Break to Freedom (1953)

In 1944, at a POW camp in Germany the Allied prisoners use a dummy prop named Albert to fool the German guards and escape.

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writers:

Edward Sammis (play) (as Edward R.Sammis), Guy Morgan (play)

Stars:

Anthony Steel, Jack Warner, Robert Beatty

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Steel	...	Geoff
Jack Warner	...	Capt. Maddox
Robert Beatty	...	Jim
William Sylvester	...	Texas
Anton Diffring	...	Hauptmann Schultz
Eddie Byrne	...	Joe
Guy Middleton	...	Bongo
Paul Carpenter	...	Fred
Michael Balfour	...	Hank
Moultrie Kelsall	...	Henry
Frederick Valk	...	Camp Kommandant
Frederick Schiller	...	Herman
Peter Jones	...	Schoolie
Geoffrey Hibbert	...	Cutter
Walter Gotell	...	Feldwebel

Storyline

When several escapes at an German pow camp go wrong, the prisoners begin to think, that there is an informer revealing their plans to the enemy. Then Lt Ainsworth, an artist in civvie street, invents a model head of a fictious prisoner, who can take the place of an escaper, when the men march back from the bath house, which is situated outside the camp.

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | escape | camp | german | dummy | 

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Taglines:

The War's Most Daring P.O.W. Escape

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

June 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Break to Freedom

Filming Locations:

Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£80,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Angel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the film was classified by the British Board of Film Censors on 04/09/1953, cuts were needed to achieve the "U" classification.

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Goofs

Tex says he is in the US Navy Air Force, there wasn't such an outfit. If he as an aviator in the US Navy, he would have said US Navy.

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Quotes

Capt. Barton: [Reading out a letter from home] Listen to this: "Cousin Tony has been taken prisoner and is in Stalag B. His mother says 'Can you pop round and see him'". Old girl must be crackers...

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits epilogue: 'ALBERT' was re-created for the screen by John Worsley

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Connections

Spoofed in Chicken Run (2000)

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Soundtracks

Colonel Bogey
(uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford

User Reviews

The real star is the dummy

There were quite a few British POW films in the '50's, some better than others. For some reason, the real ingenuity of escape attempts were glossed over, what so occupied the POWs attentions and on which depended their happiness and their lives: how uniforms, documents, stamps, photographs, tools etc could be made by with apparently none of what was necessary to make them. The films were thus human stories which though lacked much of what had been so crucial to the men involved. Here though the heart of the film is Albert RN - the life-like full size dummy used to take the place of a prisoner - and the virtuoso performances of its summoning out of the air in seconds, and its disassembly and disappearance again in seconds. Also along with the dummy itself, the way it was deployed, the plans for avoiding discovery and the on the spot quick thinking needed if the unexpected happened (when perhaps a dozen POW had to wordlessly devise and implement a plan in the presence of the German guards). And Albert R.N. was not just brought out to deceive the guards on the day of the escape but every day for a week to delay discovery of the escaped prisoner.

The other parts of the film are not quite up to par. Jack Warner did not convince physically as a serving naval officer, Anton Differing did his nasty Nazi once again (though who did it better?) but the marvel of Albert RN the dummy raised the bar and shone a light on the ingenuity, daring and skill of those who devised, built and operated him.