Stalag 17

July 13, 2010Stalag 17 (1953) ****1/2Directed by Billy WilderMy tweet:Stalag 17 (1953)- Even with its annoying goofiness, Wilder's POW drama is a truly sad and great achievement. ****1/2 out of 5Other thoughts:"The horror! The horror!"These immortal words spoken by Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now couldn't seem farther from the spirit of Stalag 17, a prisoner of war comedy/drama that's more like Hogan's Heroes than Saving Private Ryan.The best film I can think to compare it to is Robert Altman's MASH, which came out seventeen years later. Both films make light of unimaginably brutal situations that stem from war. Stalag 17 turns a POW barracks into a summer camp cabin with Christmas parties, horse races and even a! bar. Yet, these luxuries are tainted by the fact that they're simply coping methods in order to give these soldiers some sense of normalcy and hope. The Christmas party has the men dancing with each other because the only interaction they have with women is through a telescope pointed towards a shower house where all they can see are steamy windows. The horse races involve rats with toe tags on a small make shift racetrack. The bar serves putrid drinks that pass muster as long as they don't turn you blind. The men of Stalag 17 are walking a fine line between dignity and total insanity.There are bad people willing to manipulate the prisoners' vulnerabilities, and it's clear from the beginning that one of the men is giving information to the Germans which results in the execution of two prisoners who try and escape. The suspicion and ultimate accusation is understandably directed towards Sgt. J.J. Sefton, played by William Holden in the role that won him his only Oscar. Seft! on single-handedly runs both the rat race and the bar, chargin! g the pr isoners their Red Cross cigarette rations as payment. He uses the cigarettes to get himself better food and even a trip to the side of the POW camp with the women. Clearly, Sefton has turned his back on his fellow soldiers in order to focus on his own self-aggrandizement. What's to stop him from sliding down the slippery slope to giving up the lives of American soldiers if it benefits him? Ultimately, we do learn who the snitch is, how he communicates with the Germans and what his motives are. The climax of the film involves a newly captured Lieutenant who's about to be executed for blowing up a train.There's a pathetic sadness to the lives these POWs lead which lingers on the sequences of broad comedy. At times, the jokes go too far and become singularly cloying. Take for example a messenger soldier who delivers his lines with the most annoyingly shrill timbre in his voice. Two soldiers in particular ham it up for the screen, which isn't helped by the fact that they're rare! ly funny. Yet, I'm not sure the film is intending to provoke belly laughs like a Marx Brothers movie. The humor within is dark, and the moments when the jokes fall flat add a level of discomfort which helps keep the viewer from truly settling into this awful world of injustice.Stalag 17 is entertaining, but its entertainment is mixed with just enough horrible evil bubbling below the surface which elevates the stakes of the plot. The guards might seem stupid and goofy, but they're Nazis. These soldiers aren't the only people imprisoned by the Nazis, and this fact adds to the drama which in turn dampens the effect of the comedy. Thankfully, the drama delivers.
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