Copyright 23 June 1965 by P-R Productions. Released through 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening simultaneously at Loew's State and the Tower East: 23 June 1965. U.S. release: 23 June 1965. U.K. release: 16 August 1965. Sydney opening at the Regent. 117 minutes. Cut to 110 minutes in the U.K.NOTES: Nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Effects, losing to the only other nominee, "The Great Race". Number 9 at the U.S. box- office for 1965. Number 7 at U.K. ticket- windows. The movie did equal business in Australia. Locations for the $6,000,000 epic follows the route of the escaping POW's, from the Adriatic coast of central Italy, through Rome, Pisa, Florence, Bologna, Milan and the Italian Alps which lead to Switzerland. Many key scenes were enacted in railroad stations, and these were filmed by conventional methods. Aboard the speeding train, Robson had to utilize techniques which introduced the element of danger to his task. A camera jeep was fitted out with special wheels to enable it to ride on the tracks at speeds up to 90 miles per hour. Robson and his camera crew were perched in a rostrum atop the jeep as they chased after Von Ryan's Express.COMMENT: My one and only complaint is that the ending is a bit abrupt — none of the usual obligatory shots of the train winding on. Right then and there, I — and the rest of the audience — wanted to see it all over again. For a powerful and compelling use of CinemaScope, it's hard to go past Von Ryan's Express. Typical Hollywood — just as a medium is mastered and finally licked into artistic and entertaining shape, it's jettisoned for some new fad... CinemaScope was never more involving than in this movie which seems to have been specifically designed from the outset with all the capabilities of the wider screen firmly in mind.A war picture with a difference. True, there's plenty of gun-'em- down action, but there's also suspenseful drama to pin it all on, including an arresting character conflict — grippingly acted — between Sinatra's 90-day American colonel and Howard's seeded professional British major. The support players are not wanting in charisma either, particularly strong performances coming from Edward Mulhare as the padre, Fantoni, Celi, Carra, Preiss and even Ivan Triesault (speaking German like a native).Von Ryan's Express is a must for all train buffs of course, with the last half of the film excitingly staged on actual Italian locations. Robson heads up unusually fine technical credits. His direction here has an unobtrusive efficiency and confidence often lacking in his more morally ambitious projects.

I've watched VRE many times over the last 40 plus years. It was shown constantly on broadcast TV when I was a teen in the 1970's New York City (Sinatra, New York favorite), and because it's a decent action war film, I usually always watched it. I just rewatched VRE today (after at least 20 years) on a cable movie channel and showed it to my wife for her first time. I once would have rated this film a 9 or maybe a 10 even, but now it ranks as a 6 for me. My wife did watch it all so it is a decent escapist film. However, we started to make fun of it because the whole premise is they are escaping the Germans to go to Switzerland to "be free". When you got to Switzerland in real life during WW2 they put you in an interment camp until the end of the war, something the film never discusses. So Ryan is getting everyone killed off to save his reputation in general since he really messes up in the beginning of the film, getting shot down and captured in the first place and sparing the Camp CO. If you remember while watching the film, nearly every one of the POW's dies.....twice. It's hysterical but at the end they have the same amount of prisoners as at the beginning. And ammunition? This has a 1940's B Western mentality, unlimited ammo in the guns. And almost all of the WHOLE German army are armed with sub machine guns. Yawn. A flamethrower would have been cool at the end no matter what side used one. And Italiano Frank Sinatra doesn't understand a single word of Italian? And he's a Colonel flying a fighter plane with no wingman and decides to crash on the land instead of out at sea? Yawning on my 20th rewatch but the wife did stay around to see the ending (and laughed when she saw it). I give it a 6 because although the story is stupid, the production values are really high with the location shooting (it's a better film then the really lame Sinatra war film None But The Brave (also from 1965) which I give a 4 of 10 and also co stars Brad Dexter, (the least memorable Magnificent Seven member)). The fighter planes at the end were also cool as they were actual German planes not Mustangs (nor actual 109's but at least they were trainers from the period (108's)), so it's better then watching Battle Of The Bulge using American cold war tanks as Tigers. Finally, run through the tunnel! Why is it shorter to run around a mountain instead of through a tunnel anyway?

I always wondered why the prisoners just didn't get out and run through the train tunnel. At one point, they were trying to take a foot bridge around the mountain with Switzerland being on the other side of the mountain. If they had just run through the tunnel they would have been very well protected from the planes and the Germans on the troop train never would have caught them on time. It didn't make sense to me that the option they chose was to repair the track and drive the whole train through. One could argue it was because they had wounded to carry but that would have also applied to taking the footbridge around the mountain.

Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard headline a solid cast in this rousing adaptation of a novel by David Westheimer, directed with gusto by Mark Robson and filmed on breathtaking locations in Italy. Sinatra plays Joseph Ryan, an American Air Force pilot shot down and taken to a prison camp run by domineering Battaglia (Adolfo Celi). This camp is mostly populated by Brits, members of the Royal Army's 9th Fusiliers, with a couple of other Americans on hand. When the prisoners see their chance for escape, they take it, only to be recaptured by Nazi forces. However, they manage to outwit their captors and gain control of the train being used to transport them.One element that really helps "Von Ryan's Express" to sparkle is the antagonistic relationship between Ryan and English major Fincham (Trevor Howard), who has his own way of doing things. The actors - also including Brad Dexter as American POW Bostick, Sergio Fantoni as sympathetic Italian soldier Oriani, John Leyton as Orde, Edward Mulhare as Costanzo, Raffaella Carra as Gabriella, the films' sole female presence, and Wolfgang Preiss as Nazi major Von Klemment, with James Brolin, John Van Dreelen, Vito Scotti, Richard Bakalyan, William Berger, and James Sikking in small roles - are all tremendous fun to watch, creating a number of strong personalities that nicely complement the action and spectacle.The film is also an impressive technical achievement, thanks to contributors such as cinematographer William H. Daniels and those in the sound department, and Jerry Goldsmith delivers an eclectic and lively score. The pacing is a little slow to start, focusing on setting up character and situation, and picking up considerably once the action shifts to the train. The many thrilling train sequences are certain to get the audiences' attention; everything culminates in a particularly exciting finale as Ryan, Fincham, and the rest try to fight their way to freedom through the Alps, with Nazi goons in hot pursuit. The resolution is surprisingly bittersweet, with a development the viewers might not see coming.In the end, the film does memorably espouse the idea that if just one person can make it to freedom, then the whole ordeal will be worth it, and provides potent entertainment for just under two hours. It would make very interesting viewing to compare it with the John Frankenheimer / Burt Lancaster collaboration "The Train", for sure. It's well acted, well directed, and completely involving.Nine out of 10.