The Great Escape

[salad]

This is not really bushcrafty but I am guessing there is some interest on here for both the original story and the movie .
I know that anyone my age would have sat down and watched this Film every christmas day as I seem to remember it always being on then .

The town I am living in here is the place where 95% of the last hour or so of the film was filmed from the bike chase to the french cafe scene to the chase over the rooftops to the rowing boat down the river and where the 50 were murdered at the end . My work canteen over looks the train station where one scean was filmed .

Anyways the local museum is running a great escape movie exhibit until the middle of January to celebrate 50 years since the film was made . I took a walk round to have a look today and got a few photos for ye all to see.
The costumes and props are all the actual ones used in the film .

If any one is interested then I can go round an take photos of what some of the filming locations look like now on my next day off , just let me know .

I totally love this film so it was great to walk around the exhibit today

 

[weekender]

Love that film. Is that the actual motorbike??

 

[John Fenna]

A great film!
To be in danger of quoting another film - "I want those clothes, those boots, and that motorcycle"

 

[Goatboy]

Ohh big nerd that I am lined up 'fore and now pics would be interesting. It is a great film.

 

[wingstoo]

The film was "Based" on the event (and very loosely at that), there was no motorbike jumping over fences and there was no "Cooler king" nor field where 50 prisoners were murdered, when the Moonless night really happened.

Having met Bertram A James who was one of the "lucky" ones who survived there is a lot of "Hollywood" attached to the film...

 

[salad]

Love that film. Is that the actual motorbike??

I think it is the props all come from Bavaria studios

A great film!
To be in danger of quoting another film - "I want those clothes, those boots, and that motorcycle"

I would love to have a go on that bike too, the jump site in the film is about 150 metres from the first place I lived over here

Ohh big nerd that I am lined up 'fore and now pics would be interesting. It is a great film.

Will get something sorted for you

The film was "Based" on the event (and very loosely at that), there was no motorbike jumping over fences and there was no "Cooler king" nor field where 50 prisoners were murdered, when the Moonless night really happened.

Having met Bertram A James who was one of the "lucky" ones who survived there is a lot of "Hollywood" attached to the film...

Yes there was a lot of Hollywood attached to the film but the actual prison camp you see in the film was a pretty exact replica of the original and the tunnels where built true to how they were done in the real story .
After the war the SS officers that carried out the murders of the 50 where hunted by investigators then brought to trial and hung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III_murders

 

[wingstoo]

One of the main things that the film got wrong was that no American aircrew were in the Great escape...

 

[wingstoo]

I think it is the props all come from Bavaria studios



I would love to have a go on that bike too, the jump site in the film is about 150 metres from the first place I lived over here



Will get something sorted for you



Yes there was a lot of Hollywood attached to the film but the actual prison camp you see in the film was a pretty exact replica of the original and the tunnels where built true to how they were done in the real story .
After the war the SS officers that carried out the murders of the 50 where hunted by investigators then brought to trial and hung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III_murders

The bike used in the film was also a British bike, the German one wasn't able to make the jump.

The compound model was used to make a replica compound, the actually camp was massive and contained over 10,000 allied aircrew, initially most of these were Officers, though later on other ranks were put in.

It was an amazing true story, and apparently the Officers of the respective air forces were the biggest bunch of crooks around, have a look for the inventory taken after the escape to see what they "acquired"...

 

[salad]

One of the main things that the film got wrong was that no American aircrew were in the Great escape...

Your right, they did help build the tunnel but they all got moved to another camp before the escape , I remember that from a documentary I watch sometime ago.

They where all very brave men in very hard times

 

[salad]

The bike used in the film was also a British bike, the German one wasn't able to make the jump.

The compound model was used to make a replica compound, the actually camp was massive and contained over 10,000 allied aircrew, initially most of these were Officers, though later on other ranks were put in.

It was an amazing true story, and apparently the Officers of the respective air forces were the biggest bunch of crooks around, have a look for the inventory taken after the escape to see what they "acquired"...

Did you know that the German motorcyclist who was chasing steve McQueen was also played by Steve McQueen , he played both parts thats why there are two costumes for steve McQueen in the photo above

 

[wingstoo]

Well it is every Officers duty to try and escape...Being hell bent on escaping certainly helped, though it wasn't necessarily as bad as some think it was being a POW in Stallag Luft III, they had some of the best facilities around and many got degrees by using their time to get an education. They also had a theatre and put on shows, Gymnasiums and a lot of other things to do.

 

[wingstoo]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/trivia

Loads of interesting trivia

 

[salad]

Well it is every Officers duty to try and escape...Being hell bent on escaping certainly helped, though it wasn't necessarily as bad as some think it was being a POW in Stallag Luft III, they had some of the best facilities around and many got degrees by using their time to get an education. They also had a theatre and put on shows, Gymnasiums and a lot of other things to do.

That makes it sound like modern British prisons

 

[wingstoo]

That makes it sound like modern British prisons

I was going to add that, but thought better of it

 

[Macaroon]

The next time they broadcast that movie he's gonna make the jump - fifty years practice should be enough for anybody to get that right off pat!

 

[wingstoo]

After 50 years you would have thought the Germans would be waiting at the top of the tunnel...

 

[BlueTrain]

My father was a POW in Germany in WWII, held for nearly a year at Stalag VII-A near Mossburg, Bavaria, ironically, not that far from where I was when I was stationed in Germany in Augsburg. My son was also stationed in Germany, too, and this morning at 9:26, my daughter arrived in Germany for two years. Anyway, I don't think my father ever saw that movie but it would have been interesting to hear what he thought of it. He was sent to work on a farm when he was there and his comments about the locals were very interesting (he was very sympathetic). An interesting thing about the prison camp was that Americans were only a small minority held prisoner there and that some of the prisoners were French and British who had been captured in 1940 when the war began in the West. They spent virtually the whole war in a POW camp.

 

[salad]

My father was a POW in Germany in WWII, held for nearly a year at Stalag VII-A near Mossburg, Bavaria, ironically, not that far from where I was when I was stationed in Germany in Augsburg. My son was also stationed in Germany, too, and this morning at 9:26, my daughter arrived in Germany for two years. Anyway, I don't think my father ever saw that movie but it would have been interesting to hear what he thought of it. He was sent to work on a farm when he was there and his comments about the locals were very interesting (he was very sympathetic). An interesting thing about the prison camp was that Americans were only a small minority held prisoner there and that some of the prisoners were French and British who had been captured in 1940 when the war began in the West. They spent virtually the whole war in a POW camp.

Hi Thanks for that, it would have been interesting to hear what he thought of the movie .
I am English but married a german Girl , I live in the south of Bavaria . I guess we probably both have visited a lot of the same places here

 

[BlueTrain]

I did make one visit to Garmish, so I may have passed close to where you live now.

I read an account of German soldiers who had been POWs in the United States. Their comments about their captivity was very similiar to things my father said about his time there. I am afraid that many soldiers on both sides did not exactly have a lot of enthusiasm for the war. My father was drafted when he was 28. I was 19 when I went in the army.

 

[TinkyPete]

awesome, pics brings back memories, When I was based in Germany me and my mates did lads of visiting famous sites and places from the second world war