Stop Train 349

Stop Train 349 is an engaging, though uneven and largely forgotten, thriller from the hottest peak of the Cold War, a time at which it was easy to imagine a seemingly minor dispute between the U. S. and U. S. S. R. spiraling out of control. The real life premise was an agreement between the superpowers to allow a U. S. military train to operate between West Germany and its enclave of West Berlin, surrounded by Soviet-occupied East Germany and barricaded by the famous Berlin Wall. An East German refugee boards the sealed train, leading the Soviets to stop the train and demand his return.

We spend time getting to know the passengers on the train, an assortment of civilian tourists and military personnel, including the East German soldiers who actually operate the train. José Ferrer provides the film's star power, effectively portraying a cynical journalist who sees professional opportunity in publicizing the refugee's flight. Nicole Courcel turns in the best performance of the film as a reserved nurse who makes the key decision to help the refugee board the train. The key role of Lieutenant Novak, the American officer in charge of the train and tasked with protecting its passengers and military personnel, is highlighted as the situation escalates. Ultimately, the great failing of the film is to miscast Sean Flynn (son of Errol Flynn) in this role, who simply cannot occupy the center of the film's morality play, looking in every scene like he is memorizing his lines for the first time from a cue card.

It's easy to imagine the great film Stop Train 349 could have been, in the hands of a Lumet or Frankenheimer. The tense standoff between the American and Soviet soldiers outside the stopped train is effective as a microcosm of the larger military standoff across the Iron Curtain. Unfortunately director Rolf Hädrich is unable to generate sustained tension through much of the film. The division on the train between passengers sympathetic to the refugee's plight and those who just want to get to West Germany safely is highlighted but not exploited to maximum effect. Instead the film lurches between compelling scenes like the discussions between American military negotiators and Soviet officers, to scenes with Flynn in which the tension and realism dissipate.

Fans of Cold War thrillers may want to check this film out, available on Amazon Prime for rent at the moment, although in a somewhat dilapidated print. On the whole, Stop Train 349 is a film with an intriguing premise that just doesn't have the talent in front of, or behind, the camera to compare favorably with the classics of the genre.

José Ferrer was an exceptional Oscar-winning actor...one of the best of his generation. However, given poor material, even a fine actor like him is hindered from being able to put over the character. In this case, he plays a very one-dimensional and often annoying character thanks to the writing. It's a shame as the basic story is interesting and is a snippet of history we should not forget.

When the story begins, an obnoxious reporter (Ferrer) pushes his way onto a US military train headed from East Germany to West Germany. In other words, moving from a Soviet puppet government to a democratically elected government in the West. The train is secured so that no one can get on or off--all parts of a treaty with the Russians in order to allow this train to pass through East German territory. This sort of trip has already been made many times before but further trains like this are doubtful when a defecting East German somehow climbs aboard the train....and the East Germans and Russians stop the train and demand the return of the defector. As a result, a diplomatic incident occurs.

Most younger people today have little, if any, recollection of the separate Germanies and the government's attempt to prevent East Germans to immigrate to the West. Interesting...yes. But the film has a cheap look to it and Ferrer's character simply isn't necessary...yet there he is making all sorts of idiotic comments almost randomly throughout the film. It's obvious this West German production wanted some famous American actor in the film in order to try to attract more viewers....and Ferrer had won the Best Actor Oscar the decade before for "Cyrano de Bergerac". But he's pretty much wasted in an otherwise compelling picture.

Low-budget but not low-quality Cold War drama about an East German refugee who slips aboard a US military train leaving West Berlin and passing through East Germany. The East German and Soviet authorities discover that he's aboard and stop the train, demanding that he be turned over to them. Sean Flynn, Errol's impossibly good-looking son, does a first-rate job as the young American army officer in charge of the train who finds himself caught in the center of Cold War tensions and Jose Ferrer is good, if a bit showy, as a seen-it-all reporter aboard the train. The film takes place mostly aboard the cramped train and, while the dialog lags in spots and the direction is a bit ragged, overall it's a commendable, very worthy effort.

This film is based on a real event of the Cold War, and was filmed in the same time period, so it "feels" very realistic. Characters have been combined or altered, but the attention to facts and the choice of stories keeps it from being successful with audiences not already familiar with the situation. In fact, a 16mm print of it was purchased by the U.S. Army and used as a training film for new Train Commanders on the Military Trains.

Except for one scene that might cause trouble with the PTA, this film could be shown in high school history classes covering the Cold War. (I would recommend the teacher view it first and decide if it fits in their community's standards.) What it does get right is the dilemma faced by each of the characters. Everyone in the film makes moral decisions, and the consequences drive the story. That was the Cold War in Berlin as I witnessed it.

This small budget Cold War film did not get that much notice at the time of its release in 1963. One of its stars Sean Flynn was to disappear in the Vietnam jungles while acting as a war correspondent like his father Errol Flynn did for a time during the Spanish Civil War. Who knows what kind of film career Sean Flynn might have had if he had lived. As actor when working with one of the great thespian talents of the last century Jose Ferrer, young Flynn came off a distinct second best. But he was good looking enough and his part called for nothing more than to look and be an earnest young army lieutenant who gets sucked into a Cold War diplomatic crisis over a refugee played by Han Joachim Schmiedel who sneaks aboard a train under Flynn's command.

Schmiedel wants to be reunited with his family which was in West Germany before the Berlin Wall was built. He sneaks aboard the train unbeknownst to all especially young Lieutenant Flynn by civilian nurse Nicole Courcel who works for our military. When he's discovered at the Russian checkpoint we have a diplomatic crisis. We also have a well known and most cynical reporter Jose Ferrer on the train as well. Ferrer gives a good interpretation in a role that had he been alive would have been perfect for Humphrey Bogart.

As the story unfolds everyone even the Russians would like this incident to just go away, but a few people with the best of intentions keep fouling up the proceedings.

Playing the role of another train passenger, a woman who married an American so she could obtain her freedom is Christiane Schmidtmer. She's better known for playing the statuesque blond bimbo who was accompanying Jose Ferrer on the Ship Of Fools. I would not be surprised if Ferrer helped get her that part in the Stanley Kramer classic.

Small budget it is, but Stop Train 349 is a sincerely made and decent film of that time in history post the Berlin Wall. It's a curiosity and a memoir of the short career of Sean Flynn.