Stalag 17 (1957)
Country: US
Technical: bw 120m
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Sig Rumann
Synopsis:
A barrack in a German POW camp for Sergeants hides an informer whom everyone surmises to be the sharp operator cum cynic responsible for every scam this side of the wire.
Review:
At the time something of an innovation, this POW drama now seems rather hackneyed; indeed the broad comedy touches are typical of an era when the war still had to be mined for laughs for fear of recreating a too recent trauma (not true of The Best Years of our Lives), and at times they exemplify the disregard for good taste so often shown by this director. It is a protracted affair this unmasking of a traitor and vindication of a heartless loudmouth (Holden got an Oscar in what was to prove a defining role, reprised in Bridge on the River Kwai). The Yanks are strident ('AT EASE!') and spend much time mooning over Betty Grable; the Germans are all either numbskulls or caricatures of Nazi villainy (Rumann's Schulz is straight out of Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be). In short, effective entertainment though the last two reels are, this lacks the finesse of Wilder's best work and has since been superseded by The Great Escape as the classic POW film.
Country: US
Technical: bw 120m
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Sig Rumann
Synopsis:
A barrack in a German POW camp for Sergeants hides an informer whom everyone surmises to be the sharp operator cum cynic responsible for every scam this side of the wire.
Review:
At the time something of an innovation, this POW drama now seems rather hackneyed; indeed the broad comedy touches are typical of an era when the war still had to be mined for laughs for fear of recreating a too recent trauma (not true of The Best Years of our Lives), and at times they exemplify the disregard for good taste so often shown by this director. It is a protracted affair this unmasking of a traitor and vindication of a heartless loudmouth (Holden got an Oscar in what was to prove a defining role, reprised in Bridge on the River Kwai). The Yanks are strident ('AT EASE!') and spend much time mooning over Betty Grable; the Germans are all either numbskulls or caricatures of Nazi villainy (Rumann's Schulz is straight out of Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be). In short, effective entertainment though the last two reels are, this lacks the finesse of Wilder's best work and has since been superseded by The Great Escape as the classic POW film.
Country: US
Technical: bw 120m
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Sig Rumann
Synopsis:
A barrack in a German POW camp for Sergeants hides an informer whom everyone surmises to be the sharp operator cum cynic responsible for every scam this side of the wire.
Review:
At the time something of an innovation, this POW drama now seems rather hackneyed; indeed the broad comedy touches are typical of an era when the war still had to be mined for laughs for fear of recreating a too recent trauma (not true of The Best Years of our Lives), and at times they exemplify the disregard for good taste so often shown by this director. It is a protracted affair this unmasking of a traitor and vindication of a heartless loudmouth (Holden got an Oscar in what was to prove a defining role, reprised in Bridge on the River Kwai). The Yanks are strident ('AT EASE!') and spend much time mooning over Betty Grable; the Germans are all either numbskulls or caricatures of Nazi villainy (Rumann's Schulz is straight out of Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be). In short, effective entertainment though the last two reels are, this lacks the finesse of Wilder's best work and has since been superseded by The Great Escape as the classic POW film.