One of seemingly dozens of PoW dramas made in the early to mid-1950s (The Wooden Horse, Stalag 17, Albert RN), this is set in the infamous German fortress of the title where the Nazis sent the most incorrigible repeat escapees.
The story about the daring escapes undertaken by Allied prisoners has little time for the psychology of imprisonment (unlike the popular BBC TV series of the 1970s), but the action is still well played – tense at times, music-hall jolly at others.
John Mills is perfectly cast as Pat Reid, on whose first-hand account the film is based, and Eric Portman, Ian Carmichael, Lionel Jeffries and Bryan Forbes are the other inmates of heroic hue.
Director Guy Hamilton would go on to gain greater acclaim with a different kind of escapism when he directed Goldfinger in 1964.
Pat Reid
John Mills
Colonel Richmond
Eric Portman
Mac
Christopher Rhodes
Harry
Lionel Jeffries
Jimmy
Bryan Forbes
Robin
Ian Carmichael
Richard
Richard Wattis
Dick
David Yates
Kommandant
Frederick Valk
Priem
Denis Shaw
Fischer
Anton Diffring
Franz Josef
Ludwig Lawinski
Director
Guy Hamilton
