Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1953

The Contenders:

Montgomery Clift: From Here to Eternity
Burt Lancaster: From Here to Eternity
Marlon Brando: Julius Caesar
Richard Burton: The Robe
William Holden: Stalag 17 (winner)

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1953

The Contenders:

Fred Zinnemann: From Here to Eternity (winner)
Charles Walters: Lili
William Wyler: Roman Holiday
George Stevens: Shane
Billy Wilder: Stalag 17

No One Has Ever Escaped From...

Film: Stalag 17
Format: DVD from personal collection on laptop.

Stalag 17 is an interesting film for a lot of reasons. The movie takes place in a prisoner of war camp, but it’s absolutely in part a comedy. It has a truly dislikeable character who is ultimately the hero of the film. There’s a lot that works against Stalag 17 from the start, and yet the whole thing works. It’s helped by a diverse and interesting cast and the solid direction of Billy Wilder. That’s what turns Stalag 17 from a movie that seems like a collection of terrible ideas into one that generally works from end to end.

At points in the narrative, we’re given a voiceover from Sergeant Clarence “Cookie” Cook (Gil Stratton). Actually, in the case of this film, “Sergeant” is unnecessary in most cases since all but a couple of the Americans in the titular prison camp are of that rank. As the film opens, two inmates, Manfredi (Michael Moore) and Johnson (Peter Baldwin) are looking to go through the wire. They’ve got a plan and a tunnel and are all set to go. When they leave, the other men in the barracks start to bet on how far they’ll get. It’s all in good fun until J.J. Sefton (William Holden) puts down two packs of cigarettes that they won’t make it out of the forest surrounding the camp. Ultimately, Sefton is right; the pair is gunned down before they even reach the forest.