Reviews (1)

Great French car flick...
The great German-born director, Billy Vilder, on his vay from Deutschland to Hollywood, stopped off in Paris to make this early car chase classic. A young French dandy, suddenly down on his luck, falls in with a slick gang of car thieves who run a phony auto shop, and who take him in and teach him the ropes in their cynical racket. He also falls in love, and attempts to break away from his criminal pals in order to live a clean life with his gal. Pretty cool presentation of French life in the interwar era, and of the growing fascination with the newly blooming car culture. Great crosscountry chase sequence at the end; fun stuff throughout. Recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (52)

An excellent blend of humor and drama...
Stalag 17 is one of the best war movies ever, and it is probably the second best film ever made about prisoners of war (The Great Escape would be the best). Directed and co-written by the great Billy Wilder, Stalag 17 features an exciting plot, great performances, especially from William Holden, and many humorous moments. All in all - very entertaining!

Essentially, as Cookie, the narrator, explains, the movie is about what happened in a certain barrack in Stalag 17, a German prisioners of war camp. Because of several failed escape attempts and their horrible luck in concealing secrets for the Germans, the inhabitants of the barrack conclude that there must be a traitor in their midst. Their suspicions turn towards the character played by William Holden, who is an extremely cynical loner who spends his time trading with the Germans and running projects to earn money from his fellow prisioners.

In addition to the exciting plot about the traitor, Stalag 17 paints an accurate and often humorous, sometimes serious, portrait of the men in the camp and how they deal with their situation through joking around. Anyhow, Stalag 17 is a classic war movie and is very entertaining - highly recommended!

The BEST WWII POW FILM for real life drama, now on DVD !!
The Best WWII post-war Classic films dealing with the human factor were; "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), "Twelve O'Clock High" (1949) & "Stalag 17" (1953). These Black & White Classics dealt with the dark & forgotten side of war. The Best years - war battled veterans returning home, Twelve O'Clock - the terror of dying & Stalag - the captured, imprisoned POWs. Hollywood was at their best with these films and we are forever reminded of the sacrifices that the "Greatest Generation" made for us.

Summary: We are introduced to American POW airmen at a WWII German prison camp ("STALAG 17"). It is Christmas 1944 and the narrator Cookie (Gil Stratton) explains the specific situation happening at his Barracks #4. The latest problem is all escaping POW's are being killed so their is suspicion that there is a "Stoolie" amongst them. Sefton (William Holden - Oscar winning performance) is the lead suspect since he is the Barracks hustler and friend to all (including the Germans) for a price. The Security Officer Price (the young Peter Graves - outstanding) seems a little to perfect for Sefton. So the story has many turns but finding the spy is the primary focus.

This DVD is Black & White, Full Screen / Standard Format (before WideScreen). Excellent quality picture.

This the Best POW film dealing with the true "Black Comedy" of war. Note: Black Comedy / Dark Comedy was the nervous humor which came out in the most dismal time and the horrors of war.

This is a CLASSIC FILM to watch again & again. Shall we never forget !!!

Caught this once again during the Memorial Day orgy of
World War II flicks. It is special & because of William Holton stands above the rest. I loved Steve McQueen & James Garner in The Great Escape & The Bridge over the River Kwai, also starring Holton, is epic. This movie is on a much smaller scale & is the best of the POW genre. Holton plays the disreputable Sgt. Sefton, a prisoner throughly despised & suspected of being the traitor in the POW camp responsible for escapees being caught & shot. How he singlehandedly reveals the Nazi in their midst is the movie's climax. Shot in glorious black & white adds to its grittiness realistic feel. I get caught up in it every time. It's on cable often, rent it or buy it cheap, here. Classic cinema from the 50's.

