CAST: Steve McQueen (Captain Hilts), James Garner (Flight Lieutenant Hendley), Richard Attenborough (Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett), James Donald (Group Captain Ramsey), Charles Bronson (Flight Lieutenant Danny Velinski), Donald Pleasence (Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe), James Coburn (Flying Officer Louis Sedgwick), Hannes Messemer (Kommandant von Luger), David McCallum (Lieutenant Commander Eric Ashley-Pitt), Gordon Jackson (Flight Lieutenant Sandy MacDonald), John Leyton (Flight Lieutenant William Dickes), Angus Lennie (Flying Officer Archibald Ives), Nigel Stock (Flight Lieutenant Denys Cavendish), Robert Graf (Werner). Directed by John Sturges.
SYNOPSIS: Fed up with captured Allied soldiers constantly escaping from their prison camps, the Nazis create a new camp especially built to house the worst offenders. Kommandant von Luger explains this to Allied Group Captain Ramsey with the understanding that he should pass on the message that escape will be impossible from this special camp. But contrary to the Kommandant’s wishes, the fact that the Germans have placed “All the rotten eggs in one basket” serves as the impetus for the prisoners to plot out a major escape in order to disrupt the system and force the Nazis to spend their time and resources tracking them down instead of fighting the war. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, the ringleader of many former Allied escapes, immediately puts into place a plan to have two hundred and fifty escape at the same time, the most ever attempted. While planning this escape, the British officers also keep an eye on Captain Hilts, an American officer known for his daring escapes. While diggings tunnels under the camp to attain their freedom, various prisoners with special talents like Lieutenant Colin Blythe, “the forger” (Donald Pleasence) who prepares all of the necessary papers, clothes, and equipment the men will need once they make their escape. On the night of the escape, an Allied bombing raid near the camp provides a timely distraction as Bartlett and his men escape through tunnels dug beneath their living quarters. With the Germans in hot pursuit, the escapees scatter throughout Germany; unfortunately, most end up being captured or killed, yet a few manage to escape to Allied-friendly countries. Once back in camp, the former escapees grudgingly accept the sacrifices of those who died with perseverance.
COMMENTARY: Based on the real-life account of Allied soldiers that escaped from Stalag Luft III in former P.O.W. Paul Brickhill’s book of the same name, The Great Escape became a Hollywood blockbuster and is now considered as a classic war film under the direction of veteran filmmaker John Sturges. Part of this film’s success was due to the casting of such powerhouse film stars like Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson, among others. The rousing score by Elmer Bernstein highlights the prisoners’ sense of duty and is today remembered with great fondness. The tension is well-paced as the prisoners dig their tunnels to freedom and the characters, although somewhat exaggerated, have compelling back stories. The only issue that bugged the critics (Pleasence himself mentioned it to Sturges) is the open-faced boldness of the prisoners toward their armed to the teeth German guards. A New York Times reviewer declared that “nobody is going to convince me into believing that the spirit of defiance in any prisoner-of-war camp anywhere was as arrogant, romantic, and Rover Boyish as it is made to appear in this film.” [91]
With an acting career spanning over forty years and a hundred and thirty-eight films, Pleasence’s role as Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe certainly ranks as his top performance, and although Pleasence gave many other memorable performances, his role as Blythe tapped into his own personal past to create a character in which humor, duty, sympathy, and humanity all show brightly. Pleasence was the only actor in the cast to have actually been a World War II prisoner-of-war after his plane was shot down over France and then marched back by the Germans to be held at Stalag Luft I which Pleasence once remarked was eerily similar to the camp built for the film. [92]
The Great Escape was Pleasence’s first big Hollywood film and his performance opened the door to other roles in big films, as well as to working with director John Sturges two additional times. Pleasence’s character, based on fellow real-life P.O.W. Tim Walen, is finely-detailed, not only as a lieutenant and forger of documents, but also as an avid bird watcher and connoisseur of tea which is perfectly played out when Blythe exclaims that it is uncivilized to drink tea without milk. Blythe’s relationship with “the scrounger” Lieutenant Hendley, played by James Garner, is particularly moving, especially when it becomes evident that Attenborough’s Bartlett considers Blythe’s loss of vision as a hindrance to the mission. A highlight of Pleasence’s performance is when he places a pin on the floor of his quarters to try and convince Bartlett that he can still see. He then tries to prove it by walking across the room to bend down and retrieve the pin on the floor which he had placed there earlier on, but Bartlett stretches out a leg and trips Blythe, sending him to the floor.
As Hendley pleads with Bartlett to let Blythe join the escape, the viewer is treated to the crushed look of despair on Pleasence’s face as he listens. Pleasence’s eventual fate is also quite sympathetic and his performance is easily the most realistic of all the fine actors in The Great Escape. Pleasence would also hold the distinction of being the only actor from the original The Great Escape to also appear in the 1988 television sequel, The Great Escape II: The Untold Story — though this time as a member of the SS.