Stalag 17 ~ Celebrity

Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen ("Cookie stated in the introduction, sergeants - flight engineers, radio men and gunners") held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor. It was adapted from a Broadway play.

Produced and directed by Billy Wilder, it starred William Holden, Don Taylor, Robert Strauss,Neville Brand, Harvey Lembeck, and Peter Graves (Strauss and Lembeck both appeared in the original Broadway production); Wilder also cast Otto Preminger in the role of the camp's Commandant.

The film was adapted by Wilder and Edwin Blum from the Broadway play by Donald Bevan andEdmund Trzcinski who were both prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria. (Trzcinski appears in the film as a prisoner.) The play was directed by José Ferrer and was the Broadway debut of John Ericson as Sefton. It began its run in May 1951, continued for 472 performances and was based on the experiences of its authors. The character Sefton was loosely based on one of Edmund Trzcinski cell mates Joe Palazzo.

Plot

Stalag 17 begins on "the longest night of the year" in 1944 in a Luftwaffe prisoner-of-war camplocated somewhere along the Danube River. The story of a Nazi spy in Barracks Four is narrated by Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook (Gil Stratton).

Prisoners of War Manfredi and Johnson try to escape through a tunnel the inmates have dug under the barbed wire. They are immediately shot by waiting prison guards when they emerge outside the fence. The other prisoners conclude that one of their own must have informed the Germans of the escape attempt, and suspicion falls on Sefton (William Holden), a cynical and somewhat antisocial prisoner who barters openly with the German guards for eggs, silk stockings, blankets and other luxuries. He also organizes mouse races and various other profitable enterprises that net him his hoard of "luxuries." The other prisoners are suspicious of his fraternization with the enemy, though envious of his dealmaking success — for instance, he wins a large number of cigarettes from the other prisoners by betting against Manfredi's and Johnson's successful escape, then trades the cigarettes to the Germans for an egg the next morning.

The lives of the prisoners are depicted: they receive mail, eat terrible food, wash in the latrine sinks, and collectively do their best to keep sane and defy the camp's cruel and ruthless commandant, Oberst von Scherbach (Otto Preminger). They use a clandestine radio, smuggled from barracks to barracks throughout the entire camp, to pick up the BBC and the war news. (The antenna is their volleyball net.) Their German guard, Sergeant Schulz (Sig Ruman), confiscates the radio - another success for the "stoolie".

Humor is seen in "Animal" Kasava's infatuation of movie actress, Betty Grable. He suffers from depression when he learns Betty has married a bandleader, (Harry James). Harry "Sugar Lips" Shapiro get six letters at mail call, and makes Animal think they are from women. When Kasava sees a finance company letterhead, Harry admits they repossessed his Plymouth.

Sefton bribes the guards to let him spend the day in the women's barracks in the Russian section of the camp. The other prisoners spot him through Sefton's own telescope (he had earlier charged each of them a fee in cigarettes for a brief glimpse of the women's shower area), and conclude that this is his reward for having informed the Germans about the radio. When he returns, he is accused of being a spy. At that moment, von Scherbach pays a visit to the barracks to apprehend new prisoner Lieutenant James Dunbar (Don Taylor), who had previously told the other prisoners that he had blown up a German ammunition train while he was being transported to the camp. The men are convinced that Sefton divulged Dunbar's act of sabotage to the Germans, and they viciously beat Sefton, after which he is ostracized. His considerable property is taken and redistributed to the rest of the prisoners. Sefton then decides to investigate and uncover the identity of the spy in order to clear his name. Eventually he remains in the barracks during a fake air raid and successfully discovers the identity of the spy: the barracks security chief, Price (Peter Graves), whom Sefton overhears conversing with Schulz in German and divulging the means by which Dunbar destroyed the ammunition train.

Sefton divulges the theory to his only friend in the camp, Cookie (Gil Stratton). He points out that the stoolie may not be an American traitor at all but a German spy posing as an American to ferret out information. However if he reveals and proves Price is the stoolie the Germans would simply remove him and put him in another camp.

