JOHN-WIGNALL First of all this film is based on Charlie Cowards Biography so a lot of it is quite correct,but like all films artistic licence has crept in for the sake of continuity,all in all the film is entertaining,now lets look at when it was made.The Early 60s, when a lot of memories from World War 2 were still fresh in peoples minds so a lot what was in Charlie Cowards book would have had the red pencil put through it as unsuitable.Lastly not only was Charlie Coward a Technical Adviser on this film he also appeared in it as an ordinary British Soldier in the scene where they are having a party after he is released from solitary confinementJohn Wignall

anthonyrwaldman I First saw this film on its release in 1962. Unfortunalely, I had read John Castle's biography of sargant- major Charles Coward before I saw the film. A large section of the book deals with Coward's attempts to help Jews escape from the Auchwitz death camp. The film dealt with this by having a five minute segment where Henry Piek's drawings of the horrors of Auchwitz are shown with Dirk Bogarde giving a voice over commentary. Well, at least it was a film that mentioned the Hollocaust . A very rear thing in the early 1960's. I saw this film again just recently on television and the Auchwitz segment had been edited out of the film. So, now the film is just another Second World War adventure movie along with an unlikely romantic interest that was not in the biography (Coward was married and very much devoted to his wife). But, there is something about this film that makes it different from other British war time escape films. It is about ordinary soldiers and not officers. These soldiers have been put to work by the Germans and the p.o.w. camps do not have the air of the British public school. These other ranks do not just try to escape but commit dangerous acts of sabotage. Therefore, on the whole this film is still worth seeing. It it was great to see the wonderful Dirk Bogarde playing a cockney character part that he does so well.

raypdaley182 I've seen this film a lot. So much in fact, I've lost count. I always confuse it with "The Foreman Goes To France" because of the very similar type of endings that they both have.Dirk Bogarde is our hero, a British Army Sergeant-Major (who as an enlisted man later goes on to give his word as an Officer, slight mistake there). He's a prisoner of war and by the sounds of it he's been escaping from lots of places hence him being in a rather unpleasant camp as the film starts.Him and his best pal are constantly trying to escape or wind up The Goons. Most of the escapes get scuppered but they are often successful at upsetting the Germans and hindering them.They are digging a tunnel and disposing of the dirt in a storyline that was directly stolen by the film The Great Escape. Perhaps they were using the same techniques in a different camp. When pushed in tight situations people will come up with the same ideas in different places.Dirk is moved by The Germans to a lumber camp on a work detail to command some "lazy" troops. But The Germans have sent Dirk and his best pal into a trap to be killed by people who think they are spies, traitors or 5th columnists. Dirk fights his way through and defuses the situation bringing the so called "lazy" troops over to his way of thinking, to upset and confound The Germans.They manage to burn down the lumber camp and get sent to a train yard. At the train yard they sabotage trains, sending them to the wrong places.Finally Dirk makes contact with The Polish underground who give them maps and assistance to escape. Oh, and the password was actually "Cleaning Cloths", not Courage.They are sent back to their original camp and escape through a tunnel that was dug too short (again, another idea that The Great Escape stole from them). An old soldier with an accordion pretends to be drunk and saves a whole hut full of escaping men from being discovered.After a poor attempt at buying train tickets, making a fellow train passenger suspect them, they are caught by a badly forged travel document with a logo facing the wrong way.Dirk and his best pal finally escape posing as workers repairing bombed buildings who are finally met by retreating American soldiers telling them they are only a mile away from the Allied lines, but there are thousands of Germans in their way.Of course they steal a Fire Engine and The Germans stand aside to let them through and finally on the road to freedom.A good ending and an excellent film.

Boba_Fett1138 Of course this movie is being often compared to "The Great Escape". The similarities between the story lines are striking and some of the sequences are almost exactly the same. Only keep in mind that this movie was actually released a year before the great escape and this movie its story is based on the real events as lived by Charles Coward, who also served as a consultant for this movie, while "The Great Escape" is based on a totally other true story.The movie is not an heavy confronting WW II POW movie. Instead its more of a comedy at times with almost slapstick like events and characters. It does make the movie a bit unbalanced and silly to watch but for me it also made the movie very light and easy. I'm not really sure though what for a movie this was supposed to be; A comedy or a drama. It's too incoherent and unbalanced to really say.The movie is obviously low-budget but they used some creative solutions to hide this, in the movie. The main character is really fascinating. He is being played by Dirk Bogarde, who of course is always a pleasure to see as the main lead, regardless of the role he plays. The rest of the characters are a bit muddled in and simply not interesting enough. The movie also changes often of setting with as a result that new characters get introduced and old ones abandoned.All in all its not a terribly memorable movie and certainly no classic. The movie is too incoherent for that and the most of the character too uninteresting. Nevertheless this is a great movie to kill some time with. Nothing heavy, just some good old fashioned light-entertainment, with some good moments. Worth seeing if you get the chance.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/