Paint Speak

The Train (1964) is an excellent film that you can currently watch for free on Hulu (or simply by clicking the embedded video above). In many ways, it can be seen as a prototype of the generic action thrillers that became popular in the 1970's and continue to dominate at the box office today. The excessive explosions, Nazi antagonists, and distressed damsels are all there. However, these tropes merely serve to enhance an already-good, entertaining film.

The story is a mostly-fictive take on the art theft that occurred within Nazi-occupied France. As the opening credits unwind, we see Nazi henchmen carefully packing and crating various stolen treasures of the French state. Here is a crate of stolen Seurat masterpieces:



The sets throughout the movie are beautiful and anyone who likes the sights and sounds of trains and rail yards will not be disappointed. It is, of course, no surprise when the downtrodden heroes foil the Nazi's plan to steal a train full of French masterpieces. However, the battle is won by a sequence of unexpected French trickery, and ultimately the good guys prevail by doing what they do best: painting. To make matters even more strange, "the glory of France" is saved as a result of some frenzied, Jackson Pollock-style action painting. Sometimes fiction is stranger than truth, and this movie makes efficient use of both.