1/12/19 Stalag 17

The "Great Escape" is about a group of American and British prisoners of war in Germany who plan one of the largest escapes. The level of detail for the escape is impressive but I feel it is driven by trying to cram in as many characters/stars as possible. That is the main issues of an "All-Star-Cast" movie. There is a feeling that the story was designed around the movie poster which wants to feature as many movie star faces as possible. After watching the three hour movie, you have to ask if that was the best way to tell the story and if every scene and character in in the movie necessary. I frequently think movies are too long. There are quite a few times I felt that if the director had a problem deciding on which scenes were unnecessary, I could have helped re-edit their movie! I find this is particularly true for road movies and disaster movies.

"The Bridge on the River Kwai"(coming soon) is one of my favorite films of all time. It is about a group of British prisoners of war trying to survive a Japan concentration camp. It has two big named stars: William Holden and Alex Guinness At two and a half hours, it does not suffer from the "All-Star-Movie" feel. The director, David Lean, knows how to edit a movie and the viewer can't find anything that could be cut from it. This movie has a very different feel to "The Great Escape". The story is about a life and death power struggle between the commanding British officer and the Japanese camp commander. The camp commander is not a major character in the other two movies.

Like, "The Great Escape", "Stalag 17" takes place in Germany. Unlike the other two movies, "Stalag 17" shows more of a way of life in the camp. It is not a matter of survival, it is more like the men have been sidelined for the rest of the war and have to occupy their time. There are a number of characters in the movie but it is not a "All-Star-Cast". The only familiar face is William Holden.

The story centers around the possibility of a german spy among their ranks. The search for suspicious behavior gives every character visibility.

It is interesting to note that Wilder filmed the picture in chronological order which is a practice that rarely done. Most actors did not know the identity of the spy until the last three days. I find this interesting because there is a big clue to the spy's identity at the beginning of the film.