The Great Escape

In 1944 during World War II, 600 prisoners of war took part in an escape attempt from within the Luftwaffe-run POW camp named Stalag Luft III that resulted in one of the biggest escape attempts in the prison’s history and would later become known as The Great Escape, and despite the multiple casualties and very few of the involved escaping to freedom, the planning, ingenuity, and execution of said plan was impactful enough that it left a mark on the world years after the war. In 1950, Australian author and former prisoner of the camp, Paul Brickhill, created a book also called ‘’The Great Escape’’ which provided an insiders account into the situation, and gave insight into how it unfolded as well as the consequences that followed for those who escaped or participated. The book would later be the inspiration for a film adaptation that would also account the story, but in a more Hollywood manner, with the film in question, also titled The Great Escape, being released in 1963.

Having expended enormous resources recapturing escaped Allied Prisoners of War, The Nazi army move the most skilled and persistent soldiers to Stalag Luft III, a maximum-security POW camp supervised by Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger (played by Hannes Messemer) in order to keep them out of the war for good. Those that have been captured include American Captain Virgil Hilts (played by Steve McQueen) who is known for his frequent escape attempts and has already concocted a plan for this new jailhouse, but continually gets foiled, but while draws all the attention, the remaining men devise their own elaborate scheme. Headed by RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (played by Richard Attenborough), the plan would involve breaking out 200 men all the while continuously forcing the Nazi army to waste resources on them, and with three tunnels being dug up by Flight Lieutenant Danny Welinski (played by Charles Bronson), passports being created by Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe (played by Donald Pleasance) and contraptions being created through acquired materials either from their own compartments or through American Flight Lieutenant Bob Hendley (played by James Garner) who is capable of ‘’finding anything’’, things appear to be going smoothly. All of this planning will lead up to the eventful night when Hilts, Hendley, Bartlett and several others will risk their lives to escape this prison and obtain freedom once again.

Receiving critical acclaim upon release and eventually becoming a cult film with the passage of time, The Great Escape became one of the highest grossing films of the year and is still held in high regard to this day as a timeless classic for its memorable cast, effective build-up and suspense, and strange yet captivating tone.

Being a film that helped inspire several future prison-escape stories, this real life escape mission is one worth telling, as giving people a look into the work that goes into manoeuvring around physical obstructions, using out-of-the-box elements and appliances to move past seemingly impassable situations, and the intense but immense feeling of relief, satisfaction and joy that comes from finally escaping such a confining location, will provide a very cathartic reaction, and a cinematic portrayal can add onto that feeling through the use of recognizable tropes and a suspenseful atmosphere and delivery. What separates The Great Escape from other prison stories that would come later is that it’s strangely optimistic and playful by nature. Despite how easy it would be to show this story as dark, uncomfortable, and depressing, it never comes across as that harsh or oppressive because of how light and playful the tone is, so it never really feels like they’re in danger (there’s very few times they get caught and their scheme is almost completely ignored by the guards). It’s strange to see prisoners of war trying to escape a prison run by nazis, having the same dynamic as a school principal catching rebellious students and putting them in detention, and you’d think that this would be a huge turnoff and make the film feel unrealistic and even insulting, but yet it seems oddly beneficial.

Instead of feeling disingenuous, it offers a fresh take on a genre and time period that’s usually known for being sullener and more oppressive, and this unique delivery makes it more appealing and makes any inevitable showcase of something meaner and harsher all the more confronting (which is mainly during the end). There was a lot of care put into making the experience and process of the escape feel authentic to the original book and event (Former Canadian POW Wally Floody even acted as a technical advisor for the film), so it doesn’t feel like the movie had any interest in stepping on any toes, and considering the brutal time period the film was set in as well as when it was actually released, people were probably more willing to become engrossed in a light-hearted but still respectful portrayal rather than a more realistic one that didn’t pull any punches. It feels like screenwriters James Clavell and W. R. Burnett were able to find a really nice balance between the two, as nothing feels misplaced or ill-fitting and despite the multiple historical changes, it’s stated upfront that this is a fictitious portrayal, and therefore the mood and characters aren’t greatly affected as long as the content and execution is kept the same. The directing by John Sturges keeps the film flowing very nicely, juggling a lot of components through its almost three-hour running time, and allowing moments of character and humanity throughout this mostly mission-based narrative so that it doesn’t become stale.

