Von Ryan's Express

Von Ryan's Express
Theatrical release poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	Mark Robson
Screenplay by	Wendell Mayes Joseph Landon
Based on	Von Ryan's Express 1964 novel by David Westheimer
Produced by	Saul David
Starring	Frank Sinatra Trevor Howard Raffaella Carrà Brad Dexter Sergio Fantoni John Leyton Edward Mulhare Wolfgang Preiss
Cinematography	William H. Daniels
Edited by	Dorothy Spencer
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	June 23, 1965 (1965-06-23)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English/Italian
Budget	$5.76 million
Box office	$17.1 million

Von Ryan's Express is a 1965 World War II adventure film starring Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, and Raffaella Carrà, and directed by Mark Robson. Produced in CinemaScope, the film depicts a group of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) who conduct a daring escape by hijacking the freight train carrying the POWs and fleeing through German-occupied Italy to Switzerland. Based on the 1964 novel by David Westheimer, the film changes several aspects of the novel, most notably the ending, which is considerably more upbeat in the book. Financially, it became one of Sinatra's most successful films.

Plot

In 1943 American Colonel Joseph Ryan, a USAAF P-38 pilot, is shot down over Italy and taken to a POW camp run by the Fascist camp commander, Major Basilio Battaglia, and his sympathetic second-in-command, Captain Vittorio Oriani. Most prisoners are from the British 9th Fusiliers whose commanding officer recently died after being placed in a "sweat box" as punishment for hitting Battaglia. Ryan assumes command of the camp as the most senior officer much to the dismay of Major Eric Fincham, the most-senior British officer.

Ryan starts to infuriate Fincham. First he declines to support Fincham's escape attempts because Italy is close to surrender. Second he orders Fincham to distribute Red Cross medical supplies to the seriously ill prisoners after some American prisoners are caught stealing medicine from a secret British hoard. Third he angers Fincham by revealing an escape plan to Battaglia in exchange for better treatment of the prisoners. But when Battaglia refuses to issue new clothing, Ryan orders prisoners to strip and burn their filthy uniforms. Battaglia throws Ryan into the sweat box as punishment.

After the Italian surrenders, the camp guards flee and Ryan is freed; the British promptly convict Battaglia as a war criminal. Ryan sentences him to the sweat box rather than being executed.

A German fighter plane overflies the camp, forcing Ryan and the POWs to flee into the Italian countryside. Captain Oriani agrees to make contact with Allied forces on their behalf. However, the next morning, the Germans recapture the prisoners and force them into train boxcars. Fincham assumes Oriani betrayed them until he is found severely beaten onboard. The freed Battaglia comes to gloat at their misfortune. Before leaving, the Germans shoot all the sick prisoners. Fincham blames Ryan for letting Battaglia live, and derogatively calls him "von Ryan". In Rome Major von Klemment, takes command of the prisoner transport.

As the train heads northward through Italy, Ryan pries up the railcar floorboards. That night Ryan, Fincham, and Lt. Orde climb out of their car and free some POWs, who then kill the remaining guards on the train taking their uniforms as a disguise. Ryan and Fincham find von Klemment and his Italian mistress, Gabriella in the command car.

Lights start to follow the captured train. Von Klemment reveals it is a German troop train on the same schedule. Von Klemment also states he must stop in Florence to receive new orders. To get through the station, German-speaking British chaplain, Captain Costanzo, bravely impersonates the German commander with Fincham and Ryan dressed as German soldiers. However, the prisoners are nearly recaptured when a Gestapo officer boards the train to buy Ryan's American watch. Ryan coolly barters with the German agent before he leaves with the watch.

The orders in Florence show that both trains are headed to Innsbruck, Austria. Using a forged typewritten order, the prisoners switch their train onto a different line at Bologna while the troop train continues on toward Innsbruck. Ryan, still dressed as a German soldier, is forced to shoot Von Klemment and Gabriella after they escape from the train. Her death disgusts the Italian civilians who see Ryan as a Nazi.

The German High Command begin inquiries after discovering that the train has been diverted. That night the train and POWs become victims of an Allied bombing raid over Northern Italy. With three dead and some sixty wounded, Oriani and the train's Italian engineer tell Ryan and Fincham that their only option is to reroute the train at Milan to neutral Switzerland. However, the Germans now realise the train has been captured by the POWs so SS troops have set up an ambush ahead. But the prisoners capture a signal box and reroute the train in time.

In the Italian Alps just before the Swiss border, rockets from a German aircraft cause boulders to fall onto the track halting the train. Undamaged rails from behind the train have to be used to fix the crushed sections. Meanwhile SS troops in another train eventually catch up. Ryan, Fincham, and some POWs stay behind to hold them off. A vicious battle begins. Eventually the track in front of the prisoner train is repaired and it begins to move. Fincham and the surviving POWs get back onboard but Ryan is killed just as the train steams to the safety of Switzerland.

