GB
1957
1hr 51mins
Dir: Roy Ward Baker
Starring: Hardy Krüger and Michael Goodliffe
A German Prisoner of War never gives up trying to escape
This decent Second World War drama was based on the 1956 book of the same name by Kendal Burt and James Leasor and chronicles the true exploits of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot shot down over Britain in 1940. The film includes a scene where Hardy Krüger converses with the staff at a railway station as he attempts his escape. This was filmed at Gerrards Cross, which masquerades as Codnor Park in the film because in real life von Werra was sent to a secure POW camp near Swanwick, Derbyshire. He and four others escaped and though the others paired up, von Werra continued alone and reached Codnor Park railway station where he attempted, unsuccessfully, to board a train. This attempt is not that which is chronicled in the film. The only train that features is an earlier passing stock shot of LNER A3 Class 4-6-2 No.4472 Flying Scotsman, a shot that first appeared in Oh! Daddy (1935) (qv).
