The One That Got Away (1957)

During WWII, a German flier is captured in England, but makes numerous attempts to escape. While there are exciting moments, the narrative is too episodic to sustain interest. Instead of a well-planned and executed escape a la "The Great Escape," it's a series of escapes attempted from different venues. None of the escape sequences are clever in plan or execution. Although this is based on a true story, it is hard to believe that the British would be so gullible and so easily fooled by the German POW. The filmmakers apparently didn't care about suspense, as the title gives away the ending. This was Kruger's first starring role in an English language film, and he does OK.

This movie is great entertainment, but not much more. The movie is full of suspension and it's quite interesting to watch our main actor to outsmart everyone. Sadly there is no questioning about good and evil in this story. The escaping German is the hero in this British movie! Also sort of disappointing has been, that there are no interesting psychological relationships. It was all about the main actor Hardy Krüger. But this guy alone was enough to keep you interested. Great performance!The part of the movie I liked the most, has been the part where Krüger is walking though the snow, fighting for his life. Amazing pictures! Great music! Incredible suspension! - It's for the history books of the movie-world. It made me rank up this movie from 6, to 7 points.

Luftwaffe PoWs are given a contemptuous reality check by a British officer after an outburst of "Seig Heils" has greeted the news of an imminent departure to Canada.For all their arrogance they are still captives and the expected Nazi invasion of England has not materialised. Oberleutnant Franz von Werra (Herr H.Kruger - himself a former Nazi) has already tried to escape on two occasions and he sees this transfer as a golden opportunity to reach a neutral United States and eventually return to Germany to continue his personal war."The one that got away" tells the story of this brave,determined and resourceful pilot who eventually did manage to make a "Home Run" only to be killed in action a few months later,but not before supplying his superiors with vital information about the methods of British Military Intelligence. By any reasonable standard Oberleutnant von Werra was an heroic figure,but,as portrayed by Herr Kruger he was not overconcerned with displays of false modesty nor overburdened with conscience where making false claims of aerial victories.Nevertheless Kruger succeeds in making von Werra a figure one could sympathise with if not actually like. Set mainly in the Lake District and the more remote parts of the midlands,the movie shows an England struggling to sustain "total war" single-handedly,bombed incessantly by the Luftwaffe in the prelude to invasion and desperately depending on "The Few" to defend it whilst most of its young men were fighting for their lives in Northern France. The soldiers left behind to guard the PoW camps were often the old,the lame and the halt,only the remoteness of their locations kept a mass exodus at bay. The British are generally shown as rather a smug lot,complacent rather than over confident of victory,as if no other result were thinkable. Very fortunately for them Japan would eventually play into America's hands and from the "Day of Infamy" onwards the top ranks in the German High Command realised the inevitability of the final outcome. But in the heady days of 1940,the ill-starred von Werra and his colleagues looked forward to marching down Pall Mall in a Victory Parade that might well have presaged the beginning of the "Thousand Year Reich". But,tenacious and bloody-minded,the Brits hung on and history took its course. One suspects that von Werra,as his plane span out of control into the sea,might have wished he had seen the war out in the safety of a PoW camp in Canada - but - on the other hand,the brave and dedicated warrior that he was,he might have been content to have died for his Fatherland.What a terrible waste it all was.

'The One That Got Away' is the story of the only German to escape allied captivity. That much is evident from the title, but the main interest for me is the accurate portrayal of the British interrogation centres for enemy offices in, and around, London. Even in the 1950's when this film was made, much of this side of wartime intelligence work was concealed.I like the film- but I admit I always enjoy POW films- but I question the way we are manipulated to think of Von Werra as 'a good German'. It was necessary as we were rehabilitating West Germnay into a democratic Europe and NATO at the time the film was released, however, the the scriptwriter has erased most references to Nazi Germany, which obviously helped form the central character's personality and belief system. To say that Von Werra believed in nothing but himself is a cop-out.And of course, as a historian, I suspect the whole premise of 'The One...' surely others escaped, especially from temporary 'cages' in battle zones?