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The 10 best prisoner-of-war dramas, from Stalag 17 to Colditz
The 10 best prisoner-of-war dramas, from Stalag 17 to Colditz

Times

time4 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Times

The 10 best prisoner-of-war dramas, from Stalag 17 to Colditz

Being a prisoner of war is a fate no one could wish for and films and TV dramas won't let us forget that. Whether in the bleak chilliness of central Europe or the steaming jungles of Burma, the plight of the PoW on-screen is one of torture and sadism at the hands of their military captors. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, showing on BBC1/iPlayer and based on Richard Flanagan's searing novel, is just the latest example. But there's often light in the dark — gallows humour and no shortage of British pluck — as this list below shows. 10. Escape to Victory (1981) It still sounds absurd: Sylvester Stallone in goal, Michael Caine at left back, Bobby Moore at centre half, Pele up front, all taking on a Nazi team. But come on, this bank holiday matinee favourite is highly enjoyable. The plot isn't so far-fetched either, being inspired by a real story: the 'death match' between the Ukrainian team and a Nazi German side in 1942 in occupied Kyiv. The Ukrainians won 5-3. Rent Tenko 9. Tenko (1981-84) The travails of the malnourished women internees as they were roasted in an Asian internment camp after the fall of Singapore in 1942 were popular in the 1980s (about 15 million viewers). It wasn't so much the sight of boils, scorpion bites and torturous labour that kept us glued to it, more the intimate interplay between the women. U 8. Colditz (1972-74) The 1955 film The Colditz Story was the fourth most popular at the British box office that year. Yet it was in the early 1970s that escape from Colditz-mania really took off thanks to the TV series starring David McCallum, Robert Wagner and Edward Hardwicke. Most affecting is Michael Bryant as Wing Commander George Marsh, who feigns madness to get repatriated. It works, except it leads to a genuine psychosis and he is committed to a mental hospital. DVD 7. Empire of the Sun (1987) Christian Bale was impressive on screen even at the age of 13. In Steven Spielberg's take on JG Ballard's semi-fictional memoir — about his boyhood internment during the Japanese invasion of China — some of the best moments come when Bale's expat finds himself bonding with John Malkovich's brash American Basie in the camp (and look out for a young Ben Stiller). It's worth revisiting. Bale would later turn PoW again in Werner Herzog's 2006 jungle-survival film Rescue Dawn, also pretty good. Rent 6. Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983) A cult classic more for its musical connections — a blond David Bowie on the poster and Ryuichi Sakamoto's celebrated synth soundtrack. Yet there's still much curiosity in a tale of Bowie's eccentric English free spirit defying the strict, code-bound cruelties of Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto). An oddity, but Akira Kurosawa and Christopher Nolan put this among their favourite films, so who am I to argue? Rent 5. The Deer Hunter (1978) Michael Cimino's portrait of a Pennsylvania community wrecked by a war far away slowly builds a sense of dread before exploding into its famed central sequence in Vietnam. No matter how many times you see it, when Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage's characters — taken captive by the Viet Cong — are forced to play Russian roulette, your heart is in your mouth. StudioCanal Comedy leavens the suffering in Stalag 17 ALAMY 4. Stalag 17 (1953) The original Second World War PoW film set the template for others, but it still has a feel of its own. The director Billy Wilder's sharp eye for comedy means there's a knockabout fun to the scenes inside Barrack Four as the American prisoners try to keep up morale — 'I'll get you a date with Betty Grable!' Even the camp commandant is played by Otto Preminger as a twinkly-eyed buffoon. There is grit undercutting the humour, of course. Rent 3. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Long before The Narrow Road to the Deep North depicted Burma's Death Railway we had Alec Guinness's stiff-upper-lipped English colonel leading a battalion of British PoWs as they toil away at a bridge. His stubborn national pride in the face of gruelling sadism means the Brits build a better bridge than their captors could. The face-offs between Guinness's Colonel Nicholson and his nemesis Colonel Saito, played by Sessue Hayakawa, are what endure. Sky/Now 2. La Grande Illusion (1937) Jean Renoir's classic is like a Great Escape from a more civilised age. Erich von Stroheim is unforgettable as the stiff-backed German aristocrat who treats his imprisoned French counterpart Captain De Boieldieu with gentlemanly respect. There's a great clip on YouTube of Orson Welles telling Dick Cavett that this film would be on his ark if he could save only two. The other? 'Something else,' he says. DVD 1. The Great Escape (1963) How true to life was the most loved PoW epic of all? Apparently by March 1944, when 76 men tunnelled out, the German guards knew the war was nearly over and were happy to be bribed with cigarettes. And in the tunnels the men's poor diet meant that their bowels were so loose they often had to go to the loo right there and then, which I don't recall happening to Charles Bronson. No matter, Steve McQueen on a motorbike is immortal and that theme tune became the whistled soundtrack to every great escape since. Sky/Now