Entertaining story set over sixty years ago, in Germany

Studio: Paramount Studio
Video Release Date: August 21, 2001

Cast:
William Holden ... Sgt. J.J. Sefton
Don Taylor ... Lt. James Skylar Dunbar
Otto Preminger ... Col. von Scherbach
Robert Strauss ... Stanislas 'Animal' Kasava
Harvey Lembeck ... Harry 'Sugar Lips' Shapiro
Richard Erdman ... Hoffy (chief, barracks #4)
Peter Graves ... Price (security)
Neville Brand ... Duke
Sig Ruman ... Sgt. Johann Sebastian Schulz
Michael Moore ... Manfredi
Peter Baldwin ... Johnson
Robinson Stone ... Joey (ocarina player)
Robert Shawley ... Blondie Peterson
William Pierson ... Marko the Mailman (At Ease)
Gil Stratton ... Clarence Harvey 'Cookie' Cook (Narrator)
Jay Lawrence ... Bagradian (cohort of Dunbar)
Erwin Kalser ... Geneva man
Edmund Trzcinski ... Triz' Trzcinski ('I believe it!')
James Dabney Jr. ... Bit part
Carl Forcht ... German lieutenant
Ralph Gaston ... Bit part
Jerry Gerber ... Bit part
Ross Gould ... Von Scherbach's orderly
Russell Grower ... Bit part
Ross Bagdasarian ... Singing soldier
Peter Leeds ... Barracks #1 POW getting distillery
Wesley Ling ... POW
Harald Maresch ... German lieutenant
Bill McLean ... POW
John Mitchum ... POW
Robin Morse ... POW
William Mulcahy ... Bit part
Rodric Beckham ... Bit part
Richard P. Beedle ... POW
Joe Ploski ... German guard-volleyball player
Harry Reardon ... POW
Paul Salata ... Prisoner with beard
James R. Scott ... Bit part
Bill Sheehan ... POW
A. Gerald Singer ... Steve (the crutch)
Warren Sortomme ... POW
Herbert Street ... Bit part
Anthony M. Taylor ... Bit part
Bob Templeton ... Prisoner with beard
John Veitch ... POW
Alex Wells ... Prisoner with beard
Max Willenz ... German lieutenant (von Scherbach's aide)
Mike Bush ... Dancer
Don Cameron ... Bit part
Jarvis Caston ... POW
Tommy Cook ... POW
Alla Gursky ... Russian woman prisoner
Svetlana McLe ... Woman POW
Mara Sondakoff ... Russian woman prisoner
Audrey Strauss ... Woman POW
Lyda Vashkulat ... Woman POW
Janice Carroll ... Russian woman prisoner
Yvette Eaton ... Russian woman prisoner

A story set in a German prison camp in WWII. There is a snitch in the barracks: the lowest of the low, who is costing American prisoners their lives, as well as giving away escape plans, short wave radios, and espionage activities. Holden (Sgt. Sefton) is suspected because he is trading with the Germans (and everyone else in sight) to get what comforts are available. But the real traitor is another: a German posing as an American.

This is a fine film. Not, perhaps, on a par with The Great Escape, but it is nevertheless entertaining and worthy of viewing. Not to be confused with the television series of the same name. The actors are all different. I thought Robert Strauss ("Animal") did a great job of providing laughs.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance

and other books

William Holden is the world's most underappreciated actor
I know he won an Oscar for his performance in this role, but has any great Hollywood star been shunted to the background of history as much as William Holden? The list of films in which the man made his character memorable runs the gamut from Sunset Boulevard to Picnic to The Wild Bunch to Network. And while I don't think it's his overall best role, Stalag 17 will be remembered not just as a great film but the one that got Holden his due.

As the opening voiceover says (and I'm paraphrasing), there have been a lot of war movies about submarines, flying leathernecks, tank commandos, etc. but none about the P.O.W. camps. Leave it to the late great Billy Wilder to rectify that. Certainly there's no glory of war here, or at least not the kind we're accustomed to. Wilder creates an insular world of desperate and downtrodden men thrown together in confinement and heaps on the stark reality of war's "other side".

Holden is the barracks' con man/horse trader and, thanks to the already poor relationship with his fellows, the immediate suspect when they determine someone on the inside is spying on them for the Germans. It's a testament to how well the film has held up over the years that even after seeing it long ago (and thus knowing who the spy is) that I was still riveted in anticipation of how he would be found out.

The Germans are a combination of menace and comedy, the former exemplified by Otto Preminger as the camp commander and the latter by the great character actor Sig Rumann as Sgt. Schulz. This film was the inspiration for Hogan's Heroes, but it's best to separate them in your mind if you can and appreciate the complexities of the situations and the characters. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

"When they need you, they forgive and forget."
In the film, "Ace in the Hole", unemployed newspaper reporter Charles Tatum (Kirk Douglas) finds himself stuck in New Mexico. He's penniless, his car has just broken down, and he has no prospects whatsoever. One thing Tatum does have in abundance is nerve. And it's this nerve that takes Tatum into the local newspaper office where he bullies and bargains his way into a job as a reporter. Tatum has a checkered past. He used to work for big newspapers, but he's "been fired from 11 papers." He's been at the top of his field, and he dreams of getting back up there one day. Tatum realizes that his best shot at fame is through the chance of writing a killer story--and he brags, "if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog." Stuck in a small backwater town, the opportunities for the big break just don't materialize. Tatum is on his way to cover the annual Rattlesnake hunt, when he stumbles across the story of a lifetime.

