Review of Von Ryan's Express (1965) by Harry W — 10 Mar 2014

Von Ryan's Express was the fourth film in a collection of Frank Sinatra films I had come across, and it sounded interesting enough on the surface so watching it was definitely a good idea.

Von Ryan's Express first takes the viewer's notice as being a strong visual experience. It contains an excellent production design and contains the lush scenery of Italy making its Italian setting a lot more legitimate. And combined with fine costumes, every inch of Von Ryan's Express is thoroughly convincing in its realism. There is a lot of unforgettable imagery from Von Ryan's Express which builds a lot on a relatively small budget, and it is all captured greatly with fine quality cinematography which is always positive in setting the mood of the story. Whilst the story of the film is a little slow at the start and takes a while to kick off and explore an expanded territory, there is no denying that it is an easily memorable visual experience. The special effects also do their trick well enough on a consistent basis.

As the visual elements of the film become more tied in to the development of the story, Von Ryan's Express gets better and better. The quality of it increases vastly when it begins to move along, and we end up find a compelling connection to Colonel Joseph L. Ryan and his crew. The film becomes easy to enjoy for a lot of reasons, and one of them is the fact that it builds up a lot of intensity the closer it progresses towards the end. It becomes stronger and stronger in delivering its dramatic impact as it progresses step by step towards its big climactic final act, and the pacing does too. Audiences that can handle a story that takes its time to really get where it's going can find themselves truly appreciating the depth and meaning in Von Ryan's Express.

As a story, Von Ryan's Express is great. It's compelling and meaningful as well as very exhilarating. The quantity of action goes through a well-paced gradual buildup which increases well as it reaches its climax, and while it is clearly done on a low budget it proves entertaining and strongly beneficial to the thrilling atmosphere of the film. As the action begins to seep into the story, it increases the dramatic impact of the film for one simple reason: realism. A lot of war films tend to have some bullets flying around and then stop and completely forget about the fact that people have just died and bullets have been heard. In Von Ryan's Express, the more bullets, the more dramatic the story becomes. Von Ryan's Express actually takes advantage of its entertaining action scenes by using them to the benefit of the story development instead of merely pawning them off as a minor element or subplot, and it never feels unnecessary or as if the film is dependent on that in lieu of genuine intelligent writing.

I love the fact that at some brief moments in Von Ryan's Express there is a few slapstick humour jokes, reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin style comedy. This lightens the mood and makes the experience more enjoyable from a wider perspective. While the drama of the story is more effective and consistent, the brief moments of comedy do their part as well. And the screenplay is very intelligent with some memorable lines and a lot of strong characters for the actors to work hard at perfecting depth for.

Von Ryan's Express is simple story which combines the importance of its characters with unforgettable visual elements, and the thing that ties it all together is the fact that the film boasts Mark Robson as director who manages to ensure that the visual elements and the meaning behind the source novel is all put into perspective and made into an entertaining tale of war. He manages to bring out the best in his crew, and his film also boasts a talented cast.

It's hard to truly specify many standout actors in Von Ryan's Express because they all make a dedicated effort to ensuring that it is meaningful and easy for audiences to sympathise for by connectinf to the characters, but without a doubt the most talented of the actors is Frank Sinartra.

Growing up I always thought of Frank Sinatra as a singer and barely knew of him being an actor, but time and time again he proves to impress me with Von Ryan's Express being one of his greatest films and featuring one of his significantly better performances. His performance in the role of the titular Colonel Joseph. L Ryan is ripe with his natural talent, consisting of his constant ability to project intense facial gestures and his meaningful line delivery which makes the protagonist seem more human and likable every scene, even as he charters into the dark and intense territory that one faces in the horrors of war. Frank Sinatra consistently reveals that he was the best decision to be cast as the lead actor in Von Ryan's Express, and he never lets audiences or fans of his down for a second.

Trevor Howard manages to give a memorable performance as well by enriching his character with his ability to conjure the natural heroic charm of a man in the face of peril fighting for his life, and his chemistry with Frank Sinatra is strong. Brad Dexter and Raffaella Carra also manage to deliver some strong supporting performance respectively by doing the best they can for their characters and for the drama of the film.

So in the end, Von Ryan's Express is one of Frank Sinatra's significantly better films which has a meaningful story fused with strong direction, acting and visual qualities which make it transcend the issues of its pacing and what it faces in the limitation of its budget. It's a great example of a war film which makes a visual impact and an emotional one at the same time, and is another successful effort on behalf of Frank Sinatra.