''The Colditz Story'' is a 1955 British

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

film starring

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

and

Eric Portman Eric Harold Portman (13 July 1901 – 7 December 1969) was an English stage and film actor. He is probably best remembered for his roles in several films for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the 1940s. Early life Born in Halifax, ...

and directed by

Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, w ...

. It is based on the 1952 memoir written by

Pat Reid Patrick Robert Reid, (13 November 1910 – 22 May 1990) was a British Army officer and author of history. As a British prisoner of war during the Second World War, he was held captive at Colditz Castle when it was designated Oflag IV-C. Reid wa ...

, a British army officer who was imprisoned in

Oflag IV-C Oflag IV-C, often referred to by its location at Colditz Castle, overlooking Colditz, Saxony, was one of the most noted German Army prisoner-of-war camps for captured enemy officers during World War II; ''Oflag'' is a shortening of ''Offiziersl ...

Colditz Castle Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the r ...

, in Germany during the Second World War and who was the Escape Officer for British POWs within the castle.

Plot

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the Germans transformed

into a high security prisoner-of-war camp called

. Its purpose was to restrain those Allied prisoners who had attempted to escape from other Oflags and so Colditz housed various nationalities who were mainly British, Dutch, French and Polish. Among the British prisoners are

and Senior British Officer Colonel Richmond. Richmond is warned by the Kommandant that "escaping is verboten" but Richmond has no intention of heeding this advice. All the prisoners are wary of Priem, the chief security officer, who is efficient and tenacious. Reid and other British officers attempt to open a manhole cover one night but are foiled by a simultaneous French attempt which alerts the German guards. Reid and La Tour argue about the lack of co-operation, both blaming the other. Later, a British tunnel is making progress until it meets another being dug by the Dutch officers and a collapse occurs. Richmond decides to act and proposes the creation by each nationality of escape officers who must liaise at all times to make sure attempts do not interfere with each other. This would be on the understanding that the escape officers do not themselves take part in an escape. Reid accepts the post for the British contingent. Soon afterwards, Winslow is hidden among palliasses being taken out of the castle and is not immediately caught. Richmond gains agreement for his own escape plan which hinges on his impersonation of a feldwebel called Franz Josef. This seems to be succeeding until, at the key moment, the German guards emerge and arrest all concerned. Tyler is shot and wounded. Richmond, Reid and a dozen others are placed in solitary for a month and the likelihood of an informer is first discussed. This turns out to be the case when one of the Polish officers, whose family have been threatened by the Gestapo, is found to be collaborating with the guards and betraying escape plans. After two weeks on the run, Winslow is recaptured and returned to Colditz. While he is in the solitary compound, he talks to La Tour during a physical exercise session and watches as La Tour, helped by a compatriot, leaps over the barbed wire fence. Winslow runs into a guard to stop him shooting La Tour who runs to freedom. Soon afterwards, Richmond expresses annoyance that no British officer has yet made a complete escape. Reid's friend McGill approaches Richmond with a new plan but says he will only disclose it if Richmond will relieve Reid from his escape officer duties so that McGill and Reid can make the attempt together. Richmond agrees and McGill convinces Reid that the plan is feasible. The escapees will be disguised as German officers but will approach the guards from the direction of the German mess. McGill argues that previous attempts have failed because the escapees came from the wrong direction. The attempt will coincide with a revue being staged in the castle theatre, to which all senior German officers are being invited. McGill is very tall and has antagonised the guards many times by reckless behaviour. Richmond realises that he will be too conspicuous and asks him to stand down so that other officers including Reid will have a good chance of making the plan work. McGill accepts Richmond's reasoning but is devastated. Next day, he attempts to scale the wire fence surrounding the exercise compound and is shot dead by the guards. Reid, on learning of Richmond's decision, says he will not let the escape attempt proceed but Richmond persuades him to do it for McGill's sake. The escape goes ahead as planned while the revue is being staged. Four men get out of the castle but two are soon recaptured. Several days later, Richmond receives a postcard with a cryptic message. He announces to the assembled and cheering prisoners that Reid and Winslow have successfully crossed into neutral Switzerland.

