Philadelphia Inquirer by Desmond Ryan

Paul Scofield contributes a telling performance as an art-obsessed German officer who cares more about Monet than the lives of his men. [20 Jul 2002, p.E01]

The Dissolve by Scott Tobias

Though The Train is a marvel of old-fashioned action craft, from invisible dolly shots of breathtaking sophistication to the careful staging of massive railway catastrophes, it’s not a thoughtless adventure by any means.

Los Angeles Times by Barbara Saltzman

The last great action movie filmed in black and white. [04 Nov 1994, p.F17]

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

The sociopolitical issues are lost in the action, but it's quite some action. [11 Jan 2002, p.C1]

USA Today by Mike Clark

Set in mid-1944 France, it's a contest of wills between a Resistance railway inspector and a smooth Nazi general (Quiz Show's Paul Scofield) over purloined French art treasures. Filmed on location, often in inhumanly cold weather, the film eschewed the use of railcar models - running real trains into each other and off the track when the script frequently calls for it. [30 Sep 1994, p.3D]

Entertainment Weekly

One of director John Frankenheimer’s best nail-biters of the ’60s, a gritty, realistic war flick in which Burt Lancaster and a host of terrific French character actors try to keep an obsessed Nazi colonel (Paul Scofield) from shipping a bunch of plundered masterpieces to Germany.

Entertainment Weekly by Steve Simels

One of director John Frankenheimer’s best nail-biters of the ’60s, a gritty, realistic war flick in which Burt Lancaster and a host of terrific French character actors try to keep an obsessed Nazi colonel (Paul Scofield) from shipping a bunch of plundered masterpieces to Germany.

Variety

After a slow start, The Train picks up to become a colorful, actionful big-scale adventure opus.

Time Out

In Frankenheimer's hands, the whole paraphernalia of trains, tracks and shunting yards acquires an almost hypnotic fascination as the screen becomes a giant chessboard on which huge metallic pawns are manoeuvred, probing for some fatal weakness but seemingly engaged in some deadly primeval struggle.

The Guardian

This long, exciting second world war thriller (based on a true-life incident involving art conservationist Rose Valland, who appears briefly in its opening sequence) has particular present-day relevance in view of the mindless destruction of art works and ancient ruins by Islamic State and our responses to these iconoclastic barbarities.

TV Guide Magazine

A superior WWII film that provides plenty of edge-of-the-seat thrills, THE TRAIN also poses a rather serious philosophical question: is the preservation of art worth a human life?

The Guardian by Philip French

This long, exciting second world war thriller (based on a true-life incident involving art conservationist Rose Valland, who appears briefly in its opening sequence) has particular present-day relevance in view of the mindless destruction of art works and ancient ruins by Islamic State and our responses to these iconoclastic barbarities.

Time Out by Staff (Not Credited)

In Frankenheimer's hands, the whole paraphernalia of trains, tracks and shunting yards acquires an almost hypnotic fascination as the screen becomes a giant chessboard on which huge metallic pawns are manoeuvred, probing for some fatal weakness but seemingly engaged in some deadly primeval struggle.

Variety by Staff (Not Credited)

After a slow start, The Train picks up to become a colorful, actionful big-scale adventure opus.

TV Guide Magazine by Staff (Not Credited)

A superior WWII film that provides plenty of edge-of-the-seat thrills, THE TRAIN also poses a rather serious philosophical question: is the preservation of art worth a human life?

Slant Magazine by Derek Smith

The Train makes unmistakably clear to us that heroism isn’t always black and white—that sometimes it’s simply about doing what’s right even if you don’t understand why.

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

In simplifying the stakes, narrowing the focus, giving us a fixed villain, and shooting in “WWII period piece” black and white, Frankenheimer gives us a riveting ride through a war fought over values and fundamental freedoms — among them, the freedom to create, value and appreciate whatever artistic expression you choose, and not just the oompah music, idealized landscapes and muscular propaganda of the tasteless goons in charge.

The New York Times by Bosley Crowther

It is a vivid melodrama through which Mr. Lancaster bolts with all that straight, strong, American sporting instinct and physical agility for which he is famous.

Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr

Reasonably entertaining, if too long and too literal.