The Train Page #4

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

This is taking us south.

I said this is taking us south!

You saw the main

tracks are blown up.

We have to go around

the bend in the river.

What's the next town on your map?

Rmilly.

Keep your eyes open.

Your horizon's about

to be broadened.

(PHONE RINGING)

Rive-Reine.

Ah, Maurice.

Mmm. You have a direct

line to Commercy.

Right. Call them.

My wife's cousin has

some cheese for me.

It could be put on the midnight

train when it stops at Commercy.

Yes. Yes, Maurice.

The train will stop,

to unload passengers.

Good.

I'll save a piece

of cheese for you.

Railroad business, huh?

Ah. (CHUCKLES)

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)

Next stop, St. Avold, sir.

(STEAM HISSING)

(BRAKES SCREECHING)

Do we run?

Sergeant. Can we stretch our legs?

All right. Get down.

Corporal, watch them.

You! Where's the telephone?

Sergeant!

Nobody leaves the train. We will

stop here only for two minutes.

Ja, Captain.

(WHIRRING)

Tell Jacques the

cheese on the train.

And to save a piece

for Pierre and Raoul.

Hello, Colonel.

Colonel, we are at St. Avold.

Yes, Colonel.

What's it like here in St. Avoid?

Well?

(SCOFFS) I know what you mean.

I'll be glad to get back to Berlin.

- Schwartz!

- Yes, Captain?

- We go.

- Get up.

Auf Wiedersehen.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

We are home, Tauber.

We are in Germany.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

- Are you all right?

- Yes, I'm all right.

You're crazy! Why did you mean

speeding into a curve like that?

- But you told me to go ahead, didn't you?

- Yes, but at full speed?

What do you mean?

Hey, you should have signaled

to go slow! How should I know?

You're just as big a fool as your

brother, and he's the worst I ever saw!

Look at my rails!

How close?

Two minutes.

Good luck.

If anything happens,

if we get separated,

I'll meet you at the old

farmhouse above the river.

(STEAM HISSING)

Take the stick.

(STEAM HISSING)

- MAN:
Halt!

- (GUNFIRE)

(SOLDIERS SHOUTING)

(MEN SHOUTING)

(SIREN WAILING)

(GUNFIRE)

(WAILING CONTINUES)

Pilzer! Get Labiche!

Yes, sir.

Get him! Kill him, kill him!

Kill him! Kill him!

Kill him! Kill him!

Kill him! Kill him!

(SOLDIERS SHOUTING)

(BANGING)

No. No, you can't stay here.

- Fire!

- (GUNFIRE)

Pilzer!

- How soon will the cranes be here?

- Major Herren is on his way now, sir.

Everything that can be done without heavy

equipment will be completed by dark.

Put more men to work.

I want it done faster.

But, Colonel, till the crane

can move the engines...

Yes, Colonel.

Sir! No sign of Labiche, sir.

We searched the woods for hours.

We can't find him anywhere.

- I've had two squads looking...

- I want him!

- He could have gone back to Paris.

- No.

He's around somewhere, I know.

He'll twist and turn. He'll

hide and make his plans.

But he won't leave the train.

I'm beginning to know him.

Keep looking for him!

Search the town.

(DOOR OPENS)

I've brought you some clothes.

- How's your leg?

- Much better, thank you.

(MEN TALKING IN DISTINCTLY)

- What's going on out there?

- You should know.

Engines and cars all

over the tracks.

Rails torn.

Any reprisals?

Do you think they'd

declare a holiday?

Jacques, the stationmaster,

and an engineer shot.

Another engineer, the thin one,

was shot trying to escape.

Pesquet.

- There'll be others.

- (DOOR OPENS)

(RATTLING)

(GLASS CLINKING)

Labiche. Have you seen

the man, Labiche?

- Labiche?

- Yes, Labiche!

He was in room five.

He left yesterday!

Yes, he left yesterday.

I know that. I know

he left yesterday!

I want to know if you

have seen him here today!

Labiche, Labiche. Yes,

I've seen Labiche.

I see him every day. And

General de Gaulle too.

They're my best customers and I

keep them cool in the wine cellar.

(CLATTERING)

Please.

Why did you come back here?

Do you want everyone killed?

Maybe you think you're a hero.

Maybe you don't care if you live.

What right have you to

do this? Leave us alone.

I knew Jacques all my life.

He and his wife sat with me

when my husband was killed,

the first year of the war.

And now I sit with her.

Men are such fools.

Men want to be heroes

and their widows mourn.

Perhaps men are fools.

There were over a hundred

involved in stopping that train.

Switchmen, brakemen,

yard gangs, stationmasters.

God knows how many will

be shot, like Jacques.

You know what's on that train?

Paintings. That's right,

paintings. Art.

The national heritage.

The pride of France.

Crazy, isn't it?

It's quiet up there.

Where are you going?

Perhaps I can leave now.

You can't take two steps in daylight.

They're looking for you everywhere.

My friend who was with me on

the train, I have to meet him.

He may not even be alive.

It won't help him if you're

killed. Wait until it's dark.

Eat your food.

It's a sin to waste bread.

Ready? Take it up.

Put it on its side over there.

VON WALDHEIM:
Major!

Can't you move any faster?

This is a hell of a mess you

have got here, Colonel.

We're doing the best we can.

I asked for two cranes.

It took an order by staff

headquarters to get this one.

With Von Rundstedt falling back, the army

has other uses for railway equipment.

All Von Rundstedt can lose is men.

This train is more valuable.

It's all right.

(SOLDIERS SPEAKING GERMAN)

At Commercy, they shot

the stationmaster.

At Metz, they took hostages.

Ten of them. Shot them on the spot.

Kids, mostly.

You know Lefevre,

the inspector there?

His kid, the one with asthma?

They cured it for him.

At Chlons, three dead.

That's all I know so far.

Pesquet was right.

This was his last job.

- What about the train?

- Mmm.

It'll be ready to move tomorrow.

Where the hell are the Allies?

What are they taking, the

tourist route to Paris?

I'll believe them when I see them.

In case they don't come.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

SPINET:
Labiche, it's me!

- Who's with you?

- Robert, Jacques' nephew.

Come in.

I'm glad to see you're still alive.

You're to be complimented.

That was quite a job you did.

Where are the Allies?

What shape is the train in?

It'll be repaired by morning.

Thank you.

(SIGHS)

- When does it leave Rive-Reine?

- It won't move in daylight.

Where are the Allies?

It has been arranged for a French

division to reach Paris first. A gesture.

A gesture?

They can make gestures?

Let them make one for

Pesquet or Jacques.

That kid of Lefevre's,

he'd appreciate a gesture.

What do you intend to do?

This is what we intend

to do, plastique.

What we should have

done in the first place.

Tomorrow night, no Allies,

we blow the train to hell.

London wants the train saved.

What do they want us to do?

Stop it with our bare hands?

Lay down across the tracks?

Right after dawn, all switching tracks

and trains in the area will be bombed.

The art train is not

to be destroyed.

Orders are to mark it so the

planes will pass it up.

- Mark it?

- White paint,

on the top of the first three cars.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes