The One That Got Away (film)
7.4 /10 1 Votes
Director Roy Ward Baker Initial DVD release May 13, 2008 Duration Country United Kingdom | 7.2/10 IMDb Genre Adventure, Drama, War Music director Hubert Clifford Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer James Leasor , Howard Clewes Release date 1957 Cast Hardy Krüger (Franz von Werra), Colin Gordon (Army Interrogator), Michael Goodliffe (R.A.F. Interrogator), Terence Alexander (R.A.F. Intelligence Officer), Jack Gwillim (Commandant, Grizedale)Similar movies Pépé le Moko , The Seventh Cross , Time Limit , The Bamboo House of Dolls , Desperate Measures , Floods of Fear | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The one that got away 1996 1 7
Franz von Werra (Hardy Kruger) is a Luftwaffe pilot by trade, but an escape artist by necessity. When his plane is attacked over England, he initiates his first effort to break out of the POW camp only days after arriving. Transferred to a second, more secure facility, Franz nevertheless manages to tunnel out and very nearly steals an airplane before being recaptured. This time the Allies send him to be imprisoned in Canada, but he steadfastly insists that no cell will hold him.
Contents
The One That Got Away is a 1957 Second World War film starring Hardy Kruger and featuring Michael Goodliffe, Jack Gwillim and Alec McCowen. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker with a screenplay written by Howard Clewes. The One That Got Away was based on the 1956 book of the same name by Kendal Burt and James Leasor.
The film chronicles the true exploits of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot shot down over Britain in 1940. He initially tried to escape from England, but was later successful during transfer to a Canadian POW camp.
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only german prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
Plot
Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz von Werra (Hardy Kruger) is shot down during the Battle of Britain and captured. He wagers with his RAF interrogator (Michael Goodliffe) at the POW reception centre, Air Defence Intelligence, Cockfosters, near Barnet in Hertfordshire, that he will escape within six months.
Initially, von Werra is sent to No 1 prisoner of war (POW) camp Grizedale Hall in the Furness area of Lancashire. His first escape attempt results in his recapture after an intense manhunt.
Subsequently, von Werra is sent to a more secure POW camp (based on the Hayes Conference Centre) near Swanwick, Derbyshire. He and four others escape through a tunnel. The others pair up, but von Werra continues alone. Reaching Codnor Park railway station, he impersonates a Dutch pilot and claims his Wellington bomber had crashed while on a secret mission. He telephones the nearest airfield, RAF Hucknall, and tricks the duty officer into sending a car. When his story starts to fray, von Werra creeps away and tries to steal an experimental Hawker Hurricane, only to be caught at the last moment.
Along with many other POWs, von Werra is sent by ship to Canada. On the train ride across the country, while the guards are distracted, he escapes near Smiths Falls, Ontario, by jumping from a window. Making his way south, von Werra crosses the nearly frozen St Lawrence River in a stolen rowboat and reaches Ogdensburg, New York, in the then still-neutral United States to claim asylum. The RAF interrogator receives a postcard from von Werra featuring a photograph of the Statue of Liberty, informing him that he has lost his bet.
The epilogue states:
Despite the efforts of the Canadian Government to obtain his return, and of the United States Authorities to hold him, von Werra crossed the border into Mexico. Travelling by way of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Spain, he reached Berlin on 18 April 1941.
On 25 October of the same year, while on patrol, his plane was seen to dive into the sea. No trace of von Werra was found.
Production
Kenneth More says he was approached to play the lead role but turned it down as he had just played another real-life POW, Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky (1956).
A Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Hawker Hurricane were featured in the production. As of 2014, the Hawker Hurricane IIc (serial number LF363) is still in existence, flying with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Reception
The One That Got Away was generally well received by audiences and critics; Howard H. Thompson of The New York Times noted its "... restrained, well-knit scenario."
References
The One That Got Away (film) WikipediaThe One That Got Away (film) IMDb The One That Got Away (film) themoviedb.org