L'infernale poursuite

This is really not a review as such, even though I really enjoyed this film when I saw it as a kid and am glad it is now available on DVD.I do hope they have included the "making of" that aired on Disneyland when the film was first released. My main comment is about the obscure connection of The Great Locomotive Chase,the actual event and Gone With the Wind. The conductor who chased Andrews, Capt William A.Fuller lived in Atlanta after the war and he had a daughter named Annie Laurie Fuller. Annie married Atlanta architect, artist and historian Wilbur G.Kurtz. Wilbur and Annie were friends of Margaret Mitchell. When GWTW was being filmed, Mitchell suggested Kurtz be the technical adviser on the film. The Kurtzs spent a great deal of time in Hollywood. Kurtz kept a diary of his work on the film that was published in the The Atlanta Historical Journal in the Summer 1978 issue, Vol XXII Number 2. Annie Laurie took some of the pictures that accompany the article. I found this connection to be interesting and if anyone out there is a GWTW junkie like myself, try to get a copy of the above mentioned journal. There is a wealth of information on the making of GWTW.

I watched this western for the third time today, and in LBX frame please, far better than the average and unbearable garbage can pan and scan one. This western is unique in its kind, with thrilling and so inventive locomotive chase, as its title says so. And I would not have expected such a story and directing from a Disney production; this film is not actually for juvenile audiences, although kids can perfectly see it. No gratuitous violence here. Yes, an exciting film with another surprise that no other comment has talked about.

THERE IS NO WOMAN CHARACTER HERE !!!!

Surprising for a western, especially a Disney production. Even the most violent films nearly always have a woman in the stories, at least supporting characters; here, no gal at all. That doesn't bother me but only surprises. That's all.

As I have mentioned previously there are a limited number of commercial films about the American Civil War. Most people will instantly say GONE WITH THE WIND, but much of that film deals with the ante - bellum South before war begins, and an hour and a half deals with Georgia under Reconstruction into the late 1870s. There is the twin films GODS AND GENERALS about the rise and fall of the magnificent military partnership of Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, and GETTYSBURG. There is also THE HORSE SOLDIER about Grierson's Raid into Mississippi during the Vicksburg Campaign. There was the "Shiloh" segment of the HOW THE WEST WAS WON about the battle there. There was THE RAID about the attack of the Confederate Raiders from Canada on St. Albans, Vermont in the summer of 1864. Quantrell and his raiders appear in several films, most notably DARK COMMAND. There is also the prototype for GONE WITH THE WIND about the collapse of southern society called SO RED THE ROSE.

It is notable that the emphasis is on raiders from the southern states or with southern sympathies (William Quantrell or Cantrell, or the St. Alban Raiders). But there are two films on one incident where the raiders were Northern raiders - the raid led by John J. Andrews in his celebrated February 1862 snatch of the locomotive "The General" in an attempt to damage southern railroad tracks and bridges in Georgia and Tennessee. The incident has ended up being the most discussed military operation of the land forces of the Civil War in film. First it was immortalized in what may have been the funniest war comedy ever made, Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL (1927). But Keaton, using the Andrews raid as a start, changed the story by having the Union raiders succeed for awhile in bringing the Confederate locomotive to Union lines and has his southern hero "Johnny Gray" steal it back. Unfortunately, Andrews and his raiders never had such luck. Indeed their fates were quite savage in reality.

This 1956 film by Walt Disney is not as well known as Keaton's classic, but it come closer to being factually correct. It shows the planning of the scheme by Northern spy Andrews and his picked crew, how they stole the "General" in a surprise act when the train was getting refilled, and how they ran it for a twenty mile chase until the train reached the end of it's coal supply. Here the reality of the story gets more savage. Andrews and his men fled into the forests of Tennessee, and were tracked down by Southern troops who recaptured most of them. Andrews and several others were hung. The other captured raiders were sent to prison camps.

For people who only think of Fess Parker as Walt Disney's "Davy Crockett" may be fascinated to see he played another role for that producer - and did a good job at it. And like the last episode of the series about the "King of the Wild Frontier", Parker's character died heroically, but violently again.

In the wake of his burst of popularity after becoming that iconic figure for Fifties kids Davy Crockett, Fess Parker starred in The Great Locomotive Chase. The film is based on a true incident from the Civil War involving an espionage mission where several Union soldiers are sent under the leadership of a civilian who knows the territory. The idea is to seize a train and destroy as much railroad equipment and track between Marietta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The fact that Fess Parker as John J. Andrews is a civilian is cause for much dissension in the ranks of these soldiers who are not used to operating with stealth tactics. One of them, Jeff York, is obstreperous to the point of mutiny.

Although Parker is the star, depending on your point of view the real hero is Jeffrey Hunter who is the conductor of the train Parker and his men steal. Hunter is courageous, cunning, and resourceful and every bit a match for Parker and his tricks.

From back in the day I remember that the Disney Studio was marketing toy trains based on the locomotives used in this film. No amount of begging could get my parents to part with any money for one of those. But somewhere some folks around my age have those models and I daresay they're worth a fortune.

The Great Locomotive Chase is a fine well constructed film that is as fresh today as when I saw it in theaters way back when. A must for any Civil War film festival.

Fess Parker stars as James Andrews, Yankee spy, who takes an extremely dangerous mission during the Civil War. Parker has his trademark easy-going smile on throughout the entire film, as he and a group of Union soldiers try to steal a train and destroy about a 1000 miles of train track, in an effort to cut the supply lines of the Rebel army and deal the South a fatal blow. Jeff Hunter and Kenneth Tobey are loyal Southern train officials who try to stop them by using every means under their disposal, which include running after the train for miles, using a handcart and stealing another engineer's engine. Jeff York, Dick Sergeant, Harry Carey Jr., and John Lupton, plus a lot of other character actors, round out Fess' Union forces.

This film is pretty accurate, as historical Disney movies go, and is based on a true story. Buster Keaton's silent film "The General" is also based on the same Civil War event.

Disney just released the movie on DVD, in its original widescreen format; the picture is sharp and detailed, with wonderful, bright colors and fine, clear sound. This is an excellent way to see this movie, and is well worth the money. It would be great if Disney would put out Fess' other films, the original 3 part "Davy Crockett" and the hilarious "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" in this format, too, as well as "Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow". In fact, I'd love to see all their live action films on DVD and in their original aspect, and done as well as "The Great Locomotive Chase".