Von Ryan's Express Trivia Quiz

Answer: His plane crashed.

As the film opened, we saw a sputtering plane losing altitude over a coastal city in Italy. A pair of Nazis who were eating lunch spotted the plane and took off to find it. They were beaten to the crash site by a truck full of Italian soldiers who informed the Nazis that the pilot had died in the crash, and a subsequent explosion of the fuselage deterred them from investigating further.

When the Nazis took off, the Italians mocked them, and we then saw that they were hiding the American pilot, who had survived the crash.

They may not have liked the Nazis, but they were still soldiers at war against the allies, so they took the pilot to an Italian prisoner-of-war camp.

Answer: Funeral

The camp was mainly filled with British prisoners, and their ranking officer had died while being punished in a sweat box. The prisoners were holding a funeral for him; he was buried outside the gates of the camp where there were numerous other graves - a sign of the poor conditions at the camp.

The Italian commandant, Major Battaglia (Adolfo Celi), had denied the POWs showers, clothes, razors, medicine, and Red Cross parcels as a punishment for their frequent escape attempts, and the men were in poor condition, with many of them suffering from malaria.

Answer: Revealed their escape tunnel to the camp commander

After the death of their senior officer, British Major Fincham (Trevor Howard) had assumed control of the POW contingent, and Colonel Ryan initially told him that he could continue to run the troops, but the two clashed on Fincham's determination to escape. Ryan had told the POWs that the Americans were in Sicily so it wouldn't be long before the camp was liberated, so he wanted the escape attempts to stop. Fincham's troops had been at the camp for a couple of years, and he wanted them to continue to attempt to escape: "If only one gets out, it's a victory". Fincham had filled an escape tunnel with supplies to be used during the escape, including medicine that was needed by the POWs.

After a few Americans were caught by Fincham trying to steal the medicine to help the sick POWs, Ryan decided to put an end to Fincham's plans.

He took command and showed the commandant Battaglia where the escape tunnel was. In exchange, Battaglia ordered the showers turned on and the Red Cross parcels distributed.

But Ryan's betrayal angered the British prisoners, one of whom yelled, "You'll get the Nazi Iron Cross for this, Von Ryan!"

Answer: Having the prisoners burn their clothes

After the commandant Battaglia gave the order to turn on the showers and distribute the Red Cross parcels, Ryan asked about getting new clothes for the prisoners, but Battaglia's second-in-command, Captain Oriani (Sergio Fantoni) didn't translate the request, instead telling Battaglia that the men wanted wine; Oriani was sympathetic to the prisoners and was trying to help - he knew that the request would make things worse for Ryan.

It turned out that Battaglia was selling supplies on the black market, and clothes were valuable. So Ryan ordered the POWs to strip and burn their clothes, which they did except for the chaplain, Captain Costanzo (Edward Mulhare).

He told Ryan that he took "being a member of the cloth literally", to which Ryan responded, "I bow to your convictions".

But while the troops were laughing and enjoying the mini-bonfires, Battaglia wasn't amused and ordered Ryan to be put in the sweat box.

Answer: Lock him in the sweat box

Ryan was released from the sweat box by the POWs who told him that the allies were in Salerno and that the camp guards had fled. The commandant Battaglia was being held by Major Fincham for an impromptu trial before execution, but Ryan intervened and instead ordered him to be sent to the sweat box, which pleased the other POWs. Fincham wasn't happy though, calling Ryan a "soft-headed, sentimental fool" and threatening him "if letting that scum live costs the life of one of my men". Soon after, a Nazi plane buzzed the camp, and Ryan decided they needed to leave the camp. Oriani volunteered to help: "You think you hate the Germans more than I do?" He led the POWs to some ruins where they could rest while he went to the coast to contact the allies.

Answer: Through the floorboards

Major Fincham was bitter with Ryan for allowing Battaglia to live since that led to their current situation; he reiterated that Ryan would get an Iron Cross for his deeds, and he mentioned that there was "no chance of our tunneling through this coop, Von Ryan". That gave Ryan an idea, and he used one of the medical officer's knives and a metal bar to pry up some of the floorboards. Ryan and a few of the officers then dropped through the hole and lay on the tracks under the train until there was a gap for them to roll out.

