Stalag 17 (1953)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:27
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.3/10
Consensus: Stalag 17 survives the jump from stage to screen with flying colors, thanks to Billy Wilder's typically sterling direction and a darkly funny script.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Billy Wilder's adaptation of the Broadway hit stars William Holden as the cynical Sefton. Set in the eponymous German prison camp during WWII, the director's broad, black comedy focuses on a group... [More]
Starring: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Neville Brand
Director: Billy Wilder
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Reviews for Stalag 17
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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As rowdily entertaining on the screen as it was on the stage. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Interesting depiction with a pretty decent performance from Holden and supported by a credible cast. Full Review |
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A bleak, black comedy in which the laughter can die in the throat. Full Review |
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The resulting letdown is terrific, but along the way there is some of the funniest men-at-loose-ends interplay that Wilder has ever put on film. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
One could make an argument that, among 20th century directors, few were more versatile than Billy Wilder. Full Review |
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A lusty comedy-melodrama, loaded with bold, masculine humor and as much of the original's uninhibited earthiness as good taste and the Production Code permit. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Unforgettable Billy Wilder POW tale with Holden in perhaps his greatest role.
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B |
The prison story had an offbeat flavor that was pleasing. Full Review |
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4/4 |
As with many of Wilder's films, you tend to forget just how funny it is %u2014 the way the master director cuts tension with incisive wit and barely controlled silliness. Full Review |
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The good greatly outweighs the bad, particularly in the profile of Holden's character, a pragmatic, self-centered cynic whose heroism, when it is finally called upon, appears to come from deep within the barriers he has placed inside of himself. Full Review |
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A fascinating film. Full Review |
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4/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
No review available.
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3/5 |
No review available.
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4/5 |
Taut drama, a real surprise, considering Wilder directs.
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A |
Grimly hilarious, subversive and defiant, rough around the edges, and more than a little sad. Full Review |
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5/5 |
No review available.
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4.5/5 |
Unlike previous POW films, Wilder and co-writer Edwin Blum's script, based on the play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, presents the prisoners not as paragons of patriotic virtue but as real, self-interested, bored soldiers trying to survive. Full Review |
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5/5 |
Classic prisoner-of-war flick, powered by Holden's indelible performance
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5/5 |
A cracker jack movie entertainment. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Stalag 17
October 25, 2007:
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