Le train de Berlin est arrêté

This film starts with some fabulous twilight location shots around 1960's Berlin. - The dim and somber photography of bleak cityscapes shot from the departing train does much to enhance this vehicle to show off Errol Flynn's son, Sean. --And the handsome young actor does pretty good with the second-rate material.

Made in Europe on a shoe-string budget, almost all of the action takes place on a west-bound (from Berlin) train carrying American soldiers, a pair of newlyweds, a nurse and her patient, an all-girl group of performers, and a loud-mouthed reporter (Jose Ferrer).

During the journey, an East German refugee secretly boards the train, and the 'east-west' cold war tensions begin. The train is detained by the Russian military who want the refugee handed over to them.

The dialog is not good, the character assortment is not bad, and Sean Flynn and Jose Ferrer do their best with the material they have.

Ferrer shamelessly over-acts, but what choice did he have with such hammy lines? Sean Flynn has to work hard at it, as well, but Flynn had the added advantage of being so adorably handsome (even prettier than his famous father). Moreover, the grubby location work, as well as the confining train interiors, actually add to this film's appeal and make it easier to get past some of the tired 'cold-war-formula' dialog.

As fate would have it, while working as a war correspondent, Sean Flynn mysteriously disappeared in Viet Nam in 1970-- about 7 years after this film was made.

The cold war got him in real life, too.....

This film is based on a real event of the Cold War, and was filmed in the same time period, so it "feels" very realistic. Characters have been combined or altered, but the attention to facts and the choice of stories keeps it from being successful with audiences not already familiar with the situation. In fact, a 16mm print of it was purchased by the U.S. Army and used as a training film for new Train Commanders on the Military Trains.

Except for one scene that might cause trouble with the PTA, this film could be shown in high school history classes covering the Cold War. (I would recommend the teacher view it first and decide if it fits in their community's standards.) What it does get right is the dilemma faced by each of the characters. Everyone in the film makes moral decisions, and the consequences drive the story. That was the Cold War in Berlin as I witnessed it.

This small budget Cold War film did not get that much notice at the time of its release in 1963. One of its stars Sean Flynn was to disappear in the Vietnam jungles while acting as a war correspondent like his father Errol Flynn did for a time during the Spanish Civil War. Who knows what kind of film career Sean Flynn might have had if he had lived. As actor when working with one of the great thespian talents of the last century Jose Ferrer, young Flynn came off a distinct second best. But he was good looking enough and his part called for nothing more than to look and be an earnest young army lieutenant who gets sucked into a Cold War diplomatic crisis over a refugee played by Han Joachim Schmiedel who sneaks aboard a train under Flynn's command.

Schmiedel wants to be reunited with his family which was in West Germany before the Berlin Wall was built. He sneaks aboard the train unbeknownst to all especially young Lieutenant Flynn by civilian nurse Nicole Courcel who works for our military. When he's discovered at the Russian checkpoint we have a diplomatic crisis. We also have a well known and most cynical reporter Jose Ferrer on the train as well. Ferrer gives a good interpretation in a role that had he been alive would have been perfect for Humphrey Bogart.

As the story unfolds everyone even the Russians would like this incident to just go away, but a few people with the best of intentions keep fouling up the proceedings.

Playing the role of another train passenger, a woman who married an American so she could obtain her freedom is Christiane Schmidtmer. She's better known for playing the statuesque blond bimbo who was accompanying Jose Ferrer on the Ship Of Fools. I would not be surprised if Ferrer helped get her that part in the Stanley Kramer classic.

Small budget it is, but Stop Train 349 is a sincerely made and decent film of that time in history post the Berlin Wall. It's a curiosity and a memoir of the short career of Sean Flynn.

This is a true story as I was living in Berlin. My dad Charles Fitz was called out to negotiate the release of the refugee. I believe the character representing his part in this event was Major Finnegan. I remember how he wanted to do more to for the refugee. Great Movie/realistic and shows the fear/hopelessness of the Cold war at the time. I enjoyed the glimpse of history. I could recite a number of stories from our time in Germany and Russia . Sean Flynn did a good job. Story was filmed dark to illustrate the environment. Glad we have moved on. I have many stories about the night the Berlin wall was built.

"Delay in Marienborn" was a surprise: an effective 1963 Cold War drama that during its day capitalized on the tense relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in divided German territory. Not surprisingly it won several awards, including best screenplay from the film industry of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Youth Award at the Berlin Film Festival for the Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People. The film was a call to tolerance and understanding between world powers, but most importantly a reflection on the value of discipline and adherence to codes among the military, in a time when ethics apparently seemed more clearly defined by ideologies. Based on Will Tremper's book "Aufenthalt in Marienborn", that recounts a true incident, the film tells a charged and moving tale: a nurse (Nicole Courcel) helps Banner (Hans-Joachim Schmiedel) to defect from the Democratic Republic of Germany, by allowing him to get on board an American-commanded train crossing the territory under Soviet control. Although most conversations are led between high officers of each side, the final decision of what to do with Banner is left to lieutenant Novak (Sean Flynn) who is in command of the train. Both the lieutenant and the defector are 24- year old men. They are not portrayed as heroes of action films or stereotypes of propaganda movies, but as two humane and vulnerable young men, facing a crisis beyond them, ruled by world politics. Others on board include a journalist (José Ferrer, who received first credit but had a secondary role), a US diplomat, a newlywed couple, a female sport team, and other assorted characters. The best part of the surprise though was Sean Flynn. I did not expect to ever watch him in a dramatic role, to give an effective performance and to hear him in English, after watching several films where he was dubbed in Spanish, Italian and German. Also providing good performances in an international cast, Jess Hahn is featured as Flynn's assistant; Yossi Yadin plays the Soviet officer, while actor-author Edward Meeks plays an American captain with a clear idea of what has to be done. Recommended.