WWII Marathon #13: Von Ryan's Express (1965)

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Luckily the second annual WWII marathon ends on an unusual high in the form of Mark Robson’s Von Ryan’s Express, which is pure adventure along the German-occupied Italian landscape. 

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Essentially The Great Escape with a train, the film, based on the David Westheimer novel, begins as a prison camp drama before shifting into a more comfortable, more exhilarating escape movie.

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Frank Sinatra plays American pilot Joseph L. Ryan, whose plane is downed near an Italian POW camp. Populated mainly by British soldiers led by ranking officer Major Eric Fincham (Trevor Howard), whom becomes displaced as camp leader by Ryan upon his arrival.

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The two bicker and bemoan each other throughout – with Ryan’s by-the-book morality winning out over Fincham’s more agitated, compulsive conduct – until they are transported North on-board a Nazi train, which they so ably overtake.

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From there, Val Lewton understudy Mark Robson stages some uniquely comical suspense sequences as the train covertly sneaks past Nazi stations and North towards Switzerland, to eventual freedom.

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There’s a wonderful climax in the Alps in which our escaped prisoners’ train is stalled in the mountains with Nazi troops at their heels and a genuine surprise of a final shot, but it’s the film’s stunning location work from start to finish that guarantees its success. [B+]