The Train - actors, characters and roles

All actors and their roles in the film "The Train"
The Train (1964)
Timing: 2:13 (133 min)
The Train - TMDB rating
7.5/10
308
The Train - Kinopoisk rating
7.58/10
1052
The Train - IMDB rating
7.8/10
18185

Actors and characters

Photo Burt Lancaster #95172Photo Burt Lancaster #95173Photo Burt Lancaster #95174Photo Burt Lancaster #95175

Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster
Character Paul Labiche
Photo Paul Scofield #115532Photo Paul Scofield #115533

Paul Scofield

Paul Scofield
Character von Waldheim
Photo Jeanne Moreau #59260Photo Jeanne Moreau #59261Photo Jeanne Moreau #59262Photo Jeanne Moreau #59263

Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau
Character Christine
Photo Suzanne Flon #115980Photo Suzanne Flon #115981Photo Suzanne Flon #115982Photo Suzanne Flon #115983

Suzanne Flon

Suzanne Flon
Character Mademoiselle Villard
Photo Michel Simon #123671Photo Michel Simon #123672Photo Michel Simon #123673Photo Michel Simon #123674

Michel Simon

Michel Simon
Character Papa Boul
Photo Wolfgang Preiss #83182

Wolfgang Preiss

Wolfgang Preiss
Character Maj. Herren
Photo Albert Rémy #117224

Albert Rémy

Albert Rémy
Character Didont
Photo Charles Millot #121010

Charles Millot

Charles Millot
Character Pesquet
Photo Richard Münch #101155Photo Richard Münch #101156

Richard Münch

Richard Münch
Character General von Libitz
Photo Jean-Pierre Zola #121015
Jean-Pierre Zola
Character Octave
Photo Jacques Marin #102711
Jacques Marin
Character Jacques
Photo Paul Bonifas #126018

Paul Bonifas

Paul Bonifas
Character Spinet
Photo Jean Bouchaud #122572
Jean Bouchaud
Character Schmidt
Photo Donald O

Donald O'Brien

Donald O'Brien
Character Schwartz
Photo Arthur Brauss #102351

Arthur Brauss

Arthur Brauss
Character Pilzer
Jean-Claude Bercq
Character Major
Photo Howard Vernon #32428Photo Howard Vernon #32429

Howard Vernon

Howard Vernon
Character Dietrich
Louis Falavigna
Character Railroad Worker
Photo Richard Bailey #198930Photo Richard Bailey #198931Photo Richard Bailey #198932
Richard Bailey
Character Grote
Christian Fuin
Character Robert
Helmo Kindermann
Character Ordnance Officer
Photo Roger Lumont #103351
Roger Lumont
Character Engineer Officer
Photo Gérard Buhr #109259
Gérard Buhr
Character Corporal
Christian Rémy
Character Tauber

What's left behind the scenes

  • The film is based on the novel 'Front of Art' by Rose Valland.
  • The operation of the French railway workers in August 1944, shown in the film, is fictional and serves as a composite image, illustrating the activities of the railway underground throughout the four years of German occupation.
  • Arthur Penn was initially approved as the film's director. However, he only shot one day and, at the insistence of Burt Lancaster, was replaced by John Frankenheimer. Lancaster disliked Penn's concept. Penn intended to film a purely dramatic story, focusing on the role of art in people's lives. The film was to answer the question of why they risked their lives to save paintings, without necessarily understanding art themselves. He planned to dedicate minimal screen time to the operation itself. According to Frankenheimer, in Penn's version, the train did not leave the station for the first 90 pages of the script.
  • Burt Lancaster performed all the stunts himself in the film. Similarly, Albert Rémy personally detached a locomotive from the main train while it was in motion.
  • The producers hired a train to transport equipment from one filming location to another. This train also appears in the film as a transport for the paintings.
  • The filming was so noisy due to the locomotives and other machinery that the commands 'action' and 'cut' were often given using a special code with train whistles.
  • The main railway scenes were filmed at the Argentueil sorting station, the Saint-Ouen depot, in Glacé-Gentilly, in Ver-Torsy and Garganville. The aerial attack on the Ver station was filmed in Garganville near Paris (a former sorting station). The team of special effects master Lee Zavitz, consisting of 50 people, spent six weeks installing and connecting pyrotechnic devices, which then blew up the station in one minute of screen time.
  • In 2004, The New York Times included 'The Train' in its list of 1000 best films of the world.
  • Locomotive No. 757 (Bourbonnais type 030S), sent to the derailed steam engine from the train carrying paintings, crashed into the last one at a speed of 60 miles per hour. The episode was filmed in Normandy, in Acquigny with extreme safety measures and with the possibility of only one take. The filming was done immediately with seven cameras. The scene of the first steam engine crash (type 230V) was filmed with five cameras, three of which were broken because, after derailing, the steam engine moved faster than planned.
  • The scene where Paul Lyabiche climbs the hill overlooking the railway was filmed in the valley of the Er River, near Autheuil-Authouy.
  • Midway through filming, Burt Lancaster took a day off to play golf. During the game, he fell into a bunker and injured his knee so badly that he could only walk with a limp. To continue filming, John Frankenheimer included in the film an episode of chasing Lyabiche and his leg injury.
  • When it became known that Michel Simon would not be able to complete the work in all the scenes planned with him, Frankenheimer introduced into the script a scene of the execution of his character, Pope Bulle.
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