This week’s pick bring us back to my favorite of all the wars, World War II. The chairman of the board, Frank Sinatra leads an all star cast in Von Ryan’s Express (1965) which tells the story of a massive allied prisoner escape by train from Italy to the Swiss frontier. Col. Joseph Ryan (Sinatra) is a downed American flyer who is taken prisoner by the Italians in August, 1943 as the Italians face allied invasion and increased German occupational troops.
Ryan is taken to a P.O.W. (prisoner of war) camp where he is introduced to the camp’s commandant Major Battaglia (Adolfo Celi of Thunderball fame) who is a die hard “two bit Mussolini.” The camp is made up primarily of British prisoners led by Major Eric Fincham (Trevor Howard) who has taken over command of the prisoners after his Colonel dies from punishment due to their Italian captors. Ryan assumes command as the senior officer of the camp and believes that escape attempts be halted until they are liberated by the rapidly advancing allies who have moved through Sicily, and onto the Italian mainland.
Ryan is quickly dubbed “Von Ryan” by his fellow prisoners who despise his “knuckle under” attitude. Ryan tries to convince Battaglia and his sympathetic adjutant Captain Oriani (Sergio Fantoni) that there will be no further escape attempts and that he will control the actions of the prisoners in return, Ryan demands that Battaglia re-issue Red Cross parcels to the prisoners who are suffering from malnutrition and disease.
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