Von Ryan’s Express (1965) - film review

1944.  After his plane is shot down over Italy, American airman Colonel Joseph L. Ryan soon finds himself in an Italian prisoner of war camp, which is run with an iron hand by the cruel Major Battaglia.  Ryan immediately finds himself in conflict with the highest ranking British officer in the camp, Major Eric Fincham, who reluctantly accepts the superiority of Ryan’s rank.  On discovering a flawed escape plan, Ryan reveals the escape tunnel that has been dug by the prisoners to the German officers, and is immediately christened Von Ryan by a contemptuous Fincham.  The prisoners are quick to take advantage of Italy’s surrender to the Allies.  As the guards flee, they try to make a break for it, but are captured by German soldiers and loaded aboard a train bound for Germany.  Just when all appears lost, Ryan conceives a daring plan.  Rather than escape from the train, the prisoners should take control of it and use it to escape to safety...

Von Ryan’s Express typifies the kind of blockbuster adventure war movie that was highly popular in the mid-1960s - a far-fetched romp that leaves no cliché unturned but manages to please the crowds with its exciting action sequences and unlikely plot twists, all served with a smattering of wry humour.  If you are looking for realism, you should look elsewhere.  This is pure mindless escapism, with a plot that strains credulity to comicbook proportions and characters so shallow you can almost see straight through them.  Despite its many plot holes (the most obvious being just why the Germans would bother chasing after a few hundred escaped prisoners when they are simultaneously being hammered by an Allied offensive) and implausible characterisation (a priest who can give a perfect imitation of a Nazi officer takes some beating), Von Ryan’s Express is entertaining enough.  Under Mark Robson’s deft directorial stewardship, the film just about manages to stay on the rails, not easy when you have two prize-winning egos - Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard - vying for our attention (Howard wins, but only by being a curmudgeonly old beggar).   The film’s grim ending inevitably comes as a shock and just feels completely wrong for the film - Sinatra insisted on it to put paid to any plans for a sequel (he apparently had a habit of doing things his way).

© Derek Adamson 2010

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