Prisoners of war, a tragi-comedy

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2016)

This was a very famous film at the time and made a big impact. One of the reasons for this was that the story was largely true. There really was a Stalag 17 (the name of a POW camp in Germany), and the characters really existed. One needs to remember that this film was made only a few years after the end of the War, and everything still resonated very strongly. The lead role is played by William Holden, who won the Oscar for his performance. If you want to know the truth, his performance is nothing to be excited about, and did not deserve an Oscar, but he himself claimed he was given it to make up for his having been denied one three years before for his role in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). Who knows. He was in any case a very popular and talented lead actor of the time. One surprise in this film is that the director Otto Preminger appears as an actor in the film, and plays the German commandant of the camp, Oberst (Colonel) von Scherbach. Preminger did not direct the film. It was directed by Billy Wilder. Stalag 17 is a camp for captured American non-commissioned officers, so everyone in the camp is a sergeant. They keep trying to escape but keep getting caught. The film begins with two of them being shot for this. They all know there is a 'stoolie' amongst them who is telling the Germans of all of their plans, but no one can figure out who it is. They all decide it is William Holden, who is not a team player and keeps himself to himself, and refuses to go along with group-think. But of course it is not Holden. Holden eventually figures out who it really is, but how can he prove it and expose him? The film is full of raw comedy, laughs, jokes, and teasing. This sounds very unlikely for a film about prisoners of war, and it certainly is, but it works. The film makes lively and entertaining viewing, and has been released in a restored version on Blu-Ray.