Von Ryan's Express (DVD)

...any factual or historic event, Von Ryan's Express stars Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard and tells the story of survival against the odds in a war torn Europe.

Released in 1965, Sinatra plays Colonel Joseph Ryan, a smart thinking American Pilot who after getting shot down by the Italian Army is sent to an Italian run Prisoner of War camp for what is expected to be the remainder of the war. Upon arrival Ryan is immediately made the head ...
...turn the soldiers call him Von Ryan for collaborating with the enemy. In fact the heated discussions that take place between Ryan and Fincham are great to watch on screen as you see Sinatra in a different light to other roles that he has played before, something which leads to both men trusting each other by the end of the film. With the help of the Italian Commander, who has now switch sides, Ryan and the Allies hatch a plan to escape and steal ... more

Based on a novel by David Wertheimer, with a story not related to any factual or historic event, Von Ryan's Express stars Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard and tells the story of survival against the odds in a war torn Europe.

Released in 1965, Sinatra plays Colonel Joseph Ryan, a smart thinking American Pilot who after getting shot down by the Italian Army is sent to an Italian run Prisoner of War camp for what is expected to be the remainder of the war. Upon arrival Ryan is immediately made the head of the Allied prisoners as he holds the highest rank. Here Ryan meets with the Camp Commander and through negotiation surrenders information on the escape tunnel that is secretly being built for receipt of supplies such as Soap, Food and clothes which immediately improves the quality of life. Up till Ryan arrived, Major Fincham, played by Trevor Howard, was the leader and Fincham doesn't like the fact that Ryan has turned up and straight away failed them, in turn the soldiers call him Von Ryan for collaborating with the enemy. In fact the heated discussions that take place between Ryan and Fincham are great to watch on screen as you see Sinatra in a different light to other roles that he has played before, something which leads to both men trusting each other by the end of the film. With the help of the Italian Commander, who has now switch sides, Ryan and the Allies hatch a plan to escape and steal the Train that originally bought the Allies to the camp and head across Italy for the neutral country of Switzerland and effectively ensure that Ryan's personal army will be free.

Although it is clearly Sinatra who is the star of this film, it is his screen presence that dominates the story to an extent that you simply forget the person playing Ryan is better known for singing rather than acting. Appearance wise Sinatra does look a little older and a little heavier, but manages to pull off the action hero role quite well. It's also interesting to note that he was well into his toupee wearing stage by now and a few scenes in the film does tend to highlight this fact.

The other actors who appear do tend to get sufficient screen time and do get to do things rather than just being extras in the background, Trevor Howard plays Fincham as a British Major who literally barks the orders and questions Ryan throughout. For an actor like Howard who would later Ion in his career appear in Superman, this was a walk in the park, although the level of grittiness that he gives to the role makes you realise how different he is to Ryan and the methods he uses in situations shows that as a soldier, that killing the enemy is just part of the job.

Edward Mulhare, better known as Devon Miles from the TV series Knight Rider, plays Captain Costanzo, a man of the cloth who is the only one who can speak fluent German, an advantage that is put to good use in a lighter moment when the Train gets inspected by the German Militia. In fact it is this scene and the Ryan persuading the Captain to do this that balances up the humour with the drama and works well as part of the film. With other supporting cast members including Brad Dexter, Sergio Fantoni, John Leyton and even James Brolin in an early role. As a Colonel, Ryan is a ruthless man in the story and although some of the characters overall are stereo typical caricatures of sort, it is the leadership that comes through on screen and how the felling towards Ryan changes throughout the film from hate to respect.

What is interesting is that the Italian Commander who joins Ryan is played by Sergio Fantoni and although the film is set primarily in Italy it does seem that the actors including the supporting cast and the stunningly beautiful Raffaella Carra have been chosen as they are well known in Europe rather than America, which does give some idea as to how the film was marketed when released to a specific target audience. Carra's role is only small, but she does play an important pasrt in the story.

The story starts at a snails pace with very little dialogue at all, and when the location changes with the story focussing in the POW Camp the story picks up pace at quite a rate of knots. And by the time of the finale scenes you really will be engrossed with what is happening in the film.

The film has flavours of The Great Escape fused with The Train, both great films in there own right anyway, but what happens in Von Ryan's Express doesn't simply entertain, but enthrals, and this is the difference as the film was made to entertain, mainly due to the band of soldiers come up against and have to deal with on their journey, in this film whilst the POW's are on the run you see the Germans do everything in their power that they can to stop Ryan and his men from succeeding his goal, from aerial attacks by planes to ground attacks that are sent to thwart the POW's from reaching their destination. Seeing Sinatra and most of the other actors dressed as Nazi Soldiers was some thing that looked strange to say the least.

Director Mark Robson, who went on to direct Earthquake, uses a lot of long shots to build the tension and suspense throughout the film, but this doesn't detract the pace which is only added to especially when the POW's are in a tight corner that means they have to think fast and react correctly. Robson frames a shot just long enough to make you realise what is happening without the shot overstaying its welcome, this assists in the pace of the film and nicely builds up the tension after a scene is finished and the next one is show. This method can be seen in the early part of the film where Ryan's plane is shot down. Also the use of the Italian scenery is utilised sufficiently to understand where in Italy the Train is heading. The long distance shots of Rome show the beauty of the City off very well.

The action scenes are well choreographed and capture the intensity of what is being filmed, the level of violence in some places was quite heavy for a film shot in the mid sixties, although I suspect that some of the actors who played German Officers killed by explosions and gunfire weren't actually actors as they seem to fall over in quite an amateurish manner, especially in the scenes set within the mountain range and the Tunnel sequence.

For a film that was released 43 years ago the special effects have been kept to a minimum throughout, okay towards the end when there are a number of big explosions there is obvious use of miniatures with model work and although it is clear where these are used and why it does show the commitment to reality that was applied throughout. After what happens in the story, the ending is quite unexpected, but also brings closure to the film in a shockingly realistic manner.

Overall this is a film that was shown with quite some regularity on ITV in the last seventies and early eighties on a Wednesday night at 8pm when ITV used to show films mid week, these days you have to turn to ITV2!! But needless to say the film is very entertaining, seeing the Prisoner of Wars travel across Europe for freedom. Definitely one for the DVD collection and although some will think that other films such as The Train and The Great Escape were the source of the story, it is in some respects this film compliments these two films precisely and at 117 minutes long, you' wonder where the time went as well.

With the ongoing trend in Hollywood to remake or re-classify historical events so that for example the wrong country won the war single-handed or an attmpt to genuinely re-write history then I sincerely hope that the fact the story is made up of actors from mixed nationalities will not allow a remake and ultimately that mistake to be made as this boys own adventure really does deliver a good story and an entertaining film in its own right. 

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