Cinema
The Battle of the Rails
La Bataille du rail
René Clément · 1946
Synopsis
Under the Occupation, French railway workers wage a stubborn struggle against the occupier. They delay, divert and sabotage the trains carrying German troops and equipment, at the risk of reprisals, and some pay for it with their lives. When the Allies land in Normandy, the rail network becomes a battlefield, and a German military convoy must be prevented from reaching the front.
Context
The film grew out of a short film about railway workers under the Occupation, which the producers asked the director to extend. It mixes documentary and fiction, and many of its performers are real railway workers, not professional actors. Henri Alekan was responsible for the photography. René Clément's first feature film, it was released on 27 February 1946 and was awarded the same year on the Croisette, from the festival's very beginning.
Who it is for
About an hour twenty; the beginning is akin to reportage, and the fiction gradually takes hold.
Prizes and reception
Double winner at Cannes in 1946, for the international jury and for its direction; first Méliès Prize, in 1947.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.