Stars: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Michel Simon, Wolfgang Preiss, Jacques Marin, Albert Remy, Richard Munch

Director: John Frankenheimer

Summary: At the end of World War II the retreating Germans try to smuggle a fortune in art treasures out of Paris on an armoured train. Burt Lancaster leads the Resistance in a desperate bid to stop them.

The duo of director John Frankenheimer and actor Burt Lancaster again join forces with the latter starring as French railway inspector Labiche. With Allied forces closing in on occupied Paris, Herman Goering orders Col. Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) to move the priceless art from the Jeu de Paume Museum to Germany by train. The museum's curator, Mme. Villard (Suzanne Flon) tries to cajole Labiche into stopping the art train, but he's far more concerned with blowing up a German armaments train. Meanwhile, Papa Boule (Michel Simon), an aged railwayman, uses the distraction of the Allied bombing of a nearby munitions train to burn out the engines of the train carrying the art, and is killed by the Nazis for his efforts. Hotelkeeper Christine (Jeanne Moreau), has managed to persuade Labiche of the importance of the art, and when the livid Waldheim orders him to drive the treasure-bearing train, he's formulated a plan to foil the Nazi theft. He fabricates a series of interlocking ruses which lead the Germans to believe that the train has crossed into Germany, when, in reality, it's simply going in circles around Paris. Lancaster leads an exceptional cast in this engrossing film, based on a true story. Michel Simon is especially memorable, as is the gritty, minimally-lit black and white photography of Jean Tournier.

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Originally shown in 1998, Big Trainwas the eagerly awaited follow-up to Father Tedfrom writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews. Resisting the pressure to make another sitcom, Big Trainis, instead, a sketch show in the best Monty Python tradition, updated with influences from arch-surrealist Chris Morris as well as the contemporary The Fast Show. The sketches can be joyously odd--Pythonesque firefighting showjumpers, the evil hypnotist, and the outrageous onanistic office workers, for example--but the show never neglects to keep the punchlines coming thick and fast (though the animated staring contest does rather drag after a while). The cast comprises some of the best new names in comedy, including Kevin Eldon, Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, Julia Davis and Amelia Bullmore (who went on to become Alan Partridge's Ukrainian girlfriend).

Series 2 didn't pull into the platform until 2002, by which time Graham Linehan was absent writing Black Books. But Arthur Matthews maintains the quality of the first series on the whole--the man with oversized hands, the creepy cult questionnaire, the zookeeper's recruitment agency--adding some spot-on French art house cinema spoofs and other movie-style take offs somewhat in the manner of Spaced, which Pegg and Heap had gone on to make. That duo return here for more silliness along with new cast members Rebecca Front (The Day Today, Knowing Me, Knowing You) and Tracey-Ann Oberman (better known now as Chrissie Watts in Eastenders).

On the DVD:Big Trainbelatedly arrives on DVD in a two-disc set which includes a plethora of deleted scenes for both Series 1 and 2. There are cast biogs plus three of the sketches as performed on a German TV sketch show. Commentary on the first series is by both writers, though happily Pegg, Heap and Eldon gatecrash halfway through. Matthews and Eldon join director and producer for the somewhat more straight-faced commentary on the second disc. Menu options thankfully include the treasurable "Play all" facility. --Mark Walker

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1964
Release Date:	May 5, 2003
Runtime:	127 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	16231 D V D
Keywords:	War, Train
Genre:	War