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The Battle of the Rails
The Battle of the Rails (French: La Bataille du rail) is a 1946 French docudrama war film co-written directed by René Clément in his feature directorial debut, and narrated by Charles Boyer. It depicts the efforts by railway workers in the French Resistance to sabotage German military transport trains during the Second World War, particularly during the Invasion of Normandy by Allies. Many of the cast were genuine railway workers. While critics have often historically treated it as similar to Italian neorealism, it is closer to the traditional documentaries on which the director had worked.
The film was shown at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and Clément won the Best Director Award. The film also won the inaugural Prix Méliès.
In 1949, the film was distributed in America by Arthur Mayer and Joseph Burstyn.
The film was withdrawn from circulation in French Indochina, when it became known that Viet Minh members were using the film as training material for sabotaging railways.
The film was released on Blu-Ray in France on June 1, 2010.
Reviewing the film on its 1949 US release, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "For here, in this ninety-minute picture, is a sizzling dramatic account of realistic action and adventure in the fascinating realm of railway trains—of smuggling, spying, train-wrecking and correlated fighting by the bold Maquis."
André Bazin spoke positively of the film, in contrast to his Cahiers du Cinéma colleagues' more critical read of René Clément. He wrote writing "The morality of art fuses here with the morality of history. The greatness of this film and its spiritual bond with the cause of the Resistance are not unrelated to the purity of intention revealed by its means and its men."
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The Battle of the Rails
The Battle of the Rails (French: La Bataille du rail) is a 1946 French docudrama war film co-written directed by René Clément in his feature directorial debut, and narrated by Charles Boyer. It depicts the efforts by railway workers in the French Resistance to sabotage German military transport trains during the Second World War, particularly during the Invasion of Normandy by Allies. Many of the cast were genuine railway workers. While critics have often historically treated it as similar to Italian neorealism, it is closer to the traditional documentaries on which the director had worked.
The film was shown at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and Clément won the Best Director Award. The film also won the inaugural Prix Méliès.
In 1949, the film was distributed in America by Arthur Mayer and Joseph Burstyn.
The film was withdrawn from circulation in French Indochina, when it became known that Viet Minh members were using the film as training material for sabotaging railways.
The film was released on Blu-Ray in France on June 1, 2010.
Reviewing the film on its 1949 US release, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "For here, in this ninety-minute picture, is a sizzling dramatic account of realistic action and adventure in the fascinating realm of railway trains—of smuggling, spying, train-wrecking and correlated fighting by the bold Maquis."
André Bazin spoke positively of the film, in contrast to his Cahiers du Cinéma colleagues' more critical read of René Clément. He wrote writing "The morality of art fuses here with the morality of history. The greatness of this film and its spiritual bond with the cause of the Resistance are not unrelated to the purity of intention revealed by its means and its men."