The Great Escape

original title:
The Great Escape
other titles:
(Gesprengte Ketten)
country / year of production:
USA / 1963
original length:
172 min. , color
premiere:
7 August 1963
genre:
adventure
based on:
Paul Brickhill. The Great Escape. New York: Norton, 1950.
director:
John Sturges
film script:
Paul Brickhill , James Clavell , William R. Burnett
producer:
John Sturges
cinematographer:
Daniel L. Fapp
editor:
Ferris Webster
composer:
Elmer Bernstein
cast (role):
Steve McQueen (Captain Virgil Hilts 'The Cooler King') , James Garner (Flight Lieutenant Bob Anthony Hendley 'The Scrounger') , Richard Samuel Attenborough, Lord (Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett 'Big X') , James Donald (Group Captain Rupert Ramsey 'The SBO') , Charles Bronson (Flight Lieutenant Danny Willinski 'The Tunnel King') , Steve McQueen , James Garner , Richard Samuel Attenborough, Lord , James Donald , Charles Bronson
more:
David McCallum (Lieutenant-Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal') , David McCallum
plot synopsis:
1944: the Germans have opened a special POW camp for the prisoners who have a record of repeated escape attemps - Stalag Luft III. But as soon as they are settled in their new camp, British officer Bartlett and a hand-full of others begin to make plans for a large-scale breakout. Barlett intends to free 250 prisoners so that the Germans are forced to take soldiers away from other war duties. But first extensive preparations have to be made: three tunnels have to be dug, passports forged, civilian clothes made, etc. Eventually 76 prisoners manage to escape and scatter all over the country. Fifty are captured and then executed by the Gestapo. The rest is returned to the camp. Only three of them reach the border.
keywords:
prisoners of war , liberation , escape , prisoner camps
war:
Second World War (1939-1945)
literature:
remarks:
The Film is based on a true incident that occured in so-called Stalag Luft III, a prison camp of the Luftwaffe opened in 1942 for downed airmen and crew. In March 1944, 76 prosoners escaped, fifty of them were recaptured. The incident reached Hitler's personal attention and he ordered 50 of the recaptured men to be shot. After this event, escape became more dangerous but attempts continued.

For more information on Stalag Lusft III see: http://www.usafa.af.mil/dfsel/sl3/
availability:
VHS, DVD