VON RYAN'S EXPRESS (1965)
DIRECTOR:
Mark Robson
CAST:
Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carra, Sergio Fantoni, Brad Dexter, Edward Mulhare, Wolfgang Preiss, Adolfo Celi, John Leyton, Richard Bakalyan, John van Dreelen, Michael Goodliffe, Vito Scotti, James Brolin, Jacques Stany and Max Tarilli.
REVIEW:
Despite a hash of familiar clichés, “Von Ryan’s Express” is a pretty well-crafted action movie. Despite some dramatic touches, this film is not meant to be taken seriously. If one is looking for a believable POW story, try “King Rat” or “The Great Escape”. Anyone looking for their own Great Escape should sit down with a bag of popcorn and pop in this flick.
The setting is Italy, in August of 1943. Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra, “None But the Brave”) is shot down behind enemy lines just as the Allies are making their way up the Italian peninsula. He’s thrown into an Italian POW camp, which is primarily occupied by 350 soldiers – typically professional Englishmen, commanded by Major Fincham (Trevor Howard), who’s become obsessed with continuing to fight the war from inside the barbed wire fences. After a serious of plot twists, the prisoners find themselves loaded onto boxcars en route to Germany. The officers have had enough; they decide to commandeer the train and escape to neutral Switzerland.
This is a slightly unbalanced movie, but its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. The cast is excellent all-around. Sinatra, now a veteran actor, is essentially playing himself, but he’s relaxed and solid. He shows believable remorse when forced to kill an enemy collaborator, and his attitudes towards imprisonment take a very natural shift over the course of events. Sergio Fantoni (“Hornets’ Nest”) is excellent as the conservative Captain Oriani, an Italian officer who has sympathy for the men under his care and becomes united with Ryan in a battle against Major Battaglia (Adolfo Celi, “The Dirty Heroes”), a typically fascist, vain Commandant. Trevor Howard (“Father Goose”) doesn’t have much to do except bicker and argue, but he puts on a pretty good show of it.
The supporting cast also includes a slew of familiar faces, all lending a hand to fill out the ranks: Raffaella Carra (“Hell Commandos”) is an Italian prostitute who’s living with Major von Klemment (Wolfgang Preiss, “Anzio”). Preiss is not up to par with his usual material – simply because he’s given little to do – and Carra seems like a tacked on piece of scenery, unnecessary from the moment she arrives until her final scene. More crucial are Brad Dexter (“Run Silent, Run Deep”) as the tough American NCO and Edward Mulhare (“Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer”), who’s a ball as the Chaplain who’s forced to pose as a German officer. Notable bits include Max Tarilli (“Hell in Normandy”) and Jacques Stany (“Hour X – Suicide Patrol”) pop up in minor roles as German officers.
Veteran director Robson really knows how to put on a good show. The opening scenes, set inside a dreary Italian POW camp, are spent developing the leads and subplots. Not a single frame of word of dialog is wasted here, and we know whose wide we’re on by the time the pace picks up. Here, the script and cast make a hashed-together load of clichés and coincides seem entirely natural. There are the familiar Gestapo agents; masquerades in enemy uniforms at Milano and Bologna; German soldiers who can’t aim their weapons or duck out of the way of oncoming fire; etc., etc. It’s all tied together so seamlessly and so well acted that one doesn’t notice, and if they do, they don’t care.
This is pure Hollywood escapism at its best. No penny was spared by 20th Century Fox on production costs. The film was shot in Italy, and Robson shows off some beautiful historical locations throughout. The exteriors never lose their realism: the bustling train yards of Milano and Bologna look and feel confusing as the German army retreats and the Italian Alps have never looked more beautiful and stunning. The action sequence, especially the final shootout with Messerschmitt fighters and a trainload of SS storm troopers, is intense and finely edited. The violence and “death” scenes are never too forced, nor are they brutally graphic. This is meant to be an entertaining, lighthearted adventure and the mood stays consistent throughout. The only strike against the editing is the over-use of some rear projection footage during scenes atop the boxcar roofs.
“Von Ryan’s Express” proves to be an enjoyable, engaging fantasy with enough gritty action, fine suspense and beautiful locales to keep fans of many genres satisfied. The DVD presentation, although lacking extra features, is superb.
SGT. SLAUGHTER’S RATING:
4 Bullets
