Michael_Elliott
The Great Escape: The Untold Story (2001) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Well-produced story of the actual POW escape that is best remembered today for the classic film THE GREAT ESCAPE. Actual survivors Jimmy James, Alex Cassie, Jack Lyon, Colin Kerby-Green and Les Brodrick recall their days at the camp and their memories on the actual escape. Fans of the film as well as history buffs are really going to enjoy this hour-long documentary for a number of reasons. One of the biggest is simply the fact that the story itself is just amazing and something truly heroic. This documentary also goes into great detail about the events after the men were captured and how fifty of them were put to death by orders from Hitler. It's rather shocking to hear how these murders were carried out and just as heartbreaking hearing from some of their children and wives. The documentary certainly doesn't hold any punches and we even get a few reenactments from the interrogation of the German soldiers who shot the escapees. THE GREAT ESCAPE: THE UNTOLD STORY doesn't go into great details about the event but I think it does do a very good job at giving you the basic events that happened and it's certainly all the more impressive getting to hear the stories from those who were involved.
MartinHafer
This is an amazingly good documentary about the actual 'Great Escape'--the one portrayed years later in a major motion picture. The film is narrated by Derek Jacobi and consists of recreations, interviews and various artifacts/archival footage. I was really surprised with the interviews. A couple were with men who had escaped but were captured and returned to prison (this only occurred with a very few men). A few were with surviving children talking about their fathers who were murdered by the Germans after they were recaptured--and these interviews were quite sad and touching. The most telling interview was the man at the very end who wistfully said "...was it all worth it? I don't think so"--mostly because it resulted in the butchering of many good men.Overall, an exceptional documentary--and better than the four-part one also included on the Bonus Disc which accompanies the film "The Great Escape". The only other film I know about this interesting bit of history is an episode of "Nova"--which I will try to locate and review at a later time.
tcolones4-1
A truly outstanding documentary on the events of The escape from Stalag III in Sagan on the night of March 24th 1944. The documentary goes into great detail with what happened to the 50 men executed by the Nazi's and the post war hunt to track down all those responsible. Using great interviews with POW's from the camp the families of the men who lost their lives in the escape, tells a most emotional tale of what happened to the 50 ! As the previous posted noted, you find this outstanding documentary on the newly released two disc issue of the 1963 movie, "The Great Escape" in DVD! Also along with this, The History Channels version of History vs Hollywood" The Great Escape..another great documentary of how the makers of the 1963 classic made the film , while trying to preserve the original story. Both simply outstanding & a real salute to the men who gave their all in this story from WWII...very moving !
HunterDK
"The Great Escape: The Untold Story" is about the real great escape, which the Sturges movie is based on. This 60 minute show gives us the real names, interviews with some of the survivors and the story about the tunnel escape.Much of the story is the same as the movie, but you can find some differences. The names are changed and it was actually snowing when the 76 prisoners escaped in 1944. Some of the escapers turned them selves in because they would have freezed to death outside.If you want to know about the real escape, then I can recommend this show. It can be found on the special edition of The Great Escape.
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