They then climbed onto the train roof and strangled the guards one at a time. When they reached the next stop, they opened the doors to free the prisoners who killed the rest of the guards, allowing them to take control of the train.

The Italian engineer (Vito Scotti) was persuaded by Captain Oriani to continue to operate the train with the prisoners in command.

Answer: Chaplain Costanzo (Edward Mulhare)

The last car on the train was the living quarters of the train commander, Major von Klemment (Wolfgang Preiss), and the allied officers kept him and his mistress as prisoners. The chaplain Costanzo asked the woman, "What on earth are you doing here, my child?" which led Major Fincham to remark, "Padre, you're priceless". Von Klemment told them that he had to go to the station when the train reached Florence to get his orders. Ryan decided to have the chaplain Costanzo impersonate von Klemment because the chaplain spoke fluent German as he had studied in Germany.

The soft-hearted Costanzo didn't think he was up to it, especially since he didn't look like von Klemment, but he proved to be a good actor. When he was asked for his papers, Costanzo quickly admonished the clerk for not being properly in uniform, and he managed to get his orders without having to show identification.

But when he returned to the train, he fainted.

Answer: His watch

The Gestapo agent noticed that Colonel Ryan was wearing an American watch, and he asked Ryan about it. Ryan didn't speak German so Captain Costanzo quickly intervened, telling the Gestapo agent that he had given Ryan the watch as a reward. The agent later boarded the train, but all he was interested in was the watch.

He first offered Ryan a pair of nylons for it, but Ryan shook his head despite visual pleas from Costanzo. He then added two packs of American cigarettes to the offer which Ryan accepted with a simple "ja".

The Gestapo officer left the train, Costanzo breathed a sigh of relief, and Ryan tossed one of the packs to Major Fincham.

Answer: Von Klemment's Italian mistress

Von Klemment had managed to break a glass that was in his room, and while he and his mistress were left bound and gagged in the room, the mistress used the glass to cut through his bonds. While the train was stopped to get water, the two overpowered the officer who was guarding them, killed him, and then escaped. Colonel Ryan and Major Fincham went searching for the two: "We can't leave them behind to talk". Von Klemment had a rifle and shot at Ryan, who returned fire, killing him. Ryan and Fincham then captured the mistress, but she escaped from Ryan's grasp.

She was running towards a sign that said "police" while she was screaming for help, and Ryan shot her also. Ryan stared at her as she died, and when Fincham came to grab Ryan, Ryan turned his rifle on him: "Get your hands off me or I'll blow your head off". Fincham then ran to catch the train as it pulled away, and after a quick glance back at the dead woman, Ryan ran after him.

Answer: Colonel Ryan (Frank Sinatra)

In Bologna, the POWs had used forged documents to have the train rerouted to Milan with the intent of abandoning the train in a remote area. But after they disembarked from the train, they realized that they were in the middle of an area being bombed by the allies, so they got back on the train and instead decided to change to a different track that bypassed Milan and went to Switzerland.

The Nazis figured out their plan and sent three Luftwaffe planes to bomb the train. The POWs managed to shoot down one plane, but one plane did succeed in bombing a mountain, dropping debris and damaging the track. To make matters worse, the Nazis had a train with troops chasing after them.

While the POWS worked to clear the debris, several of the POWs went with Colonel Ryan and Major Fincham to remove a section of rail from the tracks behind them to use to repair the damaged track and to also hopefully derail the Nazi train.

Unfortunately, the Nazis spotted the missing track and stopped their train in time.

They then went on foot through a tunnel to chase after the POWs. Meanwhile the debris had been cleared, the tracks had been fixed, and the train had started to run again. Fincham made it back to the train, and Ryan was running towards it, with his hand up trying to reach it, when a Nazi officer shot him in the back.