Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 American war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 sergeants representing many different aircrew positions, but the film focuses on one particular barracks, where the men come to suspect that one of their number is an informant. The film was directed and produced by Billy Wilder, who with Edwin Blum adapted the screenplay from the Broadway play of the same name. The play was written by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, based on their experiences as prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria.
Plot
In a German prisoner-of-war camp named Stalag 17, one of its compounds holds 630 American airmen (all of whom are sergeants) and is overseen by camp warden Oberst von Scherbach.
Awards
More details
author | Edwin Blum |
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award | Academy Award for Best Actor National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
contentLocation | Germany |
director | Billy Wilder |
editor | George Tomasini |
events | World War II |
keywords | beat berlin betray brew camp life capture chess christmas eve create distillery feldwebel gamble geneva convention german spy improvised informant latrine light bulb loop march oberst ping-pong balls red cross red cross parcel rich family schutzstaffel smoke bomb smuggle speaking german stalag table tennis time bomb war crime water tower when johnny comes marching home |
musicBy | Franz Waxman |
nomination | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
producer | Billy Wilder |
publisher | Paramount Pictures |
theme | war |