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 Post subject: "La Bataille du rail" movie train crash scene
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2016 9:40 pm 
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Location: Pac NW, via North Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Rails
Has anyone else ever seen this film? Pretty dry stuff but the trains and military equipment is quite amazing, especially showing German (captured French, really) tanks riding armored trains to take out resistance fighters when needed.
The wreck near the end, to me, looks like the real deal. It sure doesn't look like a model to me, especially for as far away as they filmed it (and the final scene that looks like it was taken from another train going past the site of the wreck). German Halftracks and tanks go flying off dozens of flatcars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUY22ESzmEQ
Does anyone know where that was filmed and if they used the real stuff or was this one of the best model scenes in movie history?

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 Post subject: Re: "La Bataille du rail" movie train crash scene
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2016 2:39 am 

Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:41 am
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Location: Inwood, W.Va.
I've seen it in pieces, and the scene looks to me to be real; there is another scene following the derailment in which a train passes the site and the wreckage.

The locomotive used in the scene looks very much like a Pershing 2-8-0 from America.

This film has shown up in other threads on this site, this among them. Sadly almost all the video clips here and elsewhere now seem to be unavailable due to copyright issues.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36200&p=210220&hilit=la_bataille_du_rail#p210220


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 Post subject: Re: "La Bataille du rail" movie train crash scene
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2016 2:54 am 

Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:41 am
Posts: 3911
Location: Inwood, W.Va.
A couple of other available scenes from the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkSoqec-hpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eMlfh5WQSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rywhflByl9c

Another clip with the crash scene, this one being a bit longer with material leading up to the crash:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25jja ... shortfilms

I personally do recommend the film, which is in many ways grittier than "The Train," which is also about similar people and efforts in the WW II era.


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 Post subject: Re: "La Bataille du rail" movie train crash scene
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2016 11:34 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2875
I agree, it definitely looks real, especially when you look at the post derailment scenes.

It appears it was filmed in 1946? If so, surplus equipment was plentiful and cheap, so it's quite believable that a big budget film could say "let's do a train wreck". It was probably cheaper to do it that way than it would have been to have incredibly detailed models built for the crash scene.

Also, when you compare movies that did use models, even large scale one, like "The Greatest Show on Earth" circus train crash, it's easy to see it's a model, even when highly realistic models were moved. You can't scale the physics (unless you use computers) and so something just doesn't look right, even if you can't quite figure out what's wrong.


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