World War II · Film · 1964
The Train
As the Allies close in on Paris, a German colonel loads a train with France's modern art masterpieces, and a railway inspector in the Resistance must stop it without destroying the paintings.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: Jeu de Paume museum, Paris
Key location
Colonel von Waldheim strips the museum of its modern masterpieces, and the curator begs the Resistance to save them.
Stop 2: Railways east of Paris (fictional Rive-Reine)
Labiche and his railwaymen reroute the train in a loop with fake station signs and block it in a small town without harming the cargo.
What really happened
The Nazi looting agency ERR used the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris as a sorting depot for tens of thousands of artworks seized mostly from Jewish collectors. Its French curator, Rose Valland, secretly recorded every shipment to Germany, and her memoir Le Front de l'art inspired the film.
In August 1944 the Germans loaded a last train with paintings by Picasso, Braque, Renoir and others. French railway workers delayed it with paperwork and staged breakdowns, and on 27 August a Free French unit of Leclerc's division stopped it at Aulnay-sous-Bois, just outside Paris. The spectacular sabotage, crashes and the town of Rive-Reine are the film's invention.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- The Train
- Directed by
- John Frankenheimer
- Countries
- United States, France, Italy
- Languages
- English
- Released
- 1964
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe
- Themes
- Resistance
