A masterpiece equal to Billy Wilder's major works

Rating: 10/10 (12 May 2000)

"Stalag 17" is a masterpiece, equal to Billy Wilder's major achievements "Double Indemnity", "Sunset Boulevard", "The seven year itch", "Some like it hot". Here we find the peak of Wilder's dislike for any rhetoric, for wholly noble characters, for untarnished heroes. The very opening of the movie is shocking: two American soldiers are trying to escape from the German war-prisoner camp "Stalag 17". In a barrack of the stalag, everyone is anxious about their destiny. And now comes sergeant Sefton (William Holden) betting that their mates will be caught by Germans! In fact, when they hear a burst of machine-gun, he calmly pockets the stake: the cigarettes (current money in the stalag) bet by his fellow-prisoners in the barrack. This first episode gives the tone of the whole movie. The plot is centered on the search of a mysterious spy among the American prisoners. This story is masterly written and masterly solved. The script is magnificent, a perfect blend of drama, suspense and comedy; it oozes ideas of genius. An instance: the endless queue of prisoners paying (with cigarettes) to use Holden's kind-of-telescope, to watch for few seconds the hut where the Russian female prisoners are taking showers, dreaming what is happening behind those wooden walls. Extreme care is paid to details. Have you noted that the German soldiers on guard of the stalag are all fat and old? Clear: every sound man is at the front. Holden is at his best in the role of the shrewd, cynical anti-hero Sefton. Otto Preminger, in the role of the aged, frustrated commander of the stalag, shows that he is a great actor as well as a great director. All the supporting actors are just superb. Even the funny, comic behavior of some American prisoners is psychologically convincing: young guys, even in a tragic condition, are not apt to give way to desperation. In conclusion: the genius Billy Wilder presents us a perfect work, a true masterpiece worth of his huge talent.