MovieChat Forums > Colditz (1972) Discussion > when I was 12 everybody at school loved ...

when I was 12 everybody at school loved this.


I remember being at school, going to secondary school and all the boys used to watch this and talk about it next day.

But I don't remember much about it and having seen repeats I find it uninteresting and false.

The setting works against it, stuck in a prisoner of war camp which is a castle.

SECRET ARMY came along a few years after this and while it still has a lot of set based scenes it is so much better than COLDITZ in every way.

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But I don't remember much about it and having seen repeats I find it uninteresting and false.
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It is neither uninteresting nor false, it is one of the best depictions of POW's in Germany, it is far more realistic than 'The Great Escape'.

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The setting works against it, stuck in a prisoner of war camp which is a castle.
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No it doesn't, the castle atmosphere gives it a claustrophobic feeling which works very much in its favour.

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The Colditz story is one of inspiring courage and determination.There were 56 escapes that made it out of the prison: Twenty-two French, 15 Dutch, 14 British, and 5 Polish. It was a record unequaled by any other POW camp. Would you know how many of those escapees successfully reached Allied territory?

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All of them either successfully reached Allied territory or neutral territory.

However the actual number of successful escapes from Colditz is more like 35 rather than 56 as a number of those escapes are considered dubious. For example two British servicemen (Hammond and Lister) successfully contested their presence there (clamining that they were not officers so therefore should not have been sent to Colditz which was a camp for officers). The Germans accepted their appeal and transferred them to another camp, from which they subsequently escaped.

I for one do not believe that their escape should count as a successful escape from Colditz.

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Are you calling John Mills a liar? Seriously, I know that movie research has a spotty history at best. Even with the revised figures, the record is impressive.

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