In a salute to director Roy Del Ruth, TCM aired this one, a relic from the early past of Capt. LESLIE HOWARD and Lt. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR., who are both prisoners of war in a German concentration camp run by Commandant PAUL LUKAS. Howard's wife is MARGARET LINDSAY.
It's a forerunner of films like STALAG 17, but the accent is on drama rather than comedy and the love interest is crucial to the plot, with Howard separated from a wife he hasn't seen in two years. With dialog full of clichés, some of the romantic moments (flashbacks to Howard's past) are an embarrassment.
Howard is reunited with an old friend (DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.) when his plane makes a forced landing and he ends up in the same prison camp. Fairbanks is grilled by Howard about his wife and how she is--and we soon learn that Fairbanks has been having a relationship with her. The plot develops into a study of their relationship as comrades despite both loving the same woman and generates further suspense when Fairbanks is wrongly suspected of killing and raping a German woman.
The performances are excellent with Howard and Fairbanks both extremely impressive. The firing squad scene seems a bit excessive for dramatic effect when Howard's nobility takes over and he confesses that he knows the truth about Fairbanks' innocence in the murder. It's a grittier, scruffier and more virile role than usual for Howard and he makes the most of it.
Naturally, this being a POW drama, there are escape plans that give added suspense to the final scenes with Howard heroically enabling a great escape. It looks as if it was given low-budget treatment by Warners except for some good action scenes.
Summing up: Creaky plot but worth watching. The trench warfare scenes are well staged.
It's a forerunner of films like STALAG 17, but the accent is on drama rather than comedy and the love interest is crucial to the plot, with Howard separated from a wife he hasn't seen in two years. With dialog full of clichés, some of the romantic moments (flashbacks to Howard's past) are an embarrassment.
Howard is reunited with an old friend (DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.) when his plane makes a forced landing and he ends up in the same prison camp. Fairbanks is grilled by Howard about his wife and how she is--and we soon learn that Fairbanks has been having a relationship with her. The plot develops into a study of their relationship as comrades despite both loving the same woman and generates further suspense when Fairbanks is wrongly suspected of killing and raping a German woman.
The performances are excellent with Howard and Fairbanks both extremely impressive. The firing squad scene seems a bit excessive for dramatic effect when Howard's nobility takes over and he confesses that he knows the truth about Fairbanks' innocence in the murder. It's a grittier, scruffier and more virile role than usual for Howard and he makes the most of it.
Naturally, this being a POW drama, there are escape plans that give added suspense to the final scenes with Howard heroically enabling a great escape. It looks as if it was given low-budget treatment by Warners except for some good action scenes.
Summing up: Creaky plot but worth watching. The trench warfare scenes are well staged.