Von Ryan’s Express (1965)

Director: Mark Robson

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà

An American POW leads a group of mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.

Frank Sinatra stars as Col. Joseph Ryan, who is taken to a POW camp, where he soon takes command as superior officer. With many prisoners suffering from malaria and being malnourished, he vows to improve the situation – and even getting them new clothes.

The camp commander, is Italian Major Basilio Battaglia. When Italy surrenders, Battaglia is accused of being a war criminal, and Ryan and the other prisoners are freed. However, Ryan and a handful of men are captured by the Germans, who take them as prisoners on a train.

The rest of the film is set on the train, and I enjoyed this adventure element. The film then follows Ryan and the men trying to escape, and make their way to freedom to Switzerland. There were moments when the film dragged a little bit, but in general this was an exciting action adventure war drama. Frank Sinatra was well cast as Ryan.

The film’s final act is action-packed and rather thrilling. It doesn’t have the ending I was hoping for and I’m still wondering why they opted for the film to end that way. Nope, I’m not going to spoil it for you! If you’re into vintage war movies, this is a good choice. But, as mentioned, the film is set mainly on a train and not on the battlefield, so keep that in mind going into this movie.

‘Von Ryan’s Express’ earned over $17 million on a budget of $5.7 million. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound Effects.

Would I watch it again? No.