The characters are mostly compressed versions of several different people who filled similar roles in real life and even the nationality of the soldiers are vastly different (America is positioned as having the most in the film, when in actually it was the British, but that’s just Hollywood for you), but due to not taking a wholly realistic approach, the portrayals don’t matter as much as long as they capture what they did, and in that department they do that quite nicely. Most of this star-studded cast is quite strong and know how to make even small roles stand out, but there’s only so much they can do when there’s so many characters to focus on. There are definitely characters that don’t leave their mark because of how limited their screen time is, and while that’s understandable for a minor role, it’s more bizarre when it’s the lead. Steve McQueen got a lot of praise for his performance as Captain Virgil Hilts (even managing to win an Oscar for Best Actor) and while he is certainly good, he’s surprisingly absent for a good chunk of the movie as he’s mainly disconnected from the rest of the group. Because this film has an ensemble cast where a lot of them get time to feel like main leads, it feels like the only reason McQueen is sanctioned out as the true lead is because he’s a big name and does the big cool motorcycle scene near the end, because otherwise he doesn’t really do more than others who have a lot more screen time and even more personality.

People like James Garner, Donald Pleasence, Charles Bronson and especially Richard Attenborough get much more attention and time to flesh themselves out, and they stand as solid characters that contribute to the plot steadily and frequently. As previously mentioned, it’s bizarre how some of the Nazi soldiers are not presented as coldly and familiarly cutthroat, but even that is given a bit of a reason that ties back to real life as certain soldiers within the German faction did grow tired of the fighting and were against the war at this point in time. Hannes Messemer as the supposed villain is portrayed as much kinder and less imposing than you’d expect for a senior Nazi officer running a prison camp, but this distinction and the strong performance helps him stand out as a memorable deviation of a very common movie villain (he was also inspired by an actual general, Friedrich-Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau, who was known as very anti-Nazi and actively disobeyed Hitler’s orders to senselessly kill allied prisoners of war).

The film had a budget of about 3.1 million and thanks to the limited number of locations that needed to be filmed (being secluded to a singular location helps make repetitive sets feel less distracting and more cost-effective), it gets to keep things pretty straightforward, but it still does a good job making this prison an interesting location to spend the movie in. Despite the small size and relatively basic look, this prison is a memorable location, and the layout is established pretty early on so that it’s clear to the audience how each location from the bedrooms to the showers, even to the gardens, are going to be used during the plan. The underground scenes where they’re building the tunnel feel appropriately claustrophobic and dark, as does the rest of the film when its shot during nighttime, providing a better contrast to when the characters escape during the final act and the outside is portrayed as vast, expansive and far-as-the-eye-can-see, it’s a simple but effective element that really highlights how freedom can feel after being caught for so long.

The motorcycle chase near the end is a cool sequence and act as a fun frantic change up to a mostly reserved feature, with even most of the stunts feeling pretty thrilling despite how minor they are by today’s standards (a small hop may not look like much, but actually doing it wouldn’t be easy for an non-professional), it provides a nice change of pace and makes for a good climax. The score by Elmer Bernstein is very iconic and is credited for giving Bernstein enough royalties to last the rest of his life. It is again weirdly peppy and upbeat for a WWII prison film, but the militaristic melody and flute-driven tune provides a comforting atmosphere during the daytime, and the mysterious, enjoyably foreboding and even mystical styling of the nighttime scenes makes it more enjoyably suspenseful rather than legitimately frightening. Much like the rest of the film, it shouldn’t fit but strangely does and helps make the film more distinct.

Considering how long it’s been since its release, The Great Escape has clearly influenced several films, whether they were actual biopics that did their own historical escape story with a sense of grit, or an entirely original idea that just gave their own spin on a similar story (Chicken Run works on a whole other level when you see the inspiration). It’s because of the surprisingly chirpier attitude that this movie feels so special, and by placing a nice feeling of escapism on a period as harrowing as WWII, it acts as an alternate window into the period that comes with nuggets of the hard truth but is still clearly meant to cheer you up rather than mentally break you (think Hogan’s Heroes, M.A.S.H and Blackadder, but with a slightly more serious tone). The concept is interesting and could push people to research the actual event, everybody is a great actor and makes for a few fun characters, it’s a nice-looking film despite the limited locations, and even though it is clearly set within a specific period of time, it remains a timeless film that’s strangely fun to watch. For something fresh on the war-based platter, this sample can offer simple escapist fun.