Stalag 17 Review!

While there are many comic moments in Stalag 17 (the spiritual father of TV's Hogan's Heroes), it does have, I am happy to say...a darker side to all of the street savvy antics of it's very American cast of Joes from different parts of the country...namely Brooklyn. William Holden is the soul heart of this film and reveals it's gritty underbelly heroically...while many of the POWs look rather well fed to be long term prisoners, there is a very authentic air about the film with the guys in patched up long johns and mud surrounding the barracks. Holden is the actor that keeps Billy Wilder's awesome POW film from falling into another mushy "Gee aren't they all a bunch of great guys" kind of American War film.

There are the usual suspects of stereotypical American archetypes: the tough guy with a heart of gold from Brooklyn, the Midwestern blue-collar guy from Cleveland, the blue-blood with a silver spoon from Boston, and of course the simple backwoods guy from the South...they are all here. But this story of POWs trying to serve their country by attempting escapes to keep the Nazis busy has the wonderfully dark character of Sgt. Sefton to keep everybody honest. Holden, the former Golden Boy of Hollywood was truly entering his "golden" period as Sefton, and of course would continue with very meaty roles afterward. Sefton stands apart from all the other Joes, an outcast and antihero, stating frankly that he merely wants to make himself comfortable, riding out the rest of the war. No cabbage on the chest for Sefton.

But Sefton is pulled into the hero business when he becomes accused of being a stool pigeon, alerting the Camp Guards of any escape attempts or banned items that might be in the possession of the prisoners. He must use his inherent sneakiness to root out the true spy. Sefton makes the very ironic remark that might have chilled many souls in the 1950's red scare era when he wonders aloud nastily why anyone should be suspected of spying for aren't they all "Americans"? It would be interesting to find out if Wilder was saying something of weight in those days when Americans were nervously watching the Russians and each other for Commies out to subvert the government. Later there is indeed a very chilling scene where Sefton's fellow inmates attack him in what clearly amounts to a lynching.

Billy Wilder is definitely on his game here, along with Holden's academy award winning performance, making Stalag 17 classic Hollywood material, not to mention a step ahead of some of it's War film brethren. A solid cast is in place including a young Peter Graves. Stalag 17, along with The Great Escape, remains among my most cherished favorites of this genre.

TH Review's rating of Stalag 17: 4.5 stars out of five! Highly recommended!