A happy-go-lucky bunch of British prisoners in a German POW camp during World War II discover that their new acerbic fellow prisoner is high-ranking British aeronautical scientist Sir Ernest Pease (James Robertson Justice) who they must help escape at all cost.
The cast includes some of the most popular names in contemporary British cinema, including Leslie Phillips and Jeremy Lloyd as upper-class “tally-ho chaps” comic relief, Eric Sykes as a keep-fit fanatic, and Stanley Baxter playing dual roles as a temperamental Scottish prisoner and the unpleasant Nazi Kommandant.
Sir Ernest Pease KBE FRS/Lt. Farrow RN
James Robertson Justice
Flying Officer Jimmy Cooper DFC
Leslie Phillips
‘Jock’ Everett/Kommandant Stamfel
Stanley Baxter
Willoughby, Sports Officer
Eric Sykes
Woodcock, Entertainments Officer
Richard Wattis
Godfrey Winn
Himself
Briggs
Colin Gordon
Piggott, Escape Officer
John Le Mesurier
Travers, Senior British Officer
Norman Bird
Flt Lt. ‘Bonzo’ Baines DFC
Jeremy Lloyd
‘Grassy’ Green
John Forrest
Shaw
Peter Myers
Hankley
Ronnie Stevens
Clynes
Ronald Leigh-Hunt
Director
Ken Annakin
