Synopsis for
Stalag 17 (1953) More at IMDb Pro »

Captured Americans coping with life in a German POW camp in World War II are puzzled by the simplicity with which the Germans are able to stave off escape attempts, shooting those who try. Sefton (William Holden) is a POW who has profitably wagered with his fellow American prisoners that these escapes would fail.

The POWs fear there may be an informer in their midst, but who is it? As it becomes clearer and clearer to his fellow inmates that Sefton has considerable contact with his German captors, his fellow POWs mistakenly conclude that he is the informer and they turn on him, including physically beating him and helping themselves to some of his belongings.

Sefton understands in full that to clear his name, he must determine the identity of the real informer, and he is, eventually, able to work out that Price (Peter Graves), whose Egnlsih is impeccable, is a German informant masquerading as an American POW. Written messages, Sefton discovers, are being smuggled by Price to the Germans through a hollow chess piece on the chessboard in the barracks, wth phony air raid drills staged to enable the Germans to retrieve these messages undetected.

Now realizing that Price has figured prominently in the death of the Americans that have attempted escape, Sefton plots revenge, and, after exposing Price's true identity to his fellow POWs, he maneuvers to force Price to make an unauthorized exit from the barracks. To the guards manning the tower, Price's exit looks like an American escape attempt, and they shoot him, much to the dismay of Stalag Commandant Von Scherbach (Otto Preminger).

The diversion created by the shooting incident gives Sefton a chance to escape, and he takes with him a brave lietuenant (Don Taylor) who has recently been captured. Because of the measures of success against the Germans he had gained prior to his capture, the lieutenant is a marked man, but he and Sefton are successful in their escape attempt.

The elimination of the German informer and the first successful escape by American POWs lift the spirits of the other POWs.