TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

deschreiber I hate to rain on the parade of the people here who think this film is so great, but I had to force myself to watch it until the end. It obviously comes from a time in British history when the attitude was "Good show, British boys. You stuck it out in the German POW camps and kept the Jerries busy with your escape attempts, and we're proud of you chaps." That kind of gung-ho, congratulatory feeling is everywhere in the movie. Unfortunately, it turns the story into something bordering on the farcical. The Germans are portrayed as hapless dupes, toothless blusterers, not quite comical but easily fooled and quite incapable of backing up their threats. They may begin by saying that any attempt at escape will be met with death, but none of that seems to ever happen, and when an escape attempt is broken up or an escapee is returned, nobody seems the worse for wear. When two German shepherd dogs jump on an escapee emerging from a tunnel, they don't bite. It's all a game for the prisoners, without any real danger, pretty much on the level of schoolboy pranks. Life in Colditz is cheery, without any privations that we can see. It looks like a better place to be than in training camp back in Britain, where discipline was tough and your day was gruelling.The prisoners seem to have a very free hand in the castle, moving about almost at will. How did they manage to cut through all those steel bars that they removed so easily from a window? How did they put together several dozen German uniforms, good enough to fool the sentries the escapees walked past? How did they speak such accent-free German that no one noticed? The film claims that everything portrayed is factual, but that claim is difficult to believe.There is no narrative. The story, such as it is, consists of one escape attempt after another, none of them particularly inventive. Nothing joins them together into a cohesive plot.I suppose we're expected to forgive crass nationalism in war movies. The Americans always save the day in American films, the British show superior character in British films. For me, this kind of thing spoils a movie. The Colditz story has it in spades. Brits always respond to Germans with a cheekiness that I think in real life would have earned them a rifle butt to the head. And they make arrogant, contemptuous comments about other prisoners, French, Polish, or Belgian. That dissolved most of the sympathy I might have felt for them. Yet, when the credits roll at the end, we see that these others were in fact more successful than the British in their escapes.I didn't like this movie at all.

ianlouisiana Most P.O.W.s had a fairly pragmatic attitude to their fate.They settled down,got on with life as best they could and sat the war out.Opportunities for successful escapes were very limited,punishments harsh,and chances of reaching home via a neutral country extremely slim. With a bit of judicious bribery life could be relatively tolerable and most of the German guards were all for a quiet life. But to some the very idea of imprisonment was an affront.They became obsessed with the idea of escape,making attempt after attempt.Colditz castle was opened up to hold officers from all over occupied Europe and the U.K.with such a history. "The Colditz Story" was adapted from a book by Major Pat Reid ( it says "novel" in the titles)about his time in the camp. He is played by Mr John Mills as a man almost exploding with frustration. He clashes with the Senior British Officer ( a first - class performance by Mr Eric Portman)in a most insubordinate and untypical manner over a planned escape attempt in the key scene of the movie where Mr Mills learns what burdens are borne along with high military rank. Mr Richard Wattis and Mr Ian Carmichael do a splendid turn as "Flanagan and Allen" at the concert party put on to cover the major escape attempt - the chorus warbling "I belong to Colditz" bringing a more modern interpretation to the term Camp Entertainment. Fun is poked at the Brits total inability to speak any other language than their own,the Poles,French and Dutch all being multi - lingual. Some of the behaviour of our chaps is rather public schoolboyish,but these were officers in the 1940s and quite conceivably many of their number had been at Winchester,Salisbury,Charterhouse or Rugby a few short years before and therefore hadn't had the chance to grow up. The scene at the end when Mr Portman quietly calms them down and averts a riot on "appell" is very well done. It was a very popular film in its day when it was still thought that winning the war would be the end of the obscenity of genocide,bullying megalomaniac dictators and death from the sky - and the start of a brand new age of decency,justice, liberty and prosperity for all.The fact that that didn't happen is the worst betrayal of the Allied soldiers who gave their lives.

sandra small From today's perspective, the film; The Colditz Story is like that of a reality TV show competition premised on escape methods. The man with the most original escape plan gets the prize, which is that of his freedom from the Colidiz Castle.As such this film seems shallow on the surface. With no depth to the plot the characters are not as convincing, which serves to undermine excellent acting from the likes of Eric Portman and Sir John Mills.However, what the film articulates well is the relaxed attitude of the Nazi guards, and their almost convivial attitude to their British POW foes. Of course the relaxed attitude of the Nazi guards could be in part to do with the self belief they were allotted via the consumption of Nazi propaganda. In this respect 'propaganda' serves as a dangerous weapon of 'self destruction'.In sum this is a film worth watching, but not the best POW film made hitherto.

Peter Hayes 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.