On Christmas Day, the men find out that SS men are coming to take Dunbar to Berlin for interrogation. The entire camp creates a distraction and Dunbar is freed and hidden. Nobody but the compound chief Hoffy (Richard Erdman) knows of Dunbar's whereabouts, and he refuses to divulge the information to anybody, even the supposedly trustworthy Price. Dunbar is thus successfully kept from the Germans despite extensive search efforts. After von Scherbach threatens to raze the camp to find Dunbar, the men decide one of them must help Dunbar escape. Price volunteers for the job, and when he appears to have convinced the other prisoners to let him do it, Sefton reveals him as the spy. After accusing Price, Sefton asks him "When was Pearl Harbor?" Price knows the date, but Sefton traps him by quickly asking what time he heard the news. Without thinking, Price betrays himself by answering 6 p.m. — the correct time of the attack in Berlin, Germany, and not Cleveland, Ohio where he claims to have come from. After that, Sefton reaches into Price's jacket pocket and extracts the "mailbox" used to exchange messages with the Germans, a hollowed-out black chess queen.

With his fellow POWs convinced of Price's guilt, Sefton decides to take Dunbar out of the camp himself, first because he likes the odds of escape and second for the reward he can expect from Dunbar's wealthy family. The men give Sefton enough time to get Dunbar out of his hiding place (the water tower above one of the camp latrines) then throw Price out into the yard with tin cans tied to his legs. The ruse works: Price is killed in a hail of bullets (to the later consternation of von Scherbach and Schulz) by camp guards who believe him to be Dunbar or one of the other prisoners, creating a distraction that allows Sefton and Dunbar to cut through the barbed wire and make their escape. Everyone begins to wonder if Sefton or Dunbar will ever make it out of Germany alive. Animal says, "Maybe he wanted to steal our wirecutters." The film ends with Cookie whistling "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again."

[edit]Cast

William Holden as Sefton
Don Taylor as Lieutenant Dunbar
Otto Preminger as Von Scherbach
Robert Strauss as Stanislas "Animal" Kasava
Harvey Lembeck as Harry Shapiro
Peter Graves as Price
Sig Ruman as Sergeant Schulz
Neville Brand as Duke
Richard Erdman as Hoffy
Michael Moore as Manfredi
Peter Baldwin as Johnson
Robinson Stone as Joey
Robert Shawley as Blondie Peterson
William Pierson as Marko
Gil Stratton as Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook (Narrator)
Jay Lawrence as Bagradian
Erwin Kalser as Geneva Man
Mike Bush as Dancer
Paul Salata as Prisoner with Beard

[edit]Casting

Both Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas were considered for the role of Sefton. Holden was reluctant to play Sefton as he thought the character was too cynical and selfish. Wilder refused to make the role more sympathetic and Holden actually refused it, but was forced to do it by Paramount.

[edit]Location

The prison camp set was built on the John Show Ranch in Calabasas, on the southwestern edge of the San Fernando Valley, for a shoot beginning during February, the rainy season in California (providing plenty of mud for the camp compound). It is now the location of a Mormon church near Woodland Hills.

[edit]Reception

The film was well received^[1]^[2] and is considered, along with The Great Escape and The Bridge on the River Kwai (also starring Holden), among the greatest World War II Prisoner of War films. Bosley Crowther praised the film, calling a "cracker jack movie entertainment." More recently, film critic James Berardinelli stated that "among the 20th century directors, few were more versatile than Billy Wilder." Currently, the film has a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews.

[edit]Awards and nominations

Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His acceptance speech was the shortest on record ("Thank you"), untilAlfred Hitchcock said "Thanks" upon receiving an honorary Oscar in 1968. Holden's speech was not planned to be brief; by the time he received his Oscar, the show was running long — and the TV broadcast had a strict cutoff time — which forced Holden's quick remarks. Frustrated, Holden paid for a personal ad in the Hollywood trade publications to thank everyone he wanted to on Oscar night.