Stalag 17 (1953)
…………………………………………………
Stalag 17 Movie Review
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden. It’s an uneven, but mostly very good movie.
………………………………………………….
“There are two people in this barracks who know
I didn’t do it. Me and the guy that did do it“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
One night in 1944 in a German POW camp housing American airmen, two prisoners try to escape the compound and are quickly discovered and shot dead. Among the remaining men, suspicion grows that one of their own is a spy for the Germans. All eyes fall on Sgt. Sefton who everybody knows frequently makes exchanges with German guards for small luxuries. To protect himself from a mob of his enraged fellow inmates, Sgt. Sefton resolves to find the true traitor within their midst.
This is another strong movie from Billy Wilder, though obviously far from his best efforts. But it’s still a great proof of how versatile he was as this is unlike any other major movie from him. And he still delivered in spades with strong, confident directing.
What I liked most about this movie is its humor. It’s so much fun, so playful and actually very smart in making something horrible funny. It’s thus a perfect example of how potent black comedies can truly be when done right. The film has a killer sense of humor and a great eye for detail when it comes to this particular setting.
But as a war drama, it wasn’t nearly as exciting. I found the first half so good and entertaining that the second half was a let-down for me personally as the conclusion wasn’t all that great and simply the film lost a lot of its steam later on which was unfortunate.
I found the characterization stupendous across the board. As a group, they are excellent, but also individually, a lot of them shine. I particularly liked those two sidekicks whose friendship was sweet and whose interactions and quirks stole the show from everyone else.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
As for William Holden, he’s very good, immensely suave and handsome in the role, but I wouldn’t really call his performance Oscar-worthy here so I do not agree with him winning the award for such a light character. But Stalag 17 is overall very well paced, edited, directed and shot with a good score too. It’s worth a watch for both war and comedy enthusiasts.
Stalag 17 definitely lost its steam in the much less interesting second half, but the first one was excellent and quite entertaining. The movie is at its best when it’s funny and it wildly succeeds as a very amusing, sophisticated black comedy with quirky characters, fun situations and a knack to make even the worst circumstances humorous. The characterization is mostly excellent and Billy Wilder’s direction is reliably terrific.
