Some of my reference books seem to confuse this film with THE GREAT ESCAPE, calling "Escape" a remake of the earlier film. It's been years since I read the Michale Gilbert novel on which it was based. My memory of the book is was murder mystery set in a POW camp and contains a variation on the "locked room" puzzle. One of the prisoners is found murdered in a situation where nobody could possibly killed him.
shareCorrect - it was a murder mystery, but sadly this part of the movie was poorly handled with some obscure dialogue, between similarly ill-defined characters. Any sense of 'who done it' is lost rapidly, and 'how' the murder is committed relies on this vague dialogue, as this apparently budget-restricted movie sweeps it away, to concentrate on the final implausible (and rather routine) escape plot.
Any relationship to Great Escape is coincidence, as GE could easily have drawn on ideas used here, or in any number of other POW movies, such as The Wooden Horse (far superior) - which did a much better job with a cast of virtual unknowns, or indeed from former prisoner testimonies.
Thank you. It's been too many years since I read THE DANGER WITHIN whose author Michael Gilbert just died. THE WOODEN HORSE I've never seen, but I do vaguely watching THE COLDITZ STORY as well as THE 49TH PARALLEL, THE MACKENZIE BREAK and THE PASSWORD IS COURAGE. Does THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND qualify as a POW escape movie?
I once wrote a science fiction short novel in which THE PASSWORD IS COURAGE plays a minor part. Access to a superdooper computer KDO can only be obtained by identifying three passwords.
Multiple choice: What is the password: Heart Home Brain Courage
What is the password: swordfish sawfish sailfish.
The third password contains three letters.(Only one person ever figured it out.)
What is the answer?
share... as this apparently budget-restricted movie sweeps it away, to concentrate on the final implausible (and rather routine) escape plot.Agreed. In fact I'd go as far as to say plain ridiculous. The escape of over 400 POW's in broad daylight, is carried out with undue haste, relatively little explanation and a complete lack of suspense. 🐭