Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by powermatic (A) on March 08, 2010 at 12:16:12

In Reply to: RE: All this Hurt Locker talk has got me thinking about the best war movies. Here's my list posted by Doug Flynn on March 06, 2010 at 19:12:12

A fantastic movie, suspenseful and action-packed, it details the moving of great works of art out of Paris at the end of WW2. Burt Lancaster does all of his own stunts, which seems insane even for the period, but he apparently was running the show, as he had the original director (Arthur Penn) fired from the set, and convinced his pal Frankenheimer to take over. Filmed in black and white, probably for economic reasons but it was a great artistic choice as well, since it adds to the mood of the grime and dirt inherent in working on steam-powered locomotives. The film has aged very well-even after 46 years, it does not seem dated in any respect worth mentioning-one plot twist requires some suspension of disbelief, but few movies don't. Speaking of 'worth mentioning', the 'special effects' seem very realistic, probably because they were the real thing-actual trains crashing, the actual French rail yard being actually blown up, etc., stuff you'll never see again in a film. I consider it a 'must see'.





"dammit"