Sunday, September 1, 2019

Train to Freedom







This is my first entry in the WW2 Blogathon hosted by Cinematic Essentials and Maddy Loves Her Classic Films.





The best WWII P.O.W. movie ever, hands down, in my opinion, is The Great Escape.  But any number of P.O.W. movies can easily take the #2 spot on my list.  It all depends on my mood at the time.  Re-watch-ability is the key factor in a P.O.W. movie, and great acting has to be top of the list in judging that factor.  Therefore, at times, my second favorite WWII P.O.W. movie has been, alternately,  Stalag 17, The Bridge on the River Kwai, King Rat, and even, on occasion, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

But more often than not, that second place is occupied by Von Ryan's Express.  I have a soft spot in my heart for the Frank Sinatra film because a) I like Sinatra as an actor, and b) the novel by David Westheimer on which the movie was based was one of the first adult novels I ever read.  Although there are a few significant changes in the film version, including the final denouement for Sinatra's Col. Ryan, the film adaptation is at least well done, and well acted. Especially by Sinatra and Trevor Howard as Ryan's camp nemesis, Maj. Fincham.





Von Ryan's Express (1965):

Col. Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra) has to ditch his plane in Italian territory.  He is taken prisoner to the local Italian P.O.W. camp run by the ruthless and sadistic Maj. Battaglia (Adolfo Celi) and currently being led on the prisoners side by ranking officer Maj. Fincham (Trevor Howard).

Ryan takes over command of the prisoners, being the ranking officer, and immediately starts to butt heads with Fincham.  Ryan, knowing that the Italian liberation is just days away, insists on doing the best to cooperate with their captors, which includes revealing an escape tunnel to Battaglia.  Although Ryan has ulterior motives, such as better treatment for the prisoners, Fincham and his 9th Fusiliers cadre immediately start derogatorily calling him "von Ryan", implying that Ryan's sympathies are more aligned with the enemy.

When Ryan has the prisoners strip and have the lice ridden dirty uniforms set on fire, ostensibly to get the clean clothes Battaglia has been hoarding, the commandant issues the uniforms, but has his revenge by putting Ryan in the camp "sweat box" (the same place where the camp's previous prisoners'  commander had died).  But a short time later news  of Italy's surrender causes all the Italian soldiers to desert.  Ryan is released from his prison to find that Fincham and his cadre intend to conduct a court martial of Battaglia in the field.

Instead of letting this happen, Ryan insists that Battaglia be allowed to live and put in the "sweat box".  Then Ryan and the P.O.W.s head out for freedom, accompanied by Battaglia's second-in-command, Capt. Oriani (Sergio Fantoni), whom it is revealed actually has sympathies for the Allies.  With Oriani's help the men make it to a deserted fortress and Oriani goes to scout out the territory ahead.

But the Germans, who have been to the deserted camp, and freed Battaglia, capture them.  Initially Fincham thinks Oriani betrayed them, but he is revealed to also be a prisoner of the Germans.  The Germans put all the prisoners on board a train (minus the wounded which they kill) and bound the train towards the homeland.

Ryan comes up with an idea how they can escape, which involves tunneling through the floorboards of the train, attacking each guard and replacing them with a P.O.W. and then later escaping at an opportune moment.  This plan is thrown into havoc at one point however, and thus Ryan has to revise the plan.  Instead they commandeer the train and systematically begin to reroute it so it heads to neutral Switzerland.

As stated above, there are several changes between the novel and the actual film.  But the film can be viewed as an entity of its own if you have not read the book, with no after effects.  It should be noted that the ending is different, and the ending you see in the movie was done at the behest of Sinatra himself.  I won't reveal the final scene here, but it was done that way because Sinatra had some big pull to get it done his way.

Drive safely, folks.


Quiggy






10 comments:

  1. Not the first movie I think of for that second spot, but your review has me thinking I should revise my thinking.

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    1. Its pretty exciting, although it does drag a bit whenever Sinatra reacts with the girl. Never really cared for the actress they got to play her. (This is the only movie I can rember seeing her in.) Thanks for reading.

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  2. Von Ryan's Express is very under-rated for how good it is, but I'm not sure I could go #2 with it. I also think Sinatra suffers in getting credit for how good an actor he is because a lot of "purists" treat him as "just a singer."

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    1. I always tell people if you don't think Sinatra could act you oughta check out "The Man with the Golden Arm". Thanks for reading.

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  3. I agree with J-Dub that this one is under-rated. I think it's a really good example of the war film as adventure narrative, a popular genre at this time. That ending is quite bold, so it's interesting to read that it's different from the book. Also, as I remember it, there's a brief appearance by a P-38 Lightning in this - and they're not seen anywhere near enough in the movies!

    My choice for favourite POW film is probably The Colditz Story, although The Great Escape is a close second. The Captive Heart and Danger Within are both good ones that aren't well enough known.

    Thanks for taking part in the blogathon.

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    1. Have yet to see The Colditz Story. Have to look to see if my library has it. Thanks for reading.

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  4. It's indeed a great actioner. Nice review. :)

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  5. A really enjoyable film. Like you, I admire Frank Sinatra as actor, and he's totally believable in this role. I didn't realize the ending was per his request. Now I'll have to see this again and pay closer attention to the conclusion.

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    1. There are a few musicians who became actors who were just as good on both sides. Burl Ives is another. (The less said about Mark Wahlberg as a singer is the best idea, but he is a great actor). Thanks for reading.

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