1953
Billy Wilder, Edwin Blum
Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, Richard Erdman, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Sig Ruman, Michael Moore, Peter Baldwin, Robinson Stone, Robert Shawley, William Pierson, Gil Stratton
It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17. For the men in Barracks 4, all Sergeants, they have to deal with another problem - there seems to be a security leak. The Germans always seem to be forewarned about escapes and in the most recent attempt the two men, Manfredi and Johnson, walked straight into a trap and were killed. For some in Barracks 4, especially the loud-mouthed Duke, the leaker is obvious: J.J. Sefton a wheeler-dealer who doesn't hesitate to trade with the guards and who has acquired goods and privileges that no other prisoner seems to have. Sefton denies giving the Germans any information and makes it quite clear that he has no intention of ever trying to escape. He plans to to ride out the war in what little comfort he can arrange, but it doesn't extend to spying for the Germans. As tensions mount and a mob mentality takes root, it becomes obvious that Sefton will have to find the real snitch if he his to have any peace and avoid the beatings Duke and others have inflicted on him. ------- Set in a German POW Camp for enlisted American airmen, a spy is discovered to be living in one of the prison barracks after an escape attempt fails resulting in the deaths of two inmates. The prisoners at once suspect Sefton, an unscrupulous inside dealer who trades almost anything with the Germans for extra privileges. After Sefton is beaten up, he himself determines to find the real spy and the result is a mixture of intrigue and betrayal leading to a surprise ending. ------- A group of airmen are in a German Prisoner of War camp. Each escape attempt has resulted in failure and a spy is suspected. When the materially successful operator comes under suspicion, he becomes an outcast. When a new arrival is accused of being a spy and saboteur, the camp unites to hide him as the operator looks for the real plant. ------- No one has ever escaped from Stalag 17, a POW camp for American airmen near the Danube. Maybe that's because there's a spy in barracks four. The German guards seem to know everything that's happening before it happens. Most of the American POWs suspect Sergeant J.J. Sefton, whose wheeling-and-dealing rates him special privileges from the camp guards. When Lieutenant Dunbar arrives at the prison camp, and is accused of blowing up an ammunition train, the American prisoners must expose the stoolie before he informs the Germans where Dunbar is hiding, AND get Dunbar out of the "unescapable" camp before the SS arrives to take him into custody. ------- During WWII, in Stalag (which is German for prison) 17, the prisoners are dumbfounded as to how the Germans know when someone's trying to escape. Recently, two tried to escape and never made past just outside the camp. Sefton, a hustler and wheeler dealer, said that they wouldn't. And it also seems that Sefton doesn't mind that he has to trade with the Germans for some extra food or whatever and has no desire to escape. When they lose some valuable materials like a radio, or when a Lieutenant Dunbar, who just arrived, and who also blew up an ammunition train, and who also has some (unpleasant) history with Sefton, is arrested, they assume that Sefton's an informant. And while Sefton adamantly claims he is not, they don't turn their back on him or trust him, and would like nothing better than to tear him apart. Can Sefton find out who the real informant is?
116 minutes (at 25 frames per second)
692 MB
DivX 5 - resolution: 640x480