Tatum accidentally runs into a crisis--there's a man stuck in an abandoned mine shaft/Indian burial ground. Leo Minosa is trapped and buried under some fallen rubble. To extract him carelessly could cause the mine to collapse and Leo would be killed. Tatum turns the rescue into a media circus--and of course, he's the one with all the power.

The three main characters all want to escape in different ways. Tatum wants to escape the small time. Leo wants to escape from the mine, and his wife, Lorraine, a former dime-a-dance girl (Jan Sterling) wants to escape from the boring humdrum existence stuck behind the serving counter at the family business. The three characters collude--from necessity--and create a media circus in the middle of nowhere.

The role of Tatum is Kirk Douglas at his best--he's hard as nails, cynical, shameless and driven. He never gives an inch in his inhuman drive for fame and fortune. "Ace in the Hole" examines the issue of ethics in journalism, and I doubt there's a better film on the subject. This is simply an incredible classic film, and it's a travesty that it's not available commercially. Based on a true story, this film was a huge flop for director Billy Wilder, and the film really deserves to be resurrected from the vaults--displacedhuman

lawsuit
after this film came out there was a lawsuit as to who came up with the idea for the film. the story is based on a true incident of a man trapped in a mine, but the idea to make that news story into a film was brought to the attention of wilder by a man who later sued for compensation. the case went all the way to the california supreme court and the verdict went against wilder and the studio. this could be the reason why the film is not available for sale.

it is a shame because kirk douglas in unbelievable in this movie and the subject matter of media reporters taking matters into their own hands to distort facts to create the story (to make a name and increase ratings/circulation) is more timely than ever

Wilder's "Ace" is a hole of a good movie!
Billy Wilder made this film after Sunset Blvd(1950) and before Stalag 17(1953), two of his most popular works. He once referred to "Ace" as "the runt of my litter". It is one of the most brilliant films to come out of Hollywood in the early 1950's.

The idea of a newspaper man covering the story of a trapped miner, exploiting and managing the "rescue" in order to sell the story to the media, was way ahead of it's time, which is why the picture flopped at the box office.

The people at Paramount don't seem to value the artistry inherent in this masterpiece. They probably only look at the numbers and figure, "well, it didn't make any money in 1951, so it won't make any now if we release it on DVD"
But they are wrong. This is a cult classic and on every film buff's must-have list.

Besides the acting and direction and the bitterly pungent screenplay, the arid b&w cinematography of Charles Lang and the moody, impressionist, noir music score by Hugo Friedhofer are absolutely perfect for this story.

By all means, write a letter to Paramount Home Video and demand that this film is given a DVD release. You can get their address from their website. I wrote them last year and they said there were no plans to release it. So that means waiting for it to show up on Turner Classic Movies, where I last saw it about 3 years ago.
But if they get enough letters, well, you never know...............

You cannot deprive an audience of this movie!
The studio that made this movie (Paramount I think) is commiting a crime by not releasing this fantastic movie by one of the greatest directors of all time on DVD or for that matter even VHS! Yesterday I was wondering which were the movies I wanted to buy, and Ace In the Hole came to me immediately but I was disappointed to see that the studios haven't released it on DVD or VHS. Please release this movie, it's Wilder's masterpiece. And while i'm at it somebody please get ED WOOD released on DVD.

the floped masterpiece
this is an amazing film, one of Mr. Wilder's best it is a shame that the studio is not releaseing it for douglas and wilder are at there best it was released at a time when people were not in the mood to see such an emotion wrenching film but todays world can handle it it is an amazing film help the fight to get it released. in many magazines including sight and sound have rated it high in the ranks make the studio rewatch it that's all that is needed for once they take a look at it their pant will fall down cause they got up so fast to release it. JOIN THE FIGHT FOR ACE IN THE HOLE!... ... Read more