At the beginning of this film the narrator, Sergeant Clarence Cook, states that although there are plenty of films about World War II you don't see many about the experiences of prisoners of war. This is certainly one of the earliest war films to deal with this subject, although not the very earliest. The earliest I can think of is the British-made "The Wooden Horse" from 1950; this was to be followed by the likes of "The Colditz Story", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Danger Within", "The Great Escape" and "King Rat". Strangely enough, "Stalag 17" was made in 1952 but not released in that year, apparently because Paramount believed that audiences would not be interested in its subject-matter. They changed their minds the following year because the end of the Korean War and the subsequent release of American prisoners had focused public attention on the problems facing POWs.The action takes place during December 1944 in a German POW camp "somewhere along the Danube" and concentrates on the inmates of one particular hut in the camp, all of them sergeants in the U.S. Air Force. The film opens with two men from the hut attempting to escape through a tunnel, but when they emerge outside the barbed wire fence they are shot dead by the guards. (This is unusual but not impossible; German guards generally preferred to recapture escaping prisoners alive rather than shoot them, although there were exceptions). The inmates conclude (correctly) that one of their number must be an informer who is letting the Germans know about planned escape attempts. ("Danger Within" also had a plot involving an informer inside a POW camp).The most obvious suspect is J J Sefton, an enterprising would-be capitalist who has a knack for turning any situation to his own profit. (He is in many ways similar to King in "King Rat"). Although the other prisoners are happy to take advantage of Sefton's illicit alcohol and gambling rackets, he is not a popular figure, partly because of his cynical attitude- he regards escape attempts as foolish- and partly because he has no qualms about doing deals with the German guards for luxuries such as eggs, silk stockings and cigarettes. Of course, Sefton is so unpopular and such an obvious suspect that the audience will immediately realise that he must be innocent- indeed, much of the film is taken up with Sefton's efforts to clear his name by exposing the real traitor.When I reviewed "From Here to Eternity" I had not yet seen "Stalag 17", so said that I would reserve judgement on the justice of William Holden's Best Actor Oscar, an award which he won ahead of Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift. Holden, in fact, always felt that he did not deserve the award and, having now seen "Stalag 17", I am inclined to agree with him. Certainly, his performance here as Sefton is a good one, but I felt that both Lancaster and Clift were better.The film as a whole has the potential to be a very good one; it has an exciting plot, some well-observed characterisation and some well-written dialogue. Like some other reviewers, however, I feel that it suffers from the defect of too much inappropriate humour. It is, of course, quite possible to write a comedy set in a POW camp – the television series "Hogan's Heroes" was an example- but "Stalag 17" is not really intended as a comedy. It is, for the most part, a serious drama- it opens with two men being shot dead, and towards the end another character finds himself in danger of his life. Against this backdrop the antics of the German Feldwebel Johann Sebastian Schulz- clearly a frustrated comedian in civilian life- and of the American Sergeant Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa- equally clearly a congenital idiot- seem rather out-of-place. "Animal", in particular, seems so mentally defective that I could not imagine why the U.S. Air Force ever accepted him in the first place, let alone promoted him to sergeant. I have heard it said that director Billy Wilder, himself a Jewish refugee from Nazism, found himself psychologically unable to deal with the subject of the war unless he leavened his seriousness with humour. That may be so, but I nevertheless feel that "Stalag 17" would have been a better film had it concentrated on its serious main plot rather than on its would-be humorous sub-plots. 6/10

This is the first German prisoner of war movie I ever saw. While this is comedic at times, it is actually a serious drama (unlike an abomination like "Hogan's Heroes" which is loosely based on this film). The strength of this is the ensemble acting where we get to meet and enjoy the different prisoners. William Holden, because he is enterprising, becomes the focus of his own men when it seems that the Germans are getting information from inside the barracks. Because he seems to have the ear of the commandant, they are sure that he is he rat. It will be his job to find out who is really behind all this. Sometimes the dialogue is dated and the situations a bit hard to accept, but it is a good drama with a sort of mystery novel premise.

This was a very famous film at the time and made a big impact. One of the reasons for this was that the story was largely true. There really was a Stalag 17 (the name of a POW camp in Germany), and the characters really existed. One needs to remember that this film was made only a few years after the end of the War, and everything still resonated very strongly. The lead role is played by William Holden, who won the Oscar for his performance. If you want to know the truth, his performance is nothing to be excited about, and did not deserve an Oscar, but he himself claimed he was given it to make up for his having been denied one three years before for his role in SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). Who knows. He was in any case a very popular and talented lead actor of the time. One surprise in this film is that the director Otto Preminger appears as an actor in the film, and plays the German commandant of the camp, Oberst (Colonel) von Scherbach. Preminger did not direct the film. It was directed by Billy Wilder. Stalag 17 is a camp for captured American non-commissioned officers, so everyone in the camp is a sergeant. They keep trying to escape but keep getting caught. The film begins with two of them being shot for this. They all know there is a 'stoolie' amongst them who is telling the Germans of all of their plans, but no one can figure out who it is. They all decide it is William Holden, who is not a team player and keeps himself to himself, and refuses to go along with group-think. But of course it is not Holden. Holden eventually figures out who it really is, but how can he prove it and expose him? The film is full of raw comedy, laughs, jokes, and teasing. This sounds very unlikely for a film about prisoners of war, and it certainly is, but it works. The film makes lively and entertaining viewing, and has been released in a restored version on Blu-Ray.

An absolute classic from Billy Wilder. Great plot - tense, gritty drama, with very funny interludes and dialogue. The only (minor) problem is that sometimes the farce and the drama don't gel.Solid performances all round. William Holden, a Billy Wilder favourite, is great in the lead role (and he got the 1954 Best Actor Oscar for his efforts).Surely the movie that launched the POW drama. You can see influences in this movie in just about every POW movie/series, especially Hogan's Heroes (down to both having a friendly, bumbling German sergeant named Schultz!).