Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1963)

MAN'S RESOLVE FDR FREEDOM (Continued from Page 7) if they lost, Hitler was going to shoot you anyway, just to even the score, c) You could get enough food to fill your bellies again. Just once. "So we spent a lot of time trying to escape. It is a melancholy fact that escape is much harder in real life than in the movies, where only the heavy and the second lead are killed. This time, after huge success, death came to some heroes. Later on, it caught up with some villians. "You learn to escape the hard way. It took us three years to become proficient-from the first primitive tunnels to the deep, long ones with underground railways, workshops and air pumps, forgery and compass factories, and so on. Above all we learned how to 'destroy' sand and to hide everything in our little compound from the Germans constantly searching us. "The British had a start on the Americans because they were there first. Then the Yanks joined us and took to the escape business like ducks to water. "One got used to living in a microscopic world where life lay in working patiently for that brooding genius, 'Big X'. I suppose it is romantic now. It wasn't then. Life was too real, grim and earnest." Sturges has given "The Great Escape" a gloss of adventure, of high-spirited derring-do, and plenty of humor, but beneath those surface qualities is the basic reality, the grimness, the earnestness of the gallant men involved in the escape plot. Realizing that the true story, as it stood, was superior to anything the most inspired script writers could concoct, Sturges, who was responsible for "The Magnificent Seven", "Sargeants Three" and others, let Brickhill's novel speak for itself. Dramatic necessity dictated that some of the film's characters be composites of several of the actual participants of the historic escape, but only the existence of the Iron Curtain prevented him from filming on the actual site of Stalag Luft III. Instead, an area near Munich was chosen and a replica of the prison camp built which Wallace Floody, a principal in the real story and technical advisor for the film, described as making him feel "uncomfortably at home." Authenticity of locale was matched by authenticity of casting. A number of the performers have had Air Force experience, some have been prisoners of war. All are top rank actors. "I knew," says Sturges, "that I had a great story, rich in human elements, in suspense, even in wry humor. My job was to tell that story truly and faithfully, retaining all the elements which made it such a vivid true story. Also to cast it with men, American, British and German, whose acting would best make it come to life." This he did, choosing such American talent as Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and James Coburn; British stars Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum, John Leyton, and Germans Hannes Messemer, Robert Graf, Harry Riebauer, Robert Frietag, Heinz Weiss and Hans Reiser. John Sturges, in San Francisco to promote "The Great Escape", talks with Oregon Journal (Portland) newsman Arnold Marks and Mrs. Marks, while Jeff Livingston, Mirisch Co. rice president (center) listen. Bronson, cast as a tunnel expert was a coal miner in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields before turning to acting. Of Bronson's scenes in the tunnel, especially when he is trapped by a cave-in, Sturges said, "(He) was more or less on his own. I wouldn't presume to advise him on something he's lived with." McQueen, whose daring dash for freedom on a stolen motorcycle is one of the action highlights of the film, is an expert cyclist and auto racer. Filmed in color and Panavision, "The Great Escape" goes into July release backed by a solid promotion campaign which has already commenced with personal appearances by director Sturges, technical advisor Wally Floody and the film's stars. Special screenings for veterans' groups and other associations will form a major part of the campaign. A special television campaign, a national 24sheet campaign and generous newspaper and other ads will usher in premiere engagements of this important UA release. Page 8 Film BULLETIN June 10, 1963