The Password Is Courage

Last updated

The Password is Courage
ThePasswordIsCourage poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew L. Stone
Screenplay byAndrew L. Stone
Based onThe Password is Courage
1954 novel
by John Castle (pseud.)
Produced byAndrew L. Stone
Starring Dirk Bogarde
Maria Perschy
Alfred Lynch
CinematographyDavis Boulton
Edited by Noreen Ackland
Music by Virginia L. Stone
Derek New
Christopher Stone
Tommy Riley
Production
company
Andrew L. Stone Productions
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • October 1962 (1962-10)(UK) [1]
  • 21 December 1962 (1962-12-21)(U.S.)
Running time
116 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Password Is Courage is a 1962 British comedy-drama war film written, produced, and directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Dirk Bogarde, Maria Perschy, and Alfred Lynch. [2] It was based on the 1954 World War II biography of the same name of Sergeant-Major Charles Coward by Ronald Payne and John Williams Garrod (written under the joint pseudonym John Castle). It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Contents

Plot

Sergeant-Major Charles Coward is a senior British NCO incarcerated in the prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-B. He encourages his fellow inmates to escape, and tries to humiliate the German guards at every opportunity.

When he is being transferred to Stalag VIII-B, the injured Coward escapes from a forced march, finding refuge in a French farmhouse and barn that is soon requisitioned by a German army unit setting up a field hospital. Believed to be a wounded German soldier, Coward is taken to a hospital, where his identity is discovered, but not before he is awarded the Iron Cross as he lies in his hospital bed.

Coward is sent on to Stalag VIII-B. On the way to the camp, he engineers the total destruction of an enemy ammunition train: He and his fellow prisoners toss flaming bundles of straw, set on fire with his cigarette lighter, into the passing rail cars.

At the camp, he and his fellow prisoner Bill Pope become involved in an elaborate escape plan. The Germans find a tunnel – but it is an old and abandoned one. Coward then attempts to deceive his camp commander and Luftwaffe officials, indicating that he has knowledge of a secret allied bomb sight. He receives special favours, which he uses to bribe the camp guards to get vital materials needed for the coming escape.

When his ruse is discovered, Coward and his friend Pope are transferred to a work camp in occupied Poland. The camp's commanding officer says Coward is a traitor, hoping his fellow prisoners will kill him. The Nazi scheme fails.

The prisoners trick the Unteroffizier , into thinking he was responsible for a devastating fire that Coward actually engineered. Using this, Coward extracts an extraordinary privilege: going to and from the neighboring town without an escort. He makes contact with an attractive Polish resistance agent, who provides him with maps and other information. He also joins his fellow prisoners in acts of sabotage, including wrecking a huge supply train. He and Pope are sent back to their old Stalag, smuggling the papers past the initial strip search inspection by pretending to be infested with lice.

The escape plan proceeds apace, with every detail accounted for, and the day comes for the 100 chosen men to escape. Coward is the one to break open the vertical access tunnel into a pine grove. He strikes thick tree roots delaying the escape. This leaves 20 men stuck in the tunnel and 180 in the hut. A guard is seen approaching. The men decide to cover up by singing, pretending a party is going on. The concertina player sacrifices his place in line and goes outside, pretending to be drunk. The guard takes him away, not unkindly.

Coward breaks through, but they are short of the woods. The men must run for the trees when the searchlight passes. At the train station. Irena suddenly appears and helps Coward get on the train for Vienna. Once there, they kiss and he promises to return after the war. She goes to buy his ticket, but Coward must surrender to guards in order to protect her. He finds several of his captured comrades, including Pope, waiting under guard in the station's office.

Coward and Pope are assigned to the IG Farben work camp, near the Belsen concentration camp, “whose name is now a symbol for the most bestial depravity in the entire history of mankind.”[ citation needed ] The war progresses and they eventually escape. While posing as workmen clearing rubble, they meet a jeep full of American G.I.s who tell them the front line is only a mile away, but there is a “road full of krauts” in their way. They steal a nearby abandoned fire engine and firemen uniforms and speed down the road, bell ringing. A German convoy on that road moves aside, and they drive off to freedom, singing “There is a Tavern in the Town”. A full chorus of men’s voices joins in the verse: “Adieu kind friends, adieu, adieu…”

Cast

Cast notes: Richard Marner appeared in the role of German officer Schmidt; he later played another German officer in the 1980s BBC comedy 'Allo 'Allo! .

Production

The recreation of German prisoner of war camps took place in the English countryside. Password is courage.jpg
The recreation of German prisoner of war camps took place in the English countryside.

