1. Kudos to you, television version of M*A*S*H, for ripping off so many elements of this movie, from the homemade distillery to the sailboat races in the cesspool.
2. There was a character in the movie named Harry Shapiro, who I'm guessing from his name and his manner was supposed to be Jewish. Shapiro had his dog tags on him.
At The Museum of Jewish Heritage, at a fantastic exhibit about Jews in WWII, I learned that many Jewish soldiers ditched their dog tags upon being captured by the Germans. Dog tags list each soldier's religion, and Germans didn't like the Jews so much.
3. I absolutely fell in love with this movie. I instantly ranked it in my top 5 Billy Wilders.
4. Stalag-17 is a drama with comedic elements.
5. It supposedly inspired the screwball comedy sitcom Hogan's Heroes, which I never watched.
6. Stalag-17 refers to the German POW camp where the movie takes place.
7. William Holden plays a wheeling-and-dealing loner who arouses the suspicions of his barracks-mates when it appears there is a stool pigeon in their ranks.
8. Billy Wilder's mother, along with other relatives, died in a German concentration camp.
9. Hoping to make a profit in the German market, Paramount wanted to release an alternate version there where the action would take place in Poland, not Germany, with the Poles as the enemy.
10. Not only did Wilder refuse, he severed ties with Paramount shortly thereafter.
11. William Holden looked much better with a crew cut than he did with dyed blonde hair in Sabrina.
12. You know, I'm starting to wish the movie was called Stalag-8, because I'm running out of things to write.
13. Yeah, that's it.
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1 comment:
Nice try with the 17 points.
BTW, as a child I LOVED Hogan's Heroes. I tried watching it on some obscure cable channel not long ago and found it completely distasteful. I am so ashamed.
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