Stalag 17

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Connor S Written for the stage, and performed beautifully as if you were in an audience. God bless our POW's! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/11/24 Full Review Merick H The opening scene is excellent but it is all down hill from there. It is difficult for me to understand how this film stands in such high regard. The humor is insufferable (especially Animal). Schultz says, "Look at them lieutenant; everybody is a clown," and that is exactly how many of the characters came across with their foolish antics and cheesy one-liners. It is painfully obvious that the informant is not who all the evidence is pointing towards for the majority of the film, and there is nothing interesting about how we come to find out who it actually is. It has its moments, and I enjoyed the ending (even though it is completely implausible), but ultimately it is a sluggish bore of a film. It definitely did not live up to its prestige. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/03/24 Full Review Jim P I am from the UK so I wasn't sure I'd like a movie about American POWs… But they took a smash hit play and turned it into an awesome movie. It's also a lot of fun, with a South Pacific feel. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review Alec B There's probably a version of this movie that's an unrelenting pressure cooker but Wilder's trademark wit takes the movie down a more interesting and entertaining path. Holden's performance is perfection. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/14/23 Full Review Red T It's solid but it has some issues that hold it back from being amazing. The acting is very good with witty dialogue and Grave & Holden being the standouts. The problem is there are so many characters in this that it is hard to keep track at times. Animal feels like he was out of place as the comedic relief. The humor also is just alright and feels out of place at times. The editing isn't bad but is the weakest part here. This feels like a comedy and a war thriller merged together with mixed results. Sometimes the humor goes on way too long and isn't that funny and doesn't really add anything to the plot more than being a gag. This starts to drag the pacing down because this starts to lose focus in tone and who the main character is. Holden starts out as the main guy but the gags take over for like 40 minutes between all the supporting cast and feels pointless and waters down the key plot points. Holden just kind of disappears until the last 30 minutes as he pops back. Also because its so busy with gags it doesn't build tension as well as it could because it gives away the villain quite early and the humor disappears by the final 30 minutes which is well done and clever still. The cinematography is good also with excellent camerawork but again quite a few scenes are watered down by the humor. The music also is good but not super memorable and not used that much. This needed about 20-25 minutes shaved off mainly from the gags in the middle and stayed a serious war thriller. The villain is good but I wish he would've had more back and forth with Holden in a battle of wits instead of pointless gags. I have to say this is a bit overrated. Anyone who is a fan of Wilder, any actors in this, or Classic War Movies will like this though. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/24/23 Full Review Taylor L "If I ever run into any of you bums on the street corner, let's just pretend we've never met before." William Holden stars as cigar-gnashing 'general store' operator J.J. Sefton, whose crude attitude and stiff prices make him persona non grata in his barracks. When everyone in the bunks suspects a rat is hiding among them, leaking information about escaping POWs and clandestine equipment, the eyes naturally turn to Sefton; to stop good men from going to their deaths (or perhaps to prevent more bruises from appearing on his face), Sefton takes it upon himself to find the real spy among them. An early war thriller with elements of black comedy, Stalag 17 is somewhere between The Great Escape and M*A*S*H, and spends even more time building up the camaraderie between its characters than it does developing the main plot, with surprisingly ample opportunity for director Billy Wilder to use the same crossdressing humor that he would refine in Some Like it Hot a few years later. But despite the mixing of war film and comedy, Stalag 17 never feels jagged, as he constantly uses levity to allow his prisoners a brief escape from their dark reality. As a result, it's funny and exciting without being disrespectful to what was still a fresh memory for many veterans. Another great one from one of the best midcentury American directors. Wonder if Robert Strauss ever got his date with Betty Grable. (4/5) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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