The Colditz Story (1955)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

P.R. Reid (novel)
Guy Hamilton (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 February 1955 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

Allied prisoners of various nationalities pool their resources to plan numerous escapes from an "escape-proof" German POW camp housed in a Medieval castle.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Guard | Barbed Wire | Senior Officer | Nazi Officer

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

John Mills	...	Pat Reid
Christopher Rhodes	...	'Mac' McGill
Lionel Jeffries	...	Harry Tyler
Bryan Forbes	...	Jimmy Winslow
Guido Lorraine	...	Polish officer
Witold Sikorski	...	Polish officer
A. Blichewicz	...	Polish officer
B. Dolinski	...	Polish officer
Anton Diffring	...	Fischer
Richard Wattis	...	Richard Gordon
Ian Carmichael	...	Robin Cartwright
Eric Portman	...	Colonel Richmond
Frederick Valk	...	Kommandant
Leo Bieber	...	German interpreter
Denis Shaw	...	Priem
Rudolph Offenbach	...	Dutch colonel
Theodore Bikel	...	Vandy
Keith Pyott	...	French colonel
Eugene Deckers	...	La Tour
Arthur Butcher	...	Polish colonel
David Yates	...	Dick
Douglas Argent	...	British officer
Terence Brook	...	British officer
Frank Coburn	...	British officer
Eric Corrie	...	British officer
John Corrie	...	British officer
Anthony Faramus	...	British officer
Eric Lander	...	British officer
Kenneth Midwood	...	British officer
Peter Myers	...	British officer
Claude Le Saché	...	French interpreter (as Claud Le Sache)
Zygmunt Rewkowski	...	Polish interpreter
Carl Duering	...	German officer
Ludwik Lawinski	...	Franz Josef
Peter Swanwick	...	Lutyens (as Peter Swannick)
John G. Heller	...	German guard (as John Heller)
Jean Driant	...	French orderly
Jean Bacon	...	French orderly
Frederick Schiller	...	German soldier
Guy Deghy	...	German soldier
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Arthur Mullard	...	Prisoner of War (uncredited)
Oscar Quitak	...	Prisoner of War (uncredited)

Directed by
Guy Hamilton

Writing credits
P.R. Reid		(novel "The Colditz Story")
Guy Hamilton		(adaptation and script) and
Ivan Foxwell		(adaptation and script)
William Douglas-Home		(dialogue) (as William Douglas Home)

Produced by
Ivan Foxwell	....	producer

Original Music by
Francis Chagrin

Cinematography by
Gordon Dines		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Mayhew

Art Direction by
Alex Vetchinsky		(as Vetchinsky)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bond	....	hairdressing
Eric Carter	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Thomas Clyde	....	production manager
F. Sherwin Green	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Manley	....	first assistant director
John D. Merriman	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Ted Sturgis	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Elven Webb	....	assistant art director
Allan Harris	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Ted Marshall	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Mary Habberfield	....	sound editor
Red Law	....	sound recordist
Terry Poulton	....	sound editor
Bert Ross	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Wally Veevers	....	special processes (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Harold Haysom	....	camera operator (as Hal Haysom)
Peter Hall	....	focus puller (uncredited)
John Shinerock	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bill Walsh	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Terry Poulton	....	second assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Francis Chagrin	....	conductor

Other crew
Barbara Cole	....	continuity
P.R. Reid	....	technical advisor (as Major P.R. Reid, M.B.E., M.C.)

Production Companies

• Ivan Foxwell Productions

Distributors

• British Lion Film Corporation (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• Distributors Corporation of America (DCA) (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Studio Canal (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Thorn EMI Video (1980) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Goldsbrough Orchestra  music played by

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:U | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Colditz, Saxony, Germany

Company:

Ivan Foxwell Productions

Trivia:

The song sung by the POWs in the theatrical they stage, "I Belong to Colditz" is a parody of one of Will Fyffe's signature songs, "I Belong to Glasgow."

Goofs:

Anachronisms: According to the calendar on the Kommandant's desk during his interview with Colonel Richmond about moving the Polish prisoner, the date is "Dienstag Oktober 4" (Tuesday October 4). October 4 did not fall on a Tuesday at all during WW2, although it did in 1955, the year of the film's release.

Quotes:

Colonel Richmond: [watching a particularly rough game of soccer in the excercise yard] Who was it said our ancestors were apes?

Movie Connections:

Featured in War Stories (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Belong to Colditz

First class prisoner of war tale - with British stiff-upper-lips to the fore

Allied prisoners - that normal prison of war camps can't hold - are sent to a mountain stronghold that they are told is "escape proof."

Colditz Castle (in Germany) remains one of the most daunting and visited memorials of World War II. Looking a little like Count Dracula's castle from the outside the very sight of it must have made many a heart sink - especially those that didn't know if they were going to their deaths. Even when they found out that they weren't they still had to be vetted to see if they were not stool pigeons!

This was originally a book and in the fullness of time it would be turned in to this film, a TV series (and a very good one at that) and even a hit board game. The film has to scrap a great deal of the (excellently written) book and can only represent a few of the many plot lines. In truth the prisoners ran out of escape ideas near the end and had only one left - to build a glider to escape from the roof. The war ended before it was tested!

Anything with John Mills in is usually pretty good (ok - Who's That Girl, with Madonna falls short) and this is no exception. The prisoners realise that escape committee's are needed so escape attempts - between various nationalities - wouldn't cross one another. Everything here is based on a real incident, although some of the facts around it are fictionalised.

A good memorial to a tough place and some tough people that were prepared to risk machine guns and attack dogs to get over-the-wall to continue the war. While this type of movie always has many dramatic plus points built in, it is - still - one the top hundred British movies ever made and one of my top two hundred (made anywhere) films. There isn't a second of boredom in the whole movie.