Like the title says, this movie is about railroad partisans, in the China-Japan war 1939-45. We get to see a group of heroes, who secretly become partisans, and at some time are officially accepted as subdivision of the Communist 8th Route Army. Of course, we also get to see quite a lot of warfare, bombing and shooting. No red blood in black & white.
What sets this film apart, however, is how trains (under Japanese control) are shown. All hauled by steam locomotives, of course - one hijacking of a locomotive is presented. But in my opinion the more interesting sequence was how the cars of the passenger trains were infiltrated - each had a Japanese guard, which was countered by one of the partisans. Another interesting scene shows an armored train with cannons mounted. Rather sloppily presented was the train-wreck and bridge-bombing, on the other hand.
If you want to see more of Chinese steam locomotives, try "Yingxiong siji" (which sorrily isn't yet listed here on IMDb). But for most realism of the work of steam locomotive engineers, Jean Renoir's "La bête humaine" is still unbeaten... :)
What sets this film apart, however, is how trains (under Japanese control) are shown. All hauled by steam locomotives, of course - one hijacking of a locomotive is presented. But in my opinion the more interesting sequence was how the cars of the passenger trains were infiltrated - each had a Japanese guard, which was countered by one of the partisans. Another interesting scene shows an armored train with cannons mounted. Rather sloppily presented was the train-wreck and bridge-bombing, on the other hand.
If you want to see more of Chinese steam locomotives, try "Yingxiong siji" (which sorrily isn't yet listed here on IMDb). But for most realism of the work of steam locomotive engineers, Jean Renoir's "La bête humaine" is still unbeaten... :)
