Sick Product of a Sick System

Instant Favorite.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

At the beginning of this film the narrator, Sergeant Clarence Cook, states that although there are plenty of films about World War II you don't see many about the experiences of prisoners of war. This is certainly one of the earliest war films to deal with this subject, although not the very earliest. The earliest I can think of is the British-made "The Wooden Horse" from 1950; this was to be followed by the likes of "The Colditz Story", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Danger Within", "The Great Escape" and "King Rat". Strangely enough, "Stalag 17" was made in 1952 but not released in that year, apparently because Paramount believed that audiences would not be interested in its subject-matter. They changed their minds the following year because the end of the Korean War and the subsequent release of American prisoners had focused public attention on the problems facing POWs.The action takes place during December 1944 in a German POW camp "somewhere along the Danube" and concentrates on the inmates of one particular hut in the camp, all of them sergeants in the U.S. Air Force. The film opens with two men from the hut attempting to escape through a tunnel, but when they emerge outside the barbed wire fence they are shot dead by the guards. (This is unusual but not impossible; German guards generally preferred to recapture escaping prisoners alive rather than shoot them, although there were exceptions). The inmates conclude (correctly) that one of their number must be an informer who is letting the Germans know about planned escape attempts. ("Danger Within" also had a plot involving an informer inside a POW camp).The most obvious suspect is J J Sefton, an enterprising would-be capitalist who has a knack for turning any situation to his own profit. (He is in many ways similar to King in "King Rat"). Although the other prisoners are happy to take advantage of Sefton's illicit alcohol and gambling rackets, he is not a popular figure, partly because of his cynical attitude- he regards escape attempts as foolish- and partly because he has no qualms about doing deals with the German guards for luxuries such as eggs, silk stockings and cigarettes. Of course, Sefton is so unpopular and such an obvious suspect that the audience will immediately realise that he must be innocent- indeed, much of the film is taken up with Sefton's efforts to clear his name by exposing the real traitor.When I reviewed "From Here to Eternity" I had not yet seen "Stalag 17", so said that I would reserve judgement on the justice of William Holden's Best Actor Oscar, an award which he won ahead of Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift. Holden, in fact, always felt that he did not deserve the award and, having now seen "Stalag 17", I am inclined to agree with him. Certainly, his performance here as Sefton is a good one, but I felt that both Lancaster and Clift were better.The film as a whole has the potential to be a very good one; it has an exciting plot, some well-observed characterisation and some well-written dialogue. Like some other reviewers, however, I feel that it suffers from the defect of too much inappropriate humour. It is, of course, quite possible to write a comedy set in a POW camp – the television series "Hogan's Heroes" was an example- but "Stalag 17" is not really intended as a comedy. It is, for the most part, a serious drama- it opens with two men being shot dead, and towards the end another character finds himself in danger of his life. Against this backdrop the antics of the German Feldwebel Johann Sebastian Schulz- clearly a frustrated comedian in civilian life- and of the American Sergeant Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa- equally clearly a congenital idiot- seem rather out-of-place. "Animal", in particular, seems so mentally defective that I could not imagine why the U.S. Air Force ever accepted him in the first place, let alone promoted him to sergeant. I have heard it said that director Billy Wilder, himself a Jewish refugee from Nazism, found himself psychologically unable to deal with the subject of the war unless he leavened his seriousness with humour. That may be so, but I nevertheless feel that "Stalag 17" would have been a better film had it concentrated on its serious main plot rather than on its would-be humorous sub-plots. 6/10

This is the first German prisoner of war movie I ever saw. While this is comedic at times, it is actually a serious drama (unlike an abomination like "Hogan's Heroes" which is loosely based on this film). The strength of this is the ensemble acting where we get to meet and enjoy the different prisoners. William Holden, because he is enterprising, becomes the focus of his own men when it seems that the Germans are getting information from inside the barracks. Because he seems to have the ear of the commandant, they are sure that he is he rat. It will be his job to find out who is really behind all this. Sometimes the dialogue is dated and the situations a bit hard to accept, but it is a good drama with a sort of mystery novel premise.

It's the end of 1944. Sgt. J.J. Sefton (William Holden) is a cynic and an opportunist who bets against fellow prisoners escaping. They're American POWs in Stalag 17. The prison commandant Oberst von Scherbach (Otto Preminger) seems to have an informer in Barrack 4. Sgt. Frank Price (Peter Graves) is the prisoners' security chief. Animal (Robert Strauss) is the barrack's loud wild man. Duke (Neville Brand) is the hothead. For some, the obvious leak is Sefton who trades with the guards. After some more setbacks, the men beat up Sefton. Sefton figures that he needs to find the real leak.I don't really like the broad comedy coming from Animal and Harry. They just take the seriousness out of darker POW story. The two different tones keep stepping on each other. I really don't like the broad comedy. The secret informer is quite compelling although I would have made Dunbar fake the sabotage story. That would have worked even better especially considering Sefton talking about how his mother buying his way out of trouble.

Billy Wilder has not disappointed me and rather has lifted my spirits. Whenever I feel low, or feel like bored, I get hold of a Wilder film and his films have each time surprised me, from "Major Or Minor" to "One,Two,Three" there is a charisma that I believe, only Wilder could bring to the film. Stalag 17 is about a prison escapade and it's not a serious drama nor a suspenseful thriller, it's a plain fun-watch. It has many moments of wit and humor, especially for the good first part. Be it Animal (Robert Strauss) flirting with Russian women, or Shapiro (Harvery Lembeck) collecting letters, they are fun filled scenes and they did not seem to be cynical or mocking at the Nazis. They seemed just plain funny. Wilder, I must say is a master writer, who knows not just only the dialog but also in which tone if it is said, brings out what emotion in an actor, and what reaction can be derived from a viewer. He deliberates acts in this film and they sync well with the script. Not for once, I felt anything was out of place, in this escape drama. Though most of the film focuses on the acts of the prisoners and how they have fun with each other day in and day out, rather than the plan of escape and all, I felt it was all right there, and it helped me engage and even empathize with their characters. Wilder, is one of the few master of the basic principle of writing, that is actions and motives make characters, a set of these characters make a plot and better their actions, better the plot. I am speaking more of the genius of Wilder I think than the film in itself. OK, the film touches all the right notes, in it's 2 hour length and fails to falter as per me. It's not a great Prisoners of War film like "Bridge on the River Kwai" or even "Shawshank Redemption" but this essentially a film where a set of people have a motive and they get their thing done. William Holden as Sergeant Sefton gives a delightful performance and there is a host of other actors who gave some wonderful performances too, like Robert Strauss as "Animal" The sound design seemed perfect, considering that this is a 1953 film and it had to accommodate a landscape of War. The editing was fine too, and other aspects did a great job. Of all, I am impressed with the environment that Wilder brings with each of his films, be it "Lost Weekend" or "Some Like It Hot" or even "The Apartment". There is a sense of belonging such as being in that place, where the characters are, this is effectively done by right lighting and right art direction and even supreme cinematography. But Wilder has proved yet again that he was one of the most original and most acceptable voices we had who used his pen to speak more effectively than most men do. I salute his dialog, his scene writing and even his screenplay. Though the credit is shared by Edwin Blum, I suppose so that Wilder was behind the writing.I am going with 4/5 for this. It's not the ideal nail biting stuff if such is the expectation, it's laid back fun-filled watch that mostly you will not regret watching. I am happy to have caught up with this.