Stalag 17 (Special Collector's Edition)
by Billy Wilder
List Price:
Our Price: $11.74
You Save: $1.25 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Don Taylor, Harvey Lembeck, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, William HoldenDirector: Billy Wilder
Brand: HOLDEN,WILLIAM
Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo
Producer: Billy Wilder
Writer: Billy Wilder
Producer: William Schorr
Writer: Donald Bevan
Writer: Edmund Trzcinski
Writer: Edwin Blum
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; German (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Stalag 17 (Special Collector's Edition)
DVD Review: Stalag 17 (Special Collector's Edition)
Summary: 5 Stars
"Did they beat you?" asked the Red Cross Man.
"I was playing Pinochle," Sefton replied. "It's a rough game."
ESSENTIAL MOVIE!!! Stalag 17 stars William Holden & is directed by the great Billy Wilder (nominated for Best Director), who also produced & co-wrote the script. Nominated for three Academy Awards & winner of one, Stalag 17 tells the gripping story of a P.O.W. camp during late WWII. Though a drama, Stalag 17 offers many comedic moments that out does many so called comedies.
Sefton (William Holden, winner of the Best Actor Academy Award) is a hustler extraordinaire, trading with the Germans for special favors. He's one of the most unpopular men (& a very unsympathetic character, no less) in Stalag 17. Everything has an angle & the bottom line is his profit. This so rules his life that only Cookie (Gil Stratton) will tolerate him. Cookie is Sefton's assistant & lackey in his profit making schemes.
Stalag 17 is full of dynamic characters. Col. Von Scherbach (Otto Preminger) is the camp kommandant, ruthless & uncaring. His scenes are some of the highlights of the movie. His acting (remember, he was really a director) is so over the top that they become quite humorous. The scene where he is addressing the prisoners in the compound is classic, he eases his coat open with his arms, places his arms on his hips, all the while condescending. The scene where he calls his superiors in Berlin is classi, also. He's in full uniform except for his boots, pacing in white socks, finally, he sits, his servant assists him in putting on his jack-boots, he places the call to Berlin, clicks his heels together multiple times during the call, then when the call is completed Von Scherbach has his servant remove the boots. Classic Billy Wilder!
The show stealer is Animal (Robert Strauss, nominated for Best Supporting Actor), a not-too-bright sergeant who's not very good looking either. He has a crush on Betty Grable that figures prominently in a scene later in the movie. Harry Shapiro (Harvey Lembeck) is his buddy, their scenes are some of the funniest in the movie. Near the end, when the Betty Grable angle comes in, has Animal & Shapiro dancing together (along with all the other men in the barracks), Animal is confessing his love to Shapiro, who Animal thinks is Grable. This was a very daring scene for 1950, a scene that Hollywood censors did not want in the movie.
Hoffy (Richard Erdman) is the barracks chief for the Americans. Erdman had done mostly comedies up to this point in his career, this is a rare "straight" role for him.
The story is basically this: Sefton is the hustler & trades too much with the Germans, the P.O.W.s don't like him. An escape attempt is made by two Americans & they are shot outside the compound. There's a stoolie in the barracks but no one knows who, since Sefton is so despicable he's the one that gets blamed. Of course they're wrong. In one of Hollywood's best scenes of retribution Sefton comes out on top & becomes a hero, albeit an unsavory one.
The film has Neville Brand (Duke), Don Taylor (Lt. Dunbar), Peter Graves (Price, a pivotal role) & Sig Rugman as Sgt. Schulz (might have been Rugman's best role). If some of this sounds familiar it's very possible, the television sitcom, Hogan's Heroes, was based on this movie.
The film is beautifully restored & there are bonus features; "Stalag 17: From Reality to Screen" & "The Real Heroes of Stalag XVIIB". The latter has interviews with veterans that had been imprisoned at Stalag 17. It's a very moving featurette. There's also a commentary soundtrack in the film, photo gallery * movie trailer. This is one of Hollywood's greatest efforts.
Description of Stalag 17 (Special Collector's Edition)
Two worthy Academy AwardŽ nominees from 1950's Sunset Boulevard ? actor William Holden and director Billy Wilder ? reteamed three years later for the gripping World War II drama, Stalag 17. The result was another Best Director nomination for Wilder (his fourth), and the elusive Best Actor OscarŽ for Holden. Holden portrays the jaded, scheming Sergeant J.J. Sefton, a prisoner at the notorious German prison camp, who spends his days dreaming up rackets and trading with the Germans for special privileges. But when two prisoners are killed in an escape attempt, it becomes obvious that there is a spy among the prisoners. Is it Sefton? Famed producer/director Otto Preminger tackles a rare acting role as the camp's commandant; actor Robert Strauss won a Supporting Actor nomination for his role as "Animal." Here's Wilder's powerful, acclaimed film classic -- now packed with never-before-seen special features, including audio commentary and "behind-the-scenes" featurettes.Black comedy and suspenseful action inside a German POW camp during World War II--a setting that was later borrowed for the TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. The great director Billy Wilder adapted the hit stage play, applying his own wicked sense of humor to the apparently bleak subject matter. William Holden plays an antisocial grouse amid a gang of wisecracking though indomitable American prisoners. Because of his bitter cynicism, Holden is suspected by the others of being an informer to the Germans, an accusation he must deal with in his own crafty way. Holden, who had delivered a brilliant performance for Wilder in Sunset Boulevard, won the 1953 Best Actor Oscar for Stalag 17. Very much his equal, however, is Otto Preminger, an accomplished director himself, who plays the strict, sneering camp commandant. --Robert Horton
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Guns of NavaronePECK,GREGORY; Release date: 2000-05-23; DVD
Best price: $10.28
Price in other shops:
Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition)Fox; Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $10.17
Price in other shops:
The Longest Day (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)TCFHE; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Sergeant York (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-11-07; DVD
Best price: $7.12
Price in other shops:
The Bridge on the River KwaiSony; Release date: 2000-11-21; DVD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Von Ryan's ExpressFox; Release date: 2001-05-15; DVD
Best price: $7.16
Price in other shops:
Thirty Seconds Over TokyoWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $5.57
Price in other shops:
The Dirty DozenWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-01-16; DVD
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Mister Roberts (Keep Case Packaging)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-09-19; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
The Great EscapeSony; Release date: 1998-03-31; DVD
Best price: $5.55
Price in other shops: