''The Battle of the Rails'' (French: ''La Bataille du rail'') is a 1946 French

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed hi ...

. It depicts the efforts by railway workers in the French Resistance to sabotage German military transport trains during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, particularly during the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

by Allied forces. Many of the cast were genuine railway workers. While critics have often historically treated it as similar to

Italian neorealism Italian neorealism ( it, Neorealismo), also known as the Golden Age, is a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They pri ...

, it is closer to the traditional

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

which the director had previously worked on.Williams p.303 The film was shown at the

1946 Cannes Film Festival The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after t ...

where it won the ''Prix international du jury'' and Clément won the Best Director Award. The film also won the inaugural Prix Méliès. In 1949 the film was distributed in America by

Arthur Mayer Arthur L. Mayer (March 28, 1886, Demopolis, Alabama - April 14, 1981, New York City) was an American film producer and film distributor who worked with Joseph Burstyn in distributing films directed by Roberto Rossellini and other famous Europ ...

and

Joseph Burstyn Joseph Burstyn (born Jossel Lejba Bursztyn; December 15, 1899 – November 29, 1953) was a Polish-American film distributor who specialized in the commercial release of foreign-language and American independent film productions. Life and career B ...

Cast

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...

as Narrator *

Jean Clarieux Jean Clarieux (April 3, 1911 – February 11, 1970) was a French film and television actor. Generally a supporting actor appearing in smaller parts, he played a more substantial role in René Clément's 1946 resistance film '' The Battle of the Ra ...

as Lampin *

Jean Daurand Jean Daurand (1913–1989) was a French actor. He starred in ''La Nuit Merveilleuse'' and ''Derrière la Facade''. Selected filmography * ''Rothchild'' (1933) * ''Le secret d'une nuit'' (1934) * ''Pension Mimosas'' (1935) - Un groom (uncredit ...

as Cheminot * Jacques Desagneaux as Athos * François Joux as Cheminot *

Pierre Latour Pierre Latour (born 12 October 1993) is a French cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . He is a stage winner of the Vuelta a España, and twice the winner of French National Time Trial Championships. Career Latour was bor ...

as Cheminot * Tony Laurent as Camargue *

Robert Le Ray The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

as Chef de gare * Pierre Lozach as Cheminot *

Pierre Mindaist Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

as Cheminot *

Léon Pauléon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

as Chef de gare St-André *

Fernand Rauzéna Fernand is a masculine given name of French origin. The feminine form is Fernande. Fernand may refer to: People Given name * Fernand Augereau (1882–1958), French cyclist * Fernand Auwera (1929–2015), Belgian writer * Fernand Baldet (188 ...

as Cheminot * Redon as Mecanicien *

Michel Salina Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

as Allemand

References

Bibliography

* Williams, Alan. ''Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking''.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1992.

External links

Border Crossings: Placing René Clément’s La Bataille du rail
* 1946 films 1946 war films French war films Films about the French Resistance Rail transport films History of rail transport in France Films directed by René Clément French black-and-white films French World War II films 1940s French-language films 1940s French films {{1940s-France-film-stub

Cast

See also

References

Bibliography

External links