Once in a while we watch a B&W oldie that's free without commercials on the Turner Movie Classics satellite channel. WWII propaganda about the Germans was still alive and well in this film which is about a time a generation earlier in 1944. Burt Lancaster is the protagonist involved with the French resistance. A German colonel (Paul Scofield) must move a trainload of art by the great masters out of France to Germany because the Allies are coming. The French want to keep their art, hence the plot.

This is an interesting story, but not a great movie. Lancaster gets to perform some of his gymnastic tricks. We get to see a lot of trains chugging around. And of course, the Nazis are quite nasty. But old films are interesting for their prejudices and their ethics. I only saw two women in the entire movie and one of them had a 30 second spot closing the gates at a train vs. road crossing. The major issue for me in this film was the value of life vs. the value of art. I wouldn't sacrifice one life much less several for great art, even if it were a national heritage. Even as a fantasy, that's hard for me to swallow. The end of the film is problematic too, but you'll have to watch it to find out what happens.

It would have been more fun to see the art works in color.ms. It means I wasted my time watching them.