was probably more straight up entertained by "Von Ryan's Express." Both of the them competed for an Oscar in 1965, the first for Best Original Story and Screenplay and the second in the minor category of Sound Effects.
Grade: B+