Admirable film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

"There will be no Christmas trees. But there will be delousing with ice water from the houses. " Goddamn. I love this movie.A group of American airmen in a Nazi POW camp come to a very disturbing conclusion that among them there must be a Nazi agent who has been disclosing all their secret plans to the camp's commandant. Clouds of suspicion gradually start to build up. Its quite different from most of the other POW movies that we are used to see & quite entertaining too. Wilder maintained the balance of comedy, drama, thrill & satire quite efficiently. There are two things that I liked most about the movie– the outstanding screenplay & some brilliant performances by the actors. Specially William Holden & Sig Ruman.I can't really think of any other movies that do this good a job of being simultaneously funny and serious, except maybe Dr. Strangelove.

STALAG 17 is one of the granddaddies of the prisoner of war genre and stands out from having a lightness of touch which comes to the production courtesy of director Billy Wilder. Certainly Wilder skirts the more depressing aspects of life in a Nazi prisoner of war camp and instead concentrates on presenting the larger than life characters who occupy one of the buildings. There's a lot of incidental character humour inserted into the movie, particularly with the antics of a couple of losers who spend their days boozing and dreaming about women.Thankfully the comic hijinks don't retreat from the thrills of the main storyline, which is about one of the men being a secret informer who keeps telling the German camp commanders all of the prisoners's secrets. Poor old William Holden - a likable everyman hero - is suspected thanks to his wheeling and dealing ways, but of course he's innocent so he has to try to figure out the identity of the man for himself.This is a breezy movie with little material to offend or bore. The acting is exemplary and the pacing, although slow, is sufficient enough to keep you intrigued throughout. There are some good actors in support including Neville Brand, Peter Graves, Otto Preminger, and Robert Strauss. Some of the set-piece scenes, particularly towards the climax, are particularly thrilling. STALAG 17 is a lot of fun.

This was a very famous film at the time and made a big impact. One of the reasons for this was that the story was largely true. There really was a Stalag 17 (the name of a POW camp in Germany), and the characters really existed. One needs to remember that this film was made only a few years after the end of the War, and everything still resonated very strongly. The lead role is played by William Holden, who won the Oscar for his performance. If you want to know the truth, his performance is nothing to be excited about, and did not deserve an Oscar, but he himself claimed he was given it to make up for his having been denied one three years before for his role in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). Who knows. He was in any case a very popular and talented lead actor of the time. One surprise in this film is that the director Otto Preminger appears as an actor in the film, and plays the German commandant of the camp, Oberst (Colonel) von Scherbach. Preminger did not direct the film. It was directed by Billy Wilder. Stalag 17 is a camp for captured American non-commissioned officers, so everyone in the camp is a sergeant. They keep trying to escape but keep getting caught. The film begins with two of them being shot for this. They all know there is a 'stoolie' amongst them who is telling the Germans of all of their plans, but no one can figure out who it is. They all decide it is William Holden, who is not a team player and keeps himself to himself, and refuses to go along with group-think. But of course it is not Holden. Holden eventually figures out who it really is, but how can he prove it and expose him? The film is full of raw comedy, laughs, jokes, and teasing. This sounds very unlikely for a film about prisoners of war, and it certainly is, but it works. The film makes lively and entertaining viewing, and has been released in a restored version on Blu-Ray.

An absolute classic from Billy Wilder. Great plot - tense, gritty drama, with very funny interludes and dialogue. The only (minor) problem is that sometimes the farce and the drama don't gel.Solid performances all round. William Holden, a Billy Wilder favourite, is great in the lead role (and he got the 1954 Best Actor Oscar for his efforts).Surely the movie that launched the POW drama. You can see influences in this movie in just about every POW movie/series, especially Hogan's Heroes (down to both having a friendly, bumbling German sergeant named Schultz!).