Great Escape POW found in Berkshire history society search
Great Escape POW found in Berkshire history society search

BBC News

time26-05-2025

  • Entertainment
  • BBC News

Great Escape POW found in Berkshire history society search

"I've watched The Great Escape at Christmas countless times without realising there was a local Berkshire connection to it."Catherine Sampson runs Berkshire Family History Society and is used to unearthing interesting facts about the heritage of the county's her recent find went from an innocuous enquiry about a house's history in Purley, to Stalag Luft III during World War Two in then-Nazi Sampson, whose society is celebrating its 50th anniversary with more than 1,200 members across the globe, says she was "completely hooked" by what she uncovered. "[We] had a few big open days recently, inviting people to come in and start delving into the history of their house," Catherine says a couple from Purley "wanted to trace the history of their house which went back to the mid-30s, so not perhaps one of the oldest houses we were looking at, but a very interesting history nonetheless". Catherine's mission to trace the occupants involved going through censuses, voters rolls, and telephone and trade directories, where she came across the Stevens lived at the house during the war, and Catherine says this immediately peaked her interest."I was looking at it and all three sons fought or served in the war," Catherine remembers. A name came to light - Patrick Stevens - who was the youngest son, and served in Europe. He was captured by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III, the Prisoner of War camp immortalised in the 1963 Steve McQueen film."As I'm looking at this on the computer screen I'm thinking 'that sounds really familiar'," Catherine says."'Why do I know Stalag Luft III? Is it Colditz?' And then I realised this is where The Great Escape happened."Not only was Patrick at the camp, he aided in the audacious escape plan, assigned the task of getting rid of the soil that was excavated from the tunnels."He's not one that gets out, probably fortuitously, because the Germans shoot 50 of those who escape in retribution," she says."He survives the war and goes on to have a career in the RAF."She calls it an "absolutely brilliant story," and at a recent VE Day 80 celebration in Purley "eight members of the family – three generations – came out to join us as our guests". Family murders Catherine says family history is "not about the names, it's about the stories", and she has discovered more than 10,000 names from her own family says court records are "a great source of information" but could lead to people finding things they would rather not know."I have two murderers within my family, both different lines - very, very distantly related," she says. In both cases the victim was also in her family."You just feel tremendous sadness for everybody involved in that - the victim, the perpetrator, and the immediate and wider family." Catherine says the society started off "very modestly", with "two ladies who were working together, very into family history".They recruited a few more people through an advert in a local paper and the group grew then, members had to physically visit record offices and trawl through baptism, marriage and burial registers at churches for information."I spent, I felt, years of my life... traipsing around churchyards and graveyards examining and reading every monument to try and find if I could see any names that were in my family past," she says."Now is just a blast from how we used to do things." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action ceremony held at Jefferson Barracks
Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action ceremony held at Jefferson Barracks

Yahoo

time25-05-2025

  • General
  • Yahoo

Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action ceremony held at Jefferson Barracks

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – It's Memorial Day weekend, a time to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and way of life. On Saturday, Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery held its annual Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action ceremony. Saturday's event marked the 25th annual POW/MIA ceremony. This ceremony specifically honors the mass graves of prisoners of war. Wreath-laying is a key part of the ceremony, recognizing the sacrifices of military members. On Saturday, the cemetery honored two mass prisoner-of-war graves from World War II, along with several other fallen service members. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

World War II POW/MIA from Pennsylvania identified after 80 years
World War II POW/MIA from Pennsylvania identified after 80 years

Yahoo

time26-03-2025

  • General
  • Yahoo

World War II POW/MIA from Pennsylvania identified after 80 years

WASHINGTON (WTAJ) — A Pennsylvania man who was killed in a Tokyo prison fire during World War II was identified and accounted for nearly 80 years after his death. U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Glenn H. Hodak of Cambridge Springs was only 23 years old when he was captured and died in the prison fire May 26, 1945, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced. While Hodak was accounted for Sept. 25, 2024, it wasn't until recently that his family was fully briefed, allowing more details about his service to be released. In March 1945, Hodak was a member of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, when the B-29 'Superfortress' he was a gunner on was shot down on a mission to Tokyo. The agency said that Hodak was initially reported MIA (Missing In Action), and it was later learned he was captured as a POW (Prisoner Of War). Central Pennsylvania WW II Lt. accounted for nearly 80 years later Sadly, Hodak's remains were not immediately recovered nor identified after the war. American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel searched for and disinterred the remains of U.S. servicemen throughout the Pacific Theater. AGRS anticipated the recovery of 62 service members in early 1946. Hodak, and 38 others, however, were unable to be identified and ultimately entered as unknowns in the Manilla American Cemetery and Memorial, in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. The Agency reports that in March and April 2022, those 39 Unknowns were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. Using dental and anthropological analysis along with circumstantial evidence, the Agency was able to identify Hodak's remains will be returned to Pennsylvania and buried in Spring Creek in May. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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