The Great Escape

Altogether now:
Dum, dum, dum, derrr-der dum dum dum...
(seriously though, what brilliant music!)

OK, so who can miss out on the chance to see this movie on the big screen during its rightful place (supposedly) of Christmas-time? Not me.

Achtung! Raus! Raus!
Well, look, it's actually quite hard to review a film like this, when you've seen it so many times before, though it's interesting to speculate on how many times one has actually seen the film right through from start to finish - as I recall, I was more likely to come across the film part-way through its three hour running time on telly. And it's also a joy to be in on the reaction of the small number in the cinema audience who haven't seen the film before (or have very poor memory) when it comes to key scenes: to hear someone gasping out loud at Gordon Jackson's reaction to the "Good luck" line was a reminder of the power of some of the scenes. And of course it's quite a bleak film in some ways - there was a wee nipper in front of me (maybe about 10 years old?) who was a bit shocked that practically everyone got caught, and most of them then got shot, to judge by his questions to Daddy after the movie had ended. Can't help but think that Hollywood would baulk at that ending now.

It's a film that takes its time, but that does help build the overall tension, though I couldn't help but feel that everything was a bit "Allo, Allo" at the start, with the Nazi soldiers uniformly being harmless buffoons. I mean, no-one - but no-one - gets beaten up, ever, in the camp! I know there's an attempt to contrast the brutality of the SS and Gestapo with the more gentlemanly approach taken by the Luftwaffe, but this is surely stretching things a bit. I can almost hear the cast of The Bridge Over the River Kwai shouting "Luxury! Bloody luxury!!" (Entirely pointless aside: a schoolfirend of mine's Dad was actually one of the men forced to build that bridge - apparently every time he watched the film he would start shouting and swearing at Alec Guiness for blowing up his handiwork! Madness, eh?)

Hande hoch, Schweinhund!
So, a score for a fabulous movie like this one - is there even any point? Well, clearly it's a five star movie. Let's knock a star off for over-familiarity. But then let's add one back for the big-screen experience. Result: 5/5. Honour is restored.

For you, Englander, the war is over
How's the maths? Well, oddly enough, once again we have a lesson in the essential importance of accurate measurement - this time, 50 feet rather than 60m (see Nordwand below). A lot of work on volume, too, what with all these tunnels.

But if you want some questions based on the film:

1. 3 out of 76 actually escaped - express this as a percentage.
2. Originally the plan was for 250 to escape. Using your answer from 1, work out how many would have escaped, assuming the probability of escaping is constant, had all 250 got out of the tunnel.
   
3. 50 out of 73 recaptured were executed - express this as a percentage, then pause to reflect on the fact that the figure of 50 dead is utterly genuine.

Too bleak? OK, on a lighter note, and in honour of stiff-upper-lipped humour in the face of adversity, a bonus question:

In the movie, James Coburn (American actor) plays an Australian pilot. It's not unfair to say that Mr Coburn's accent wanders around a fair bit throughout the movie, all the while managing to sound almost entirely, but not exactly, unlike Dannii Minogue. So, first plot all the countries visited by Mr Coburn's vocal talents on a map. Now: how many colours are required to make the map look nice? (Note: this is an example of the famous Crap Accent Colouring Problem, first solved by a ZX Spectrum in 1984.)