MovieChat Forums > The One That Got Away (1957) Discussion > historically interesting,accurat e? spoi...

historically interesting,accurat e? spoiler

posted 17 years ago by ib011f9545i
6 replies | jump to latest

spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler

I have seen this film a few times but the attention to detail at the start of the film have not struck me before.

The British armed forces were very clever in how they handled prisoners of war in World War 11.
This film shows the elaborate methods used to obtain information from captured German pilots without using torture or any rough measures.
Prisoners are given a drink and a cigarette by some old fool with a bad leg,old officer talks to them about nothing important,they relax and hopefully let something slip that they would not give away to a stern faced young officer in a formal setting.

Similar methods are shown being used by the Germans on American pilots in TARGET UNKNOWN 1951.
CODENAME EMERALD made in the 1980s shows a similar situation.
The best prisoner of war film I can think of is 36 HOURS with James Garner.

I wonder when making films like this the film makers take account of the fact that the armed forces might not want all the methods used to keep or gather information made public ?

[–] crisotto 16 years ago

The wonderful thing about living in a free society is that the desires of the armed services have no greater weight than any other arm of the public service and films are not subject to either overt or complicit censorship.

[–] Zipper69 16 years ago

Something the people in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib seem to have forgotten...

Don't touch that!
Why Not?
It does very bad things...

[–] jmoore-34 16 years ago

The Germans and the Brits were at least culturally related.
Sensibilities and conventions were shared to a degree that is in no way comparable to those of Middle Easterners and Westerners.
Should Arab/Muslim prisoners be "tortured"?No,not as a matter of course but in a war to the knife with a culture which equates compassion with weakness a boot on the neck is the only alternative to total annihilation.
Even in World war Two Churchill said of the Germans,"The Hun is either at you feet or at your throat".
John

[–] crisotto 16 years ago

"The Germans and the Brits were at least culturally related.
Sensibilities and conventions were shared to a degree that is in no way comparable to those of Middle Easterners and Westerners.
Should Arab/Muslim prisoners be "tortured"?No,not as a matter of course but in a war to the knife with a culture which equates compassion with weakness a boot on the neck is the only alternative to total annihilation.
Even in World war Two Churchill said of the Germans,"The Hun is either at you feet or at your throat".
John"

I hope you realise that your statements are completely racist, and would not be out of place in a Nazi newspaper?

[–] jmoore-34 16 years ago

One would have to be terribly naieve to think that the Brits never used "harsh" methods of interrogation in any of the nasty frays they've been involved in.The film was idealized and very much "proper" plus,it dealt with pilot who would have information,to be sure,but not earth shattering or war winning intel desperately needed to stave off a catastrophe.
(I'll ignore the slur,for the nonce.)
Am Yisrael chai!
And never again.

[–] alan-morton 16 years ago

The subtle interrogation methods were outlined in the book of the same name, on which the film is more or less based. According to the book, once he had escaped von Werra was able to alert his superiors to the tricks that were being used.