Stalag 17

Wilder’s a great plotter of intriguing (and funny) situations, but a lot of the time when he attempts certain kinds of humor it does nothing for me.  I believe that Stalag 17 would be a much better movie without the Harry and Animal characters.  These two are constantly mugging and wisecracking and buffooning their way around the picture in a manner that simply doesn’t work.  Some of the lines from the other guys were real duds, too, but at least William Holden always manages to shine.  I really enjoyed the suspenseful aspects of this movie.  The comedy… not so much.  Rating: 7

IMDb