When Sergeant Major Coward is discussing linking up with the Polish Underground, he is told that the agent is an optician somewhere in Poland, in Breslau.
Breslau was in fact a German city and did not become Polish until after WW2 when the boundaries of Poland were shifted westwards and the name changed to Wroclaw.
This is a cracking showcase for an excellent Dirk Bogarde as Sgt. Maj.
The portrayal of the Germans as buffoons and idiots and the annoying cockiness of Bogarde's character is just annoyingly unrealistic. Read any true account of how the Germans treated PoWs especially following Dunkirk.
During WWII, British prisoner Sergeant Major Charles Coward (Dirk Bogarde) escapes and gets mistaken for a wounded German soldier. In the hospital, he is awarded the Iron Cross before the doctor discovers the truth.
I love this film for so many reasons. Firstly, it's a true story, or at least largely based on true events.
This film treats the war as a bit of a lark.The musical background reflects the comedy aspects.
Extremely enjoyable POW yarn based on the real-life exploits of one, Charley Coward, (Dirk Bogarde), who made it his mission as a prisoner during the Second World War to make life hell for the Germans before finally escaping. Andrew L Stone wrote and directed the picture in an unusually jocular fashion and a host of British character actors make for a rumbustious bunch or prisoners as well as the odd German, including the always reliable Reginald Beckwith as a very camp commandant.
Of course this movie is being often compared to "The Great Escape". The similarities between the story lines are striking and some of the sequences are almost exactly the same.
A group of British P.O.
I thought it was a very entertaining film, as good as the Great Escape. But the facts prove that most of these events did not happen.
