The Colditz Story (1955)

The Colditz Story: Directed by Guy Hamilton. With John Mills, Eric Portman, Frederick Valk, Denis Shaw. Allied prisoners – British, Dutch, French and Polish – pool their resources to plan numerous escapes from the “escape-proof” German P.O.W. camp housed in a Medieval castle known as “Colditz”.

“This film is named after an actual German prison camp designated for incorrigible prisoners of war–those who had already attempted escapes from other camps. And, not surprisingly, the multinational inmates spend most of their time plotting to escape. And, by the end of the film, some actually make it. In fact, the statistics on actual escapes is pretty impressive. What surprised me about all this is that the Germans were actually VERY forbearing and didnu0026#39;t just shoot the prisoners because of this–and the difference between these camps and the death camps is striking.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s odd. Although u0026quot;The Colditz Storyu0026quot; is based on a true account of prisoners escaping from this German prison camp–yet I never was bowled over by the film. I must admit that normally my biggest complaint about historical films is their inaccuracy–and this one sticks pretty close to the facts–yet I didnu0026#39;t really love the movie. I am not saying itu0026#39;s bad–the acting is very good. But I just didnu0026#39;t get into this film as much as some of the fictional WWII British films like u0026quot;In Which We Serveu0026quot; or u0026quot;The Life of Colonel Blimpu0026quot;. It is still well worth seeing.”