An Absolute Classic

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2012)

I have read a lot of reviews of this film, and sad to say, people do not get it. The problem (From the POW point of view) is a lack of discipline. The way that "Animial" and "Blondie" conducted themselves would not be tolerated according to any kind of military code you can possibly think of. This goes back to Duke (Neville Brand) who as barracks head, is responsible. The exception to this is of course, Sefton (William Holden), who although out for himself, is always neat, and organized. This kind of lose atmosphere makes it easy for the Germans (Or any other enemy) to slip a mole into the camp. Spoilers: The reason I like Sefton is he is smart. He knows that he does not really have a chance of escape, and will wait out the rest of the war (If necessary). In particular he is smart not befriending anyone except "Cookie" (Gil Stratton), who the film is shown through the eyes of. There is an old NAVY adage, "Loose Lips Sink Ships" and there are always informants (If not outright moles) in almost every kind of prison environment, so Sefton's strategy is correct. It basically is survival for Sefton, until he is suspected of being a traitor by the camp(Two POWs were killed by the Germans), and he is given a "Blanket Party" by his fellow POW's and beaten up bad. He realizes his strategy of deal making and having fun with Russian Women will end, and he has to uncover the traitor or he will get killed. His opportunity comes, when Lt. James Dunbar (Don Taylor) is snatched out of the Commandant Von Scherbach's (Otto Preminger) office, and Von Scherbach needs to contact the mole in order to find out where he is. What happens is a phony air raid warning is given and the men are ordered out of the barracks, and Sgt. Schultz (Sig Ruman) meets with the mole who turns out to be Sgt. Price (Peter Graves), who runs security. They set up a system where Price signals Schultz by tying the cord on the light, and the air raid warning comes, and he sends notes to Von Scherbach via a chess piece. This time however, who is hiding in the shadows but Sefton who now knows the truth. But the key is proving it. What happens is the POW's have to hide Dunbar (It turned out to be in the water tower), and Price was going to be involved, but Sefton demanded to be guarded my security, so if something bad happens, they don't have a patsy. Thus Price has no idea where Dunbar is. At the end of the film, the plan is to smuggle Dunbar out of the camp, and Price volunteers to do it. Everyone agreed except Sefton says that Duke already turned over Dunbar to the Germans, and Duke says how he had to keep everyone off of Sefton, but keep his mouth shut. Sefton then starts to interrogate Price and asks him when did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Price says December 7th. Sefton asks "What were you doing?" Price said "Eating Dinner". Sefton: "Eating Dinner in Berlin." Price said: "That means nothing, you are not listing to him are you?" Duke says "I want to hear what he has to say." Sefton then searches Price, and finds the chess piece, and has the proof he needs. Sefton then comes up with a plan about how to get Dunbar out of the tower, and the camp, which is to use Price as a decoy, throw him out in the yard, while Sefton takes Dunbar out. Duke is reluctant but Sefton points out "It is Price or Dunbar, its up to you?", and Animal says "if we kill him they can retaliate and if he is freed, he can be placed in another POW Camp, but if the Germans do it, nothing can happen to us." They agree to do it, and Price gets shot, and Von Scherbach has an evil smirk on his face, until he sees who got killed, as this occurs, Sefton and Dunbar get away. Much is made of the smile on Sefton's face when he said goodbye to the Camp, showing he is not the total hard ass as he seemed to be, but keep in mind, that he brought Dunbar with him, so he was a hero. What is unsaid but you know will happen is Von Scherbach and Schultz will pay for what happened to Price (The Reich did not tolerate failure) and will end up at the Russian Front or before a Court Martial. Note: Both were extremely deserving of this, in particular, Von Scherbach with his abuse of prisoners (In Nazi Germany itself, Field Marshal Hermann Goering would not approve of those actions (The Luftwaffe ran the POW Camps and he respected POW's, unlike the Gestapo, and what they did to Jews and other enemies of the state). Finally, I cannot believe anyone who has seen this film can give it less then 10/10 stars. It is an absolute classic.