This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

They escape! Well, there wouldn't be a film if they didn't, I suppose. Apparently Colditz, the supposedly inescapable POW camp, suffered about 340 escape attempts, which sounds like something out of Monty Python and probably inspired Michael Palin and Terry Jones' Ripping Yarns episode Escape from Stalag Luft 112b.John Mills plays Major P.R. Reid, who was one of the first POWs to successfully escape, and this film is based on his book that details the numerous attempts to do a runner. The story actually has some tragic moments but is played for humour as much as drama - the "Appell" scene where the Germans routinely offer special privileges to anyone who will work for the Reich economy has a hilarious gag when a French Officer volunteers. I won't spoil it. Actually the French staged the most successful number of escapes, us Brits managing 14.When I was a kid I played Escape From Coldtiz an awful lot - great fun, and I'm getting the republished board game for x-mas this year again! It's nice to be reminded occasionally of the astonishing bravery shown by the POWS in this remarkable story. And yep, it's a British film with Nazis so Anton Diffring is in it! He must have spent half his career in similar roles! Ironically Diffring was an ardent anti Nazi during war, something which took some bravery. Very good film, then. Lips very much stiff-upper!

No reflection on the men involved in these historical incidents but this is a pretty routine story of a jolly group of Polish, British, French, and Dutch prisoners of war assigned to Colditz prison because they've so persistently tried to escape in the past.It belongs to a genre that includes "One Who Got Away" and virtually limitless others, the best known of which is probably "The Great Escape." It has most of the characteristics of the genre. There is the bluff but fundamentally decent German in command. There is the stern, handsome Unteroffizier, Anton Differing, always reliable in his limited range. There is the spy among the prisoners (cf., "Stalag 17"). The scrounging of goods. The fat, bumbling German in charge. The stage play that distracts the cadre. The comic scene in which one tunnel collapses upon another. There's not much blood and no sadism. The characters are stereotypes, but not like those of the early war years.There is no problem with either the direction or the performances. All are up to professional par. It's the script. It's disjointed and vague, as much character-driven as plot-driven. There's a certain carelessness evident in the writing. When the Polish tunnel collapses into the British tunnel, there is no preparation for the scene. Of course the sudden intrusion of the Polish tunneler must come as a surprise in order to have any comic impact, and it does. But why are the British tunneling immediately underneath the Polish tunnel? Why did they choose the route they did? What is the secret under the boards of the stage? We never find out.It's not dull and not uninteresting but it seems to go nowhere. The most engaging scenes are adventitious -- the Guardsmen doing some close order drill, for instance. Not uninteresting but not inventive enough to attract much attention.

The Colditz Story was one of a number of movies the British made during the Fifties which relived the victories and bravery of their armed services during WWII. Often these movies starred John Mills. The Colditz Story is based on fact. Colditz Castle in Germany was used to imprison the most incorrigible prisoners-of-war, those who persistently made escape attempts. British, French, Polish and Dutch officers were sent there. Unfortunately for the Germans, they wound up trying to keep inside men dedicated to escaping, and who had skills they now could share. The result was that more prisoners of war escaped from Colditz than from any other prisoner of war camp in either the First or Second World Wars. The movie is based on the memoirs of Pat Reid (John Mills), who served as an escape officer at Colditz and then was one of the first to break out and make it back to England. While the movie is a bit dated, it also is a dramatic and efficient telling of escape attempts, ruses played against the German captors and, of course, of the unfailing courage and good spirits of the British officers. Take the film for what it is, a demonstration for British audiences of the pluck and courage of their military during a horrendously threatening war which they won, and you won't be disappointed. If you're fond of old British movies, you'll recognize, among others, Eric Portman, Lionel Jeffries, Bryan Forbes and Ian Carmichael.

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.