Sporadic but oddly intriguing film set amidst an Allied prisoner of war camp; an unnerving but effective meshing of the horrors of war with rabid, punchy entertainment.

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2010)

For the most part, The Great Escape is a romping and rather enjoyable Second World War film about working together; being brave; overcoming a predicament and escaping. If it means thwarting the Nazis in the process then so be it. It plays out under a banner of surprisingly upbeat, somewhat comical, borderline happy-go-lucky entertainment – it seems most of the characters held within the prisoner of war camp, which we spend most of the film's runtime within, are quite enjoying trying to escape; frustrating the Nazi officials; repeatedly risking their lives and, oddest of all, spending time in a small concrete six by four hole which is named 'The Cooler'. War films demand conflict, and they usually demand a certain sense of action spectacle which, handled, correctly doubles up as the film's bloody and unappealing warfare; The Great Escape appears to want to have it every other which way. Here is a war film that has so much fun for its first hour and a half that when the time comes for its character to bolt for the blue, it isn't sure how to deal with some of their expeditions into the wider unknown and flits uncontrollably from ups to downs, morphing its atmosphere rather uncontrollably from terror to tragedy to excitement to relief and then back again.
We begin with a procession of trucks and vehicles transporting Allied prisoners to an isolated camp in rural Germany during World War 2. Over the credits they travel, journeying deeper and deeper into the forests; across the roads and over the hills until that sense of being deep into the middle of absolutely nowhere is effectively established. The measure of how far the prisoners whom we focus on go, from arriving at the camp to doing what they do, is effectively established when they step out of the trucks upon arrival: they're bleary eyed rabble of a bunch, a little lost in their new surroundings and not entirely together yet 'as one'. The following scene sees a British officer speak to the camp's leader; the German towering over him as he stands instead of sitting and lays out the rules, the officer's leg based injury a further establishment of the superiority he has in comparison. The dialogue shot in profile so as to get across the degrees of conflict between them but then somewhat such a composition relinquished when middle ground is reached and immediate conflict dissipates through agreement, even if it is retained in essence.
The camp itself is the Germans placing of all those whom are guilty of repeated escape attempts from other camps into one big camp that they believe is capable of holding all of them. Once out, it's always inferred neutral Switzerland is the place to head toward; the powers that be seemingly counteracting this by having the camp far away enough that a fighter plane voyage won't get you across the border. So as to engulf the widest possible audience for the film, we come to revolve around an array of men from an array of backgrounds of an array of different nationalities. An amusing scene early on highlights the clashing of these cultures, backgrounds and attitudes; an American more broadly representative of most of the film's Americans speaks to a British character, again posing as a broader representation of people of his nationality, about how hunting and shooting birds rather than sketching them and that riding motorcycles instead of your more bog-standard, boring even, bicycles is more preferable in either case.
Of the film's Americans, Steve McQueen's captain named Virgil Hilts is a man continuously pushing the boundaries of what the Germans might tolerate, a young rebellious sort whom later adopts the mantle of the film's lead action man. Regarding the British, Richard Attenborough's Roger Bartlett is granted a separate arrival to that of everybody else complete with S.S. escort, his expertise in escaping from camps built up through other's dialogue whilst he's off screen whereas Donald Pleasence's Flight lieutenant named Colin Blythe, a man who's a dab hand at forging whatever need forging in what is itself a skill which requires precision and patience, is a more heartwarming presence as he himself undergoes his own subplots to do with health and friendships with another inmate. With an array of supporting acts, none of whom in the form of Scottish; Polish or Australian prisoners match up to the strength in ability and smarts as the English or Americans, the Pole of whom later needs his hand practically held so as to get through the tough stuff to freedom, the film uses the premise to tell a true story in a relatively interesting manner of how several men broke out of a POW fortress.
The film is a fairly engaging piece for the best part, its stuff to do with character done and dusted by the time the planning and executing of several escape attempts plays out; Hilts' early attempt to just go for it thwarted with ease establishing a sense that time and due care is almost certainly required. The film isn't concerned as much about plot as it is with telling a tale of how something happened, in a somewhat precise manner which has the film all too annoyingly resemble that of a montage in doing one thing; planning the next stage and fulfilling that bit – sometimes it works, others it doesn't and they have to take a step backwards. On occasion, the flag waving in that the Americans bail the Brits out on occasion is tiresome; James Garner's Lieutenant Hendley aiding Blythe at the risk of his own expense as well as Hilt's sacrifices early on so as to aid Bartlett in their tunnel digging a tad odd. Regardless, director John Sturges keeps the film moving; and while the 172 minutes do fly past fairly quickly whilst we're stuck in this prison, that fact is more of an achievement than the film is as a whole actually is.