shcomedy
If you're an older individual or a younger one with more of a brain than most, you'll probably enjoy the humor of this film. It's not laugh out loud hilarious but it has some good performances in it. It's one of the best performances ever given by Mike Connors. Redford is good in it too and so is Alec Guinness, which should really surprise no one since he was a great actor.But this is an older comedy that requires some intellect to enjoy it. Suffice to say, if you're a fan of Adam Sandler, you probably won't understand it. It's also based on the first novel of actor Robert Shaw (Quint from "Jaws.") The novel is more serious than this film though, and the film was not as critically acclaimed as the novel. Many don't know Shaw was also a great writer as well as a great actor. He even wrote "The Man in the Glass Booth," one of the most famous plays ever written.But overall, it's a fun story and a very original idea. It's interesting to note that later on, Shaw and Robert Redford's names would be linked up again when they both appeared in the film "The Sting." And Alec Guinness also has worked with Shaw on stage in different plays.
moonspinner55
Two American soldiers stationed in Germany during World War II are captured by an odd German shopkeeper (Alec Guinness); he imprisons the two men in his basement and keeps them there long after the war is over. Strange, unhappy, insecure comedy-drama is extremely well-cast but is really too creepy to laugh at. As the soldiers, Michael Connors and Robert Redford have some good moments, but one can't help but feeling this is just an actors' exercise for both (they're green, but commendable). Alec Guinness is forced to walk a fine line in his characterization; it's imperative to the story that we don't hate the shopkeeper, and Guinness works hard at finding nuances in the man to keep him complex and interesting. If newcomers Connors and Redford are young actors just finding their way, then Guinness is in the Master's class. *1/2 from ****
MartinHafer
Although most Americans have little knowledge of his work other than Star Wars, Alec Guinness produced an amazing body of work--particularly in the 1940s-1950s--ranging from dramas to quirky comedies. I particularly love his comedies, as they are so well-done and seem so natural and real on the screen--far different from the usual fare from Hollywood.This movie stars Robert Redford and Mike Connors as two aviators who are shot down over Germany during WW2. They are captured by civilian Guinness who doesn't have the heart to turn them in to the Nazis. So what does he do? That's right--creates his own jail and keeps them himself!! The problem is, Guinness is a lonely man and grows to like having these prisoners in his life. So much that when the war ends, he doesn't tell them and keeps them! Where this weird movie goes from there is something you'll just have to see for yourself. However, for some inexplicable reason, this movie has been panned by many. I'm not sure why, as I enjoyed it and admire it for its originality.
Skragg
This isn't really a laugh-a-minute comedy, or one that relies on a whole lot of logic (like some of the things in the last scenes), but I've always thought of it as a very good "Odd Couple" kind of story (the opening narration even uses that expression). And each of the actors fits so well into his part- Redford as the refined character who somehow adapts to the basement in no time, Connors as the down-to-earth character who's always trying to escape, and of course Guinness. There have been countless comical eccentric Germans, but trust that actor to come up with one who's pretty much unlike any other. And of course there's Frick's idea that they're all three destined to be together (because of his mother's horoscope and other things), and the way his telling them "the big announcement" keeps being prevented. Another odd thing is that there's never an actual scene of them finding out (it all happens gradually), though I could have stood to see a scene like that. Also, I don't usually like those spontaneous fistfight scenes that used to be so common in comedies, but this movie has one that genuinely works - I don't mean the later one, but the one where Finder finally gets fed up with Wilson's casual attitude towards trying to escape, which is a very funny scene. Also, even though it wasn't a romantic comedy, it had a great line that would be just right for one - in one scene, Finder is feeling especially grim about being a prisoner, and Frick tells him in a well-meaning way that he should try to be "philosophical" about it, which Finder ignores. When Frick offers to do anything to cheer him up, Finder tells him excitedly that he can find him a girl, make some arrangement with her and bring her back to the house. Frick says, "But I thought you were MARRIED, sergeant." Wilson says, "Well, MARRIAGE is something the sergeant IS willing to be philosophical about."
AD