Cast

Information sourced to the BFI site.BFI: The Colditz Story (1955)
*

as Colonel Richmond *

Frederick Valk Frederick Valk (10 June 1895 – 23 July 1956) was a German-born Jewish stage and screen actor of Czech Jewish descent who fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1930s to escape Nazi persecution, and subsequently became a naturalised British cit ...

as Kommandant * Denis Shaw as Priem *

Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and received a Golden Globe Award nomination during his acting career. Early life Jeffries was born in ...

as Harry Tyler * Christopher Rhodes as Mac McGill *

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

as Richard Gordon * Ian Carmichael as Robin Cartwright *

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and ...

as Jimmy Winslow *

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...

as "Vandy",

Machiel van den Heuvel Machiel van den Heuvel (7 May 1900, Haarlemmermeer – 29 June 1946, near Bandung) was a Dutch army officer. As a prisoner-of-war in Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, during World War II, he served as Escape Officer for the Dutch POWs, ...

Eugene Deckers Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic l ...

as La Tour * Anton Diffring as Hauptmann Fischer *

Guido Lorraine Guido Lorraine (2 September 1912 – 31 December 2009) was a Polish-born actor, musician and singer, known primarily for his roles in war films. He was also sometimes known by the stage name Guy Borucki. Lorraine appeared in twenty-eight films ...

as Polish officer * Witold Sikorski as Polish Officer * A. Blichewicz as Polish Officer * B. Dolinski as Polish Officer * Leo Bieber as German Interpreter * Rudolph Offenbach as Dutch Colonel *

Keith Pyott Keith Pyott ( Blackheath, London, 9 March 1902 - 6 April 1968) was a British actor. He transferred from stage to screen and was a regular face in drama in the early days of television, appearing in '' Educated Evans'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Out o ...

as French colonel * Arthur Butcher as Polish Colonel * David Yates as Dick * Douglas Argent as British Officer * Terence Brook as British Officer * Frank Coburn as British Officer * Eric Corrie as British Officer * John Corrie as British Officer * Anthony Faramus as British officer * Eric Lander as British Officer * Kenneth Midwood as British Officer * Peter Myers as British Officer * Claude Le Sache as French Interpreter * Zygmunt Rewkowski as Polish Interpreter *

Carl Duering Gerald Percy Fox (29 May 1923 – 1 September 2018), better known as Carl Duering, was a German-born British actor whose best-known role is as Dr. Brodsky in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange''. He died in London in September 2018 at the age ...

as Hauptmann Wagner * Ludwik Lawiński as Franz Josef * Peter Swanwick (credited as "Swannick") as Lutyens * John Heller as German Guard * Jean Driant as French Orderly * Jean Bacon as French Orderly * Frederick Schiller as German Soldier *

Guy Deghy Guy Deghy (born Gedeon Aladar Istvan Deghy; 11 October 1912 – 25 February 1992), was a Hungarian-born actor who appeared largely in British films and television, as in the 5th episode of the first season of '' The Saint'' depicting Inspector ...

as German Soldier

Production

The theatre revue towards the end of the film, which the inmates use to mask the escape by Reid and Winslow, begins with a parody of the Will Fyffe song '' I Belong to Glasgow'', rendered ''I Belong to Colditz''. Ian Carmichael and

, playing two Guards officers, perform a

Flanagan and Allen Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act most active during the 1930s and 1940s. Its members were Bud Flanagan (1896 – 1968, born Chaim Weintrop) and Chesney Allen (1894–1982). They were first paired in a Florrie Ford ...

routine, based on '' Underneath the Arches''.

Reception

The film was the fourth most popular film at the British box office in 1955. However the film performed poorly at the US box office, like most British war movies of this era. A

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...

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links