Stalag 17 *****

July 19, 1943. In Hollywood lore, it’s a day that will live in infamy.

It all started early that morning with me having breakfast with the great song and dance man Dick Powell at the Hollywood Roosevelt. Vegetable omelets were on the menu that day if memory serves and Dick was telling me about the new role RKO was offering him and he was excited about it. Eddie Dmytryk was directing and he was hot at the time and the part was something completely different for Dick; something where he could show his range.

I thought it was a little too different and it could be a career-killer for Dick. The part was the old grizzled private eye, Phillip Marlowe. To give a modern comparison, picture the guy from Will and Grace (You know the guy. I refuse to look that up) as Indiana Jones. I knew RKO was going bankrupt, but this was just suicidal.

Fast forward several months, I went to review this train wreck and to my utter shock it was brilliant. Powell was brilliant. Dick was scruffy with blood shot eyes and you could smell the alcohol (a somewhat cheap single-malt scotch, if memory serves) through the screen. The movie was Murder My Sweet and it went on to become a film noir classic.

Now for the reason the day will live in infamy: For the first time in my eight year movie critic career...I was wrong. It was a big deal and it shook some people up. It wasn’t such a big deal that the stock market was affected or anything like that, but lives did change. This isn’t like Bosley Crowthers or some other hack…this is me…the most trusted man in Hollywood.

After everything settled down, I looked back and discovered something. As hard as it is to believe, I enjoyed being wrong. Dick’s a great guy and the movie was a wonderful surprise. I still consider that movie a wonderful treat.

Well, I eventually was able to right the ship and everything returned to normal for a while…until 1952 to be specific. That’s when I was again having breakfast at the Roosevelt – this time with Billy Holden (eggs benedict and Bloody Marys were being consumed, I believe). After a couple of pops, Bill told me that Billy Wilder has been trying to talk him into taking this role in a war movie about some P.O.W.s who try to escape from a Nazi camp.

Wilder was taking him to see the play that evening. I had already seen it and thought Bill needed a few more drinks. The play was very good, especially the third act when it really picked up, but the role that Wilder wanted Holden to do was J.J. Sefton, an amoral, cigar-chomping, cynic with a crew cut and dark five o’clock shadow. It was a Bogart role. Billy Holden wasn’t a song and dance man like Powell (he couldn’t carry a tune actually), but he was known for playing good-natured, wholesome characters. This part was completely over-the-bend for him.

Holden took the part and the movie came out in 1953 and it was the best movie of that year. Bill deservedly won his only Oscar. Looking back at that film, Holden reaches such unusual heights that I can’t imagine anyone else in that part.

This is just a great movie. Probably my favorite war movie. Even Bosley liked it. Here the lede of his review from so many years ago. “A crackerjack movie entertainment has been made from Stalag 17, the play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski that scored on Broadway two years ago.” Yeah, "crackerjack movie entertainment"…I know you want to run out and see it now, but let me finish my review first.

Stalag 17 takes place in a Nazi P.O.W. camp, just off the Danube. "Stalag" in German means P.O.W. camp and 17 was the specific barracks. Stalag 17 was for American sergeants only. In the opening scene, the sergeants are planning an escape for two of their men, Manfredi and Johnson. Everyone is so confident that some are wondering how long it will take them to get to Switzerland…everyone except one that is. J.J. Sefton bets two packs of cigarettes that they don’t make it out of the forest. That’s Sefton for you. Nothing personal; he just saw an opportunity to make an easy profit off of some favorable odds. Of course, he’s right and the two soldiers are killed.

The next phase of the movie looks at some of Sefton’s scams. Some of the better ones include racing rats and placing odds on each rat, building a mini-distillery and establishing a profitable black market with the Nazi screws. Sefton is the cynic’s cynic and one of my all-time favorite movie characters. I have seen the play in many decades, but if memory serves there were two important differences; first, the movie was funnier, and second, Jason Robards played Sefton. I remember Robards doing his usual good work here, but Holden made this character his own. It really is remarkable work and as much credit as Holden does get for this part, I’d still stay it’s underappreciated. Plus, he has a lot to work with here. It's a fun script, while Wilder does a remarkable job of keeping the film light and witty while keeping the tension high.

Later in the movie, two other plots are snuffed out and the sergeants are convinced that there is a spy in their midst. They become convinced it's Sefton, especially after the guards let him spend an afternoon with the Russian women (and their big Glockenspiels) over in the next camp. Stalag 17 questions, and then beats Sefton, who responds by resolving to find the actual guy who left him “holding the bag.” This has to be done quickly because Stalag 17 is planning one more escape for a captured lieutenant who is suspected of bombing a Nazi train, and they don't want the plan foiled again.

Looking back at this one, I always seem to remember the characters besides Sefton as being unremarkable. But several actors stand out in this one. Harvey Lembeck and Robert Strauss are greats as the wise-asses who entertain the guys and torment the Germans. Otto Preminger and that fat German are great as the Kommandant and Schultz. On top of that, Jay Lawrence was also entertaining with his vast array of impersonations.

In the end this is Holden’s movie. He’s memorable even when others are just talking about him and he can be seen in the background. Maybe his usual nice guy persona added some unpredictability and spice to the final work, but overall, I was wrong. Happily so.

I’m also happy that no one asked me any questions involving Hogan’s Heroes so I didn’t have to use my anthrax again. Good day all around.