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Stalag 17 (1953)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
10 August 1953 (Brazil)
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Tagline:
Hilarious, heart-tugging! You'll laugh...you'll cry...you'll cheer William Holden in his great Academy Award role! (from reissue print ad)
Plot:
When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German POW camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar.
Another 4 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Walk Of Fame Honour For Mission: Impossible Star
(From WENN. 23 October 2009, 6:26 PM, PDT)
Old Ass Movies: Escape ‘Stalag 17′
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 13 September 2009, 11:17 AM, PDT)
(From WENN. 23 October 2009, 6:26 PM, PDT)
Old Ass Movies: Escape ‘Stalag 17′
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 13 September 2009, 11:17 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
the perennial 'feel-good' American POW movie
more (101 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | William Holden | ... | Sgt. J.J. Sefton |
 | Don Taylor | ... | Lt. James Dunbar |
| Otto Preminger | ... | Col. von Scherbach |
| Robert Strauss | ... | Stanislas Kasava |
| Harvey Lembeck | ... | Harry Shapiro |
| Richard Erdman | ... | Sgt. 'Hoffy' Hoffman |
| Peter Graves | ... | Price |
| Neville Brand | ... | Duke |
| Sig Ruman | ... | Sgt. Johann Schulz |
| Michael Moore | ... | Manfredi |
| Peter Baldwin | ... | Johnson |
| Robinson Stone | ... | Joey |
| Robert Shawley | ... | 'Blondie' Peterson |
| William Pierson | ... | Marko the Mailman |
 | Gil Stratton | ... | Clarence Harvey 'Cookie' Cook (as Gil Stratton Jr.) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
120 min | Germany:116 min
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
West Germany:16 (f) |
Australia:G |
South Korea:12 (2004) |
Finland:K-16 |
Norway:12 |
UK:PG |
USA:Approved (PCA #15866) |
Sweden:15
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The uncredited soldier singing at the Christmas Party is Ross Bagdasarian, also known as 'Dave Seville', the leader/creator/voice of 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'.
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Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: As the last seconds the film begins to fade out, you see Cookie whistling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", but the audio is not in sync.
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Quotes:
Oberst Von Scherbach:
All right then, gentlemen, we are all friends again. And with Christmas coming on I have a special treat for you. I'll have you all deloused for the holidays and I'll have a little Christmas tree for every barrack. You will like that.
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Movie Connections:
Spoofed in "The Simpsons: The DeBarted (#19.13)" (2008)
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Soundtrack:
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
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FAQ
Where is the reference to adultery in "Stalag 17"?A Note Regarding Spoilers
Is "Stalag 17" based on a novel?
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more (101 total)
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Billy Wilder's Stalag 17 relies on folds of comedy and a cynical attitude to elevate a story that seems out of a crime novel. Here we have a cast of characters, and the undercurrent is 'who's the rat?' in a bunker as the secrets shuffled around (i.e. that there's a tunnel for escape) and the Germans know right away. There's fun in that, and in being able to 2nd guess who the informant really is- at one point I thought the old adage "it's the quiet ones you got to watch" would come forward- but Wilder is brilliant at transforming this as some solid suspense and dramatic tension while ALSO making a really snappy (sometimes) dark comedy. It's a movie about personality, despite the plot being somewhat important, and with the actors themselves delivering a lot for the characters' sakes.
William Holden is the first given attribute as the star, playing the sort who, for a conventional movie-goer audience, seems easy to peg: too full of himself, sneaky, has the motive to be the informant. But as the layers come into focus, he's more than meets the eye, and Holden (against his better instincts, as he didn't want the role originally) fills it in with his subtle swagger and great sarcastic touch carried over from Sunset Blvd. Then there's Otto Premminger, a big surprise as he is mostly known as a director, as the Commandant, taking up and stealing every scene he's in (only Erich von Stroheim in Grand Illusion beats him out as tour-de-force Commandants). Then there's supporting work from the desperate 'clowns' (Robert Strauss's Betty Grable obsessed Animal and Harvey Lembeck's Shapiro), and the cool Don Talyer in a turn as Dunbar. They're all at their best.
While it almost appears to be more entertaining than it perhaps should- considering, as Cookie's opening narration says, movies about the army have been glamorized and this story is different- it's kind of like the Hollywood 50s answer to something like A Man Escaped. Bresson's film is cold and detached and immediate in dramatic impact, while Stalag 17 wants to be a big hit. There's a lot of humor, some unexpected, some that are meant to be big laughs (i.e. Animal and Shapiro's scheme to get into the Russian prison), and they all connect. It's simply a really entertaining movie that has transcended its period, thanks to Wilder's faith in (and more than likely proponent of) an ironic, witty sensibility to otherwise dark and gloomy cinematic terrain.