This TV movie reminds me much Robert Siodmak's ESCAPE FROM EAST BERLIN, back in 1963, starring Don Murray. I guess there were many escape tries from behind the Wall. This one is a tremendous piece of work, very tense and exciting. and I am still amazed that Horest Buchholz is here at nearly fifty years old; he actually looks like a young man...Yes, this feature is far better than most of the big pictures movies. Players are so good, the characters so powerful too. I don't know if this was aired in France. Maybe, it is possible. Anyway, that's a pretty good picture made for TV. I highly recommend it. I don't know if there were other films about tunnels drilled Under the Iron Curtain made before or after this one.

Why oh why do Americans take a wonderful movie and mess it up? So much of this movie was fiction, when the real facts were far more exciting.The original movie, Der Tunnel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251447/ was based on the book written by one of the men involved in creating the tunnel. While Der Tunnel was English subtitled (the original was in German, and personally I usually try to avoid subtitled foreign movies) you don't even notice after the first 10 minutes because you're on the edge of your seat, and that's where you stay for 160 minutes.Compared to the original, this adaptation had very poor character development and little in the way of tension. Oh, there's tension there, certainly - if you only see this one and not the original. So if you want to watch it, avoid seeing the original first. That was my mistake - I had a comparison.I found myself barely caring about the people involved - half of them didn't even want to leave East Berlin and had to be persuaded. So many scenes were either unnecessary - such as a dinner with a character played by Jose Ferrer - or watered down, like a boy killed trying to climb over the wall, which was referred to very briefly by way of a newspaper clipping in this movie. In Der Tunnel, we literally lived through it.But the biggest disappointment to me was the ending. No, I won't spoil it, but trust me - the ending of Der Tunnel was spectacular, especially when they told us over the end credits what became of each of the participants. For me, the ending of Berlin Tunnel 21 just didn't compare.I could have been reasonably satisfied with this version and found it mildly interesting, worth watching once but certainly not twice. But to me it was just the clumsily re-arranged bones, while Der Tunnel was the flesh, curves and all.Do yourself a favor and beg, borrow or steal Der Tunnel. If you can't, then you might enjoy this one.

This film is excellent and a true thriller throughout. Thomas is excellent as are his supporting actors. This film really builds the tension to what is an excellent climax to the picture. Thomas has done other terrific stuff such as battle beyond the stars, but it still felt like john boy playing who ever. In this though we forget all about john boy and see him as a very good actor. This film picks up the feeling of the time and the situation people were in. This is an all round great piece of work and should be aired to the public more often. It must be twenty years since I saw this movie on our screens. Come on show it again, somebody please.

Great cast, well acted! Well written by John Gay, a successful writer of TV movies, including this and FATAL VISION. I remember it from watching it the first time it aired and later in repeats. A few years back, I tracked down a VHS release copy and I hope it comes out on DVD one day. It is always fun to watch and remind one of a difficult time and situation when the Berlin Wall divided families, friends, and neighbors. And how many sacrificed their lives trying to escape it.