Cast

• Frank Sinatra as Col. Joseph L. Ryan
• Trevor Howard as Maj. Eric Fincham
• Raffaella Carrà as Gabriella
• Brad Dexter as Sgt. Bostick
• Sergio Fantoni as Capt. Oriani
• John Leyton as Lt. Orde
• Edward Mulhare as Capt. Costanzo, the chaplain
• Wolfgang Preiss as Maj. von Klemment
• James Brolin as Private Ames
• John van Dreelen as Col. Gortz
• Adolfo Celi as Maj. Bassilio Battaglia
• Vito Scotti as Peppino the Italian engineer
• Richard Bakalyan as Cpl. Giannini
• Michael Goodliffe as Capt. Stein
• Michael St. Clair as Sgt. Dunbar
• Ivan Triesault as Obergruppenfuhrer Wilhelm von Kleist

Production

Original novel

The novel was published in 1963. The novelist David Westheimer had been a POW during World War II. He witnessed the bombing of Bolzano in 1943 from a box car. Martin Levin, reviewing the book for The New York Times, said the novel "has everything for the screen but the camera directions."

Development

The novel was a best seller and 20th Century Fox bought the film rights for a reported $125,000. The studio assigned Saul David to produce and Mark Robson to direct. Robson had intended to make The Centurians, but this was delayed when his chosen star, Anthony Quinn, was unavailable. Frank Sinatra had read the novel and wanted to buy the film rights himself; when he heard they had been lost to Fox, he offered his services for the lead role.

Von Ryan's Express was a project keenly undertaken by 20th Century Fox, which was still financially reeling after the extravagance and critical bashing of Cleopatra. Fox, in a bid to prove that they were still able to make films on an epic scale, shot extensively on location in Europe and built a full-scale prison camp as opposed to shooting on a backlot. It was producer Saul David's first film for Fox. He followed it with Our Man Flint, Fantastic Voyage, and In Like Flint.

Shooting

Rumours of a personality clash between star Frank Sinatra, who was flown by helicopter to the set, and director Mark Robson were not enough to cause problems as the film was shot with relatively little trouble. However, Sinatra did insist that the ending of the film be altered, ending any chance of a sequel. Sinatra also insisted the film be shot in Panavision rather than Fox's CinemaScope.

The film score was written by Jerry Goldsmith.

The railway bridge in 2015.

Von Ryan's Express achieved reality using aircraft, trains, and wheeled vehicles photographed on location along with the occasional model. The aircraft alluded to as Messerschmitts were indeed Messerschmitt Bf 108s. A majority of the film was shot on location around Northern Italy in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station in Florence (in reality is Roma Ostiense railway station). The Ferrovie dello Stato/Italian State Railway closely cooperated on the production, as reflected in the film's closing acknowledgment credit, providing a complete train headed by the specially-bulled up FS Class 735.236. The train which the Nazis commandeer to pursue the escaping POWs is headed by a Franco-Crosti boiler-fitted Class 743.

The railway sequence at the film's conclusion, however, was shot in the Caminito del Rey walkway in the limestone gorge of El Chorro and in the adjacent railway bridge, near Málaga in Andalucía, Spain. This switch from filming in Italy was probably done as the bridge looked more suitably attractive for presenting the final set piece than anything that could be found on the Italian rail network. The train featuring in these sequences was laid on by the RENFE/Spanish National Railways and altered to resemble the Italy-based train. Interiors were completed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles. The POW camp (Campo Concentramento Prigioneri di Guerra 202) was also built in the front lot of the Studios.

Reception

Critical

Critics liked Von Ryan's Express. Variety noted, "Mark Robson has made realistic use of the actual Italian setting of the David Westheimer novel in garmenting his action in hard-hitting direction and sharply drawn performances." Frank Sinatra's daughter Nancy noted in her biography of her father that his performance fuelled speculation of another Academy Award nomination. Time Out London called the film a "ripping adventure" that was "directed with amused panache by Robson, and helped no end by a fine cast...", while the BBC's TV, film and radio listings magazine The Radio Times described it as "a rattlingly exciting Second World War escape adventure, with a well-cast Frank Sinatra..."

Box office

The film grossed $17,111,111 ($170,731,666 in 2024 consumer dollars) at the North American box office, equating to $7,700,000 ($76,829,250 in 2024 consumer dollars) taken in box office rentals. Variety ranked Von Ryan's Express as the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1965. Additionally, this was Sinatra's highest-grossing and biggest-earning film of the decade.

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $12,600,000 in rentals to break even and made over $17,000,000, meaning it made a profit.

Awards

The film was nominated for a Best Sound Editing (Walter Rossi) Academy Award in 1966, while the Motion Picture Sound Editors also nominated the film for Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film.

British Channel 4 ranked Von Ryan's Express number 89 on their list of 100 Greatest War Films, commenting, "A ripping yarn culminating in a wild train dash through [Italy], with director Mark Robson cranking up the tension and releasing it with some excellent action set-pieces." It has a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 20 reviews.

See also

• List of American films of 1965

External links

• Von Ryan's Express at IMDb
• Von Ryan's Express at the TCM Movie Database
• Von Ryan's Express at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Von Ryan's Express at Discogs Soundtrack
• Von Ryan's Express at Rotten Tomatoes