GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Leofwine_draca THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY (not to be confused with the low-rent Chris Ryan Gulf War story) is a black and white British wartime thriller with an unusual premise: the hero is a German captured by the British and determined to escape from them at all costs. The film has the hook of being a true story and turns out to be unmissable viewing.I admire the guts of the guys at Rank to make this film in the first place; they must have questioned their audience's willingness to respond to and even sympathise with one of the German 'bad guys' a mere twelve years after the end of WW2. To his credit, Hardy Kruger doesn't go out of his way to make his lead character likable; however, he is driven and polite, refusing to resort to violence in his bid for freedom, and that's what makes him such a great character.In addition, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY has one of those excellent thriller set-ups in which every moment of the film is devoted to the thrills and suspense; no time for padding here. Roy Ward Baker contributes some of his finest directorial work, and the supporting cast of Michael Goodliffe, Terence Alexander, John Van Eyssen (DRACULA) and even 'ALLO 'ALLO's Richard Marner add to the overall experience. In fact, THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY is something of a minor classic...

Gordon-11 This film is about a German prisoner of war in the World War II, who strives to escape back to Germany.Despite being made fifty years ago, "The One That Got Away" is very watchable and suspenseful even in modern day standards. The plot is well written, despite giving away what happens in the movie title, it is still thrilling and suspenseful throughout the movie. I admire Franz's determination and courage to escape, and I am surprised by the other prisoners of war's cooperation in his plans even though they are not escaping. Humanity through harsh times is well depicted in here, touching one's soul and inspiring others to treasure life.

John Seal A thoroughly entertaining (and true!) feature about a World War II German prisoner-of-war with a knack for escaping his British captors, The One That Got Away stars Hardy Kruger as Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe officer shot down during the Battle of Britain. Unwilling to spend the next few years peeling potatoes or cracking rocks, von Werra immediately began plotting his return to Germany, and after a few misfires miraculously pulled off the feat after taking a detour to a remote POW camp in Canada. The film defies convention by actually allowing the Bad Guy to outfox the Good Guys and contrasts neatly with more traditional tales of Stalag-bound heroism such as The Colditz Story (1955) and even The Great Escape (1963). It also offered Kruger the opportunity to deliver the performance of a lifetime, highlighted by the final St. Lawrence Seaway sequence in which he brings a lumbering, Frankenstein's Monster demeanour to his character. Additionally, the film benefits immensely from tremendous location footage shot during the dead of winter, as well as the very wise decision to almost entirely fore go incidental music, which lends the film additional realism and allows the viewer to concentrate on the action at hand without being manipulated by the score. Quite simply, this is an excellent film that will stick with you.

bkoganbing About forty years after The One That Got Away came out, another film involving the escape of a German national from Allied hands with another fair haired lead became my favorite film with Brad Pitt. Seven Years in Tibet was done with a much larger budget, but involves the same test of human endurance and escape that Hardy Kruger goes through here.Probably for the first time in British cinema a German during World War II was made a three dimensional human being. We don't get any hint of Kruger's politics, even so I think it would have been irrelevant to the story. This incident in fact is a true one, taking place in 1940 during the first days of the Luftwaffe attacks on the United Kingdom. Kruger is determined to get back to the fight at all costs. He proves a charismatic and inspirational leader to his comrades.Kruger makes two attempts to escape while in British custody, but it's only over in Canada where he's being sent to a prison near Lake Superior that he makes his most daring try. Jumping from a train taking him to internment, he walks across to America.This is where I can appreciate the film the most. The last twenty minutes of the film are almost without dialog as Kruger is alone. What he does is reach the St. Lawrence River and it being in the middle of winter finds it frozen over. Seeing that he walks over and makes it to upstate New York.Living as I do on one of the Great Lakes I can appreciate what that entails more than others. I've lived through eleven winters in Buffalo by now and some of them have been pretty bad. Lake Erie does in fact freeze over as does the St. Lawrence. I certainly wouldn't want to try to walk across Lake Erie even if I was a 20 something as Kruger is in The One That Got Away.No matter what you feel about the politics of World War II, you've got to admire this man's grit and determination. Hardy Kruger's impressive performance puts that over for you.By all means see this film when TCM has it on again.