The Battle of the Rails (1946)

Original title

La Bataille du rail

Directed by

René Clément

Genre

drama film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 25m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 48 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

French railway workers secretly sabotage German military trains during World War II. The film shows their dangerous efforts to disrupt the enemy while facing constant risk of capture and death.

grittyintensegroundedpatrioticurgentsomberauthenticsuspenseful

What happens

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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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