Sergeant-Major Charles Coward served as technical advisor during the filming, Coward also has a cameo in the film during a party scene. The film is shot entirely in England; street scenes were filmed in the Chiltern market towns of Amersham and Chesham. [3]

Dirk Bogarde served with distinction during the war, and saw Bergen Belsen immediately after it was liberated.

The film raised some debate among ex-prisoners of war. There are no known survivors of any of Coward's escapes, and the National Ex-Prisoner of War Association (in its Autumn 2006 newsletter) suggested that some of the stories in his biography might have happened to other men in the camps, with some events "borrowed" for the book and for the film. [4]

In 2013, Shimon Peres, then president of Israel, disclosed that his father, Yitzchak Perski, who immigrated from Poland to Mandatory Palestine in 1932, had joined the British Army in 1939 and was captured by the Germans in Greece in 1941. Perski and Coward had been fellow prisoners, and Peres claimed that some episodes in the film were based on his father's exploits at that time. [5]

The original cinema version of The Password Is Courage contained a sequence set in Auschwitz concentration camp, illustrated by drawings. [6] This sequence has been cut from television broadcast prints, but a credit for the drawings remains listed in the film credits. [7] [N 1]

Reception

Box office

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962. [8]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Andrew Stone's adaptation has gleefully mined the wealth of narrative incident and humour in John Castle's biography. But that account of the wartime career of Charles Coward – for all its adventure story framework – had an element of severity in keeping with its subject, and its main character emerged as a man of genuinely heroic proportions. By concentrating on the lighthearted image of the British cockney – password courage, trademark humour – the film version, however, looks more like a Boy Scouts' charade: a frivolous tribute to a man who could trade in dynamite and dead bodies to evacuate live ones from Auschwitz. The script, in fact, skids over these intolerable passages in his experience by the appallingly inappropriate insertion of a series of eye-witness sketches, which serve only to remind one that there was a grimmer side to outwitting the Germans – and that they were not to be fooled by a suave twist of the Bogarde eyebrow and a cocksure grin. ... The most triumphant aspect of Andrew Stone's direction is his ability to inject a life of their own into inanimate objects – the leap of flame, the merriment of an exhaust-pipe bobbing across the screen as a tank charts its own destructive course, the fracturing ribs of an escape tunnel, the splendid pile-up of a disintegrating goods train. But apart from Alfred Lynch's gay, affectionate Billy, the human element is cast in a farcical mould, and the action veers uncomfortably between the conventions of dramatic suspense and near-slapstick comedy – with a perfunctory and fictional dash of romance for makeweight. War is no lark, and only a Renoir can take care of its incidental jokes without obscuring the fact." [9]

Variety noted: "Andrew L. Stone’s screenplay, based on a biog of Sergeant-Major Charles Coward by John Castle, has pumped into its untidy 116 minutes an overdose of slapstick humour. Result is that what could have been a telling tribute to a character of guts and initiative, the kind that every war produces, lacks conviction". [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Hogans Heroes</i> American comedy television series (1965–1971)

Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, which concerns a group of Allied prisoners who use the POW camp as an operations base for sabotage and espionage purposes directed against Nazi Germany. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast run for an American television series inspired by World War II.

<i>Stalag 17</i> 1953 film by Billy Wilder

Stalag 17 is a 1953 American war film directed by Billy Wilder. It tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 sergeants representing many different aircrew positions, but the film focuses on one particular barracks, where the men come to suspect that one of their number is an informant. The film was directed and produced by Billy Wilder, who with Edwin Blum adapted the screenplay from the Broadway play of the same name. The play was written by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski on the basis of their experiences as prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria.

<i>The Great Escape</i> (film) 1963 American war film

The Great Escape is a 1963 American epic war suspense adventure film starring Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough and featuring James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton and Angus Lennie. It was filmed in Panavision, and its musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stalag Luft III</span> World War II Luftwaffe-run prisoner of war camp

Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel.

Lieutenant Albert Michael Sinclair, DSO, known as the Red Fox, was a British prisoner at Colditz Castle during World War II. He was involved in a number of escape attempts and was recognised within the camp for his determination to escape. Sinclair was the only person to be killed while attempting to escape Colditz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stalag XX-A</span>

Stalag XX-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Toruń in German-occupied Poland. It was not a single camp and contained as many as 20,000 men at its peak. The main camp was located in seven forts of the 19th-century Toruń Fortress, located in the southern part of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stalags XI-B, XI-D, and 357</span> WW2-era German PoW camps

Stalag XI-B and Stalag XI-D / 357 were two German World War II prisoner-of-war camps (Stammlager) located just to the east of the town of Fallingbostel in Lower Saxony, in north-western Germany. The camps housed Polish, French, Belgian, Soviet, Italian, British, Yugoslav, American, Canadian, New Zealander and other Allied POWs.

Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell was a South African RAF aviator. He masterminded the "Great Escape" from Stalag Luft III in 1944, but was one of the 50 escapees to be recaptured and subsequently murdered by the Gestapo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Coward</span> British POW who saved over 400 Jews from Auschwitz

Charles Joseph Coward, known as the "Count of Auschwitz", was a British soldier captured during the Second World War who rescued Jews from Auschwitz and claimed he had smuggled himself into the camp for one night, subsequently testifying about his experience at the IG Farben Trial at Nuremberg. He also smuggled at least several hundred Jewish prisoners out of concentration camps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oflag IV-C</span> German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II in Colditz, Saxony

Oflag IV-C, often referred to by its location at Colditz Castle, overlooking Colditz, Saxony, was one of the most noted German Army prisoner-of-war camps for captured enemy officers during World War II; Oflag is a shortening of Offizierslager, meaning "officers' camp".

<i>Prisoner of War</i> (video game) 2002 video game

Prisoner of War is a 2002 third-person stealth video game developed by Wide Games and published by Codemasters. It follows the story of Captain Lewis Stone, a downed American pilot who must escape numerous prisoner of war camps and return home.

Clarke Wallace Chant Floody, was a Canadian fighter pilot and prisoner of war in the Second World War. He was instrumental in organizing and implementing the "Great Escape" from the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Day</span> Royal Marine & RAF officer (1898-1977)

Harry Melville Arbuthnot Day, was a Royal Marine and later a Royal Air Force pilot during the Second World War. As a prisoner of war, he was senior British officer in a number of camps and a noted escapee.

Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town of Barth from Allied bombing. About 9,000 airmen – 7,588 American and 1,351 British and Canadian – were imprisoned there when it was liberated on the night of 30 April 1945 by Soviet troops.

James Alexander Graham "Dixie" Deans MBE was a Royal Air Force sergeant and Second World War bomber pilot shot down in 1940 who became a renowned prisoner of war (POW) camp leader. Deans spoke perfect German and when captured commanded his fellow POWs as the elected camp leader, gaining the respect and trust of both prisoners and German captors alike. In 1945, he guided 2,000 Allied POWs across Europe in what was known as the 'Long March'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Grimson</span>

George Grimson was a bomber crewman serving in RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. He was shot down, captured and subsequently imprisoned in a succession of prisoner of war camps in Germany before escaping and forming a network which assisted fellow escapers. Grimson remained on the run in the Third Reich, hunted by the Gestapo, but eventually disappeared probably having been captured and murdered by the SS in or after mid-April 1944 in the Danzig area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Bruce</span> British RAF officer

Dominic Bruce, was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He made seventeen attempts at escaping from POW camps, including several attempts to escape from Colditz Castle, a castle that housed prisoners of war "deemed incorrigible".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank McLardy</span> English Nazi collaborator

George Frank McLardy MPS was a member of the British Union of Fascists, a British Nazi collaborator and an Unterscharführer in the Waffen-SS British Free Corps during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Keddie</span>

James Keddie DFM was a British Lancaster bomb aimer who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944 and was one of the men captured inside the tunnel after the escape was discovered.

References

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Why the sequence has been cut is unknown. Suggested explanations include that the events described did not happen, that the sequence is inappropriate in an otherwise broad comedy, and that a shorter run time for television syndication required the removal of this self-standing sub-plot.

Citations

  1. ↑ Johnston, Trevor. "Review: 'The Password Is Courage'." Time Out London , 21 January 2014. Retrieved: 9 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Password Is Courage". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  3. ↑ Tanitch 1988, pp. 110–111.
  4. ↑ Allan, Les. "Charlie Coward." Archived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Newsletter, Autumn 2006. Retrieved: 22 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Peres, Shimon. הסיפור המדהים של אבא שלי ("The astonishing tale about my father"). Yediot Aharonot , 27 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Morley 2000, p. 100.
  7. ↑ Castle 2002, p. 178.
  8. ↑ Billings, Josh (13 December 1962). "Three British Films Head the General Releases". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  9. ↑ "The Password Is Courage". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 29 (336): 168. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ "Review: The Password Is Courage." Variety, 31 December 1961.

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.