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The Colditz Story
''The Colditz Story'' is a 1955 British prisoner of war film starring John Mills and Eric Portman and directed by Guy Hamilton. It is based on the 1952 memoir written by Pat Reid, a British army officer who was imprisoned in Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle, in Germany during the Second World War and who was the Escape Officer for British POWs within the castle. Plot During World War II, the Germans transformed Colditz Castle into a high security prisoner-of-war camp called Oflag IV-C. Its purpose was to restrain those Allied prisoners who had attempted to escape from other Oflags and so Colditz housed various nationalities who were mainly British, Dutch, French and Polish. Among the British prisoners are Pat Reid and Senior British Officer Colonel Richmond. Richmond is warned by the Kommandant that "escaping is verboten" but Richmond has no intention of heeding this advice. All the prisoners are wary of Priem, the chief security officer, who is efficient and tenacious. Reid and othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guy Hamilton
Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, where his English parents were living, and attended school in England. His first exposure to the film industry came in 1938, when he was a clapperboard boy at the Victorine Studios in Nice. At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Hamilton escaped from France by the MV ''Saltersgate'', a collier bound for French North Africa; one of the other 500 refugees aboard was W. Somerset Maugham. Having travelled from Oran to Gibraltar before arriving in London, he worked in the film library at Paramount News before being commissioned in the Royal Navy; he served in the 15th Motor Torpedo Boat 718 Flotilla, a unit that ferried agents into France and brought downed British pilots back to England. During this service, he was left behind for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switzerland During The World Wars
During World War I and World War II, Switzerland maintained armed neutrality, and was not invaded by its neighbors, in part because of its topography, much of which is mountainous. Germany was a threat and Switzerland built a powerful defense. It served as a "protecting power" for the belligerents of both sides, with a special role in helping prisoners of war. The belligerent states made it the scene for diplomacy, espionage, and commerce, as well as being a safe haven for 300,000 refugees. World War I In ''The War in the Air'' - an apocalyptic prediction of the coming global conflict, published in 1908, six years before the actual outbreak of war - H.G. Wells assumed that Switzerland would join the coming war and fight on the side of Germany. Wells is known to have visited Switzerland in 1903, a visit which inspired his book ''A Modern Utopia'', and his assessment of Swiss inclinations might have been inspired by what he heard from Swiss people in that visit. Switzerland m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Duering
Gerald Percy Fox (29 May 1923 – 1 September 2018), better known as Carl Duering, was a German-born British actor whose best-known role is as Dr. Brodsky in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange (film), A Clockwork Orange''. He died in London in September 2018 at the age of 95. Selected filmography * ''Appointment in London'' (1953) - German Duty Officer (uncredited) * ''The Red Beret'' (1953) - Rossi * ''Twist of Fate (film), Twist of Fate'' (1954) - 2nd Sailor (uncredited) * ''The Divided Heart'' (1954) - Postman * ''The Colditz Story'' (1955) - German Officer * ''Let's Be Happy, Lets Be Happy'' (1957) - Customs Inspector * ''Seven Thunders (film), Seven Thunders'' (1957) - Major Grautner * ''Escapement (film), Escapement'' (1958) - Blore * ''Battle of the V-1'' (1958) - Scientist * ''The Great Van Robbery'' (1959) - Delgano * ''Strip Tease Murder'' (1961) - Rocco * ''The Guns of Navarone (film), The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) - German Radar Operator (uncredited) * ''Fate Take ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Faramus
Anthony Charles Faramus (27 July 1920 – August 1990) was an actor, author and hairdresser. He was born in Saint Peter, Jersey and died in Surrey. The autobiographical accounts of his survival of Fort de Romainville, Buchenwald and the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex were published as ''The Faramus Story'' in 1954 and ''Journey into Darkness'' in 1990. Two books about Agent Zigzag, the double agent Eddie Chapman, also document aspects of Faramus's 'ruse' to join the Nazis as a collaborator and a spy, his imprisonment in Jersey, Paris and the concentration camps. Arrest Faramus worked as a hairdresser in a Saint Helier salon and later, during the early stages of the German occupation of the Channel Islands, was employed in the kitchen of the Miramar Hotel. In the spring of 1940 he attempted to join the Royal Air Force but was not accepted. Faramus was also a petty criminal and in December 1940, at the age of 20, he received a 6-month prison sentence for obtai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Argent
Douglas George Charles Argent (21 May 1921 – 30 October 2010) was an English television producer and director. Born in Bexleyheath, Kent and raised in Ilford, Essex, Argent's parents ran an ironmongers shop. He served as a navigator during World War II with 84 Squadron, but his plane was shot down and he was held as a Japanese prisoner-of-war at Osaka's POCamp #4 Ikuno. Following a career as an actor, he had a small role in ''The Colditz Story'' (1955) and ''The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956), Argent became a floor manager, the assistant director with the BBC later gravitating to work as a director and producer. In this role he supervised early episodes of ''Till Death Us Do Part'' (1965). During the next decade, he was the producer of ''The Liver Birds'' during the period 1972 to 1976 and the final series of ''Steptoe and Son'' (1974). His last work for the BBC before his official retirement from the corporation was the second series of ''Fawlty Towers'' (1979). Sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Pyott
Keith Pyott (Blackheath, London, 9 March 1902 - 6 April 1968) was a British actor. He transferred from stage to screen and was a regular face in drama in the early days of television, appearing in '' Educated Evans'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Out of the Unknown'', '' The Avengers'' and the ''Doctor Who'' story ''The Aztecs''. He also appeared in over twenty feature films, including Orson Welles' ''Chimes at Midnight'' (1965). Pyott was married to the actress Sheila Raynor. Selected filmography * '' Call of the Blood'' (1948) - Dr. Sabatier * '' The Spider and the Fly'' (1949) - Father Pletsier * ''Distant Trumpet'' (1952) - Sir Rudolph Gettins * ''Time Bomb'' (1953) - Train District Supt. (uncredited) * '' Sea Devils'' (1953) - General Latour * '' The House of the Arrow'' (1953) - Gaston, the butler * ''A Day to Remember'' (1953) - Frenchman with Watches (uncredited) * ''John Wesley'' (1954) - Rev. Samuel Weslwy * '' Twist of Fate'' (1954) - Georges * ''The Colditz Story'' (1955) - ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guido Lorraine
Guido Lorraine (2 September 1912 – 31 December 2009) was a Polish-born actor, musician and singer, known primarily for his roles in war films. He was also sometimes known by the stage name Guy Borucki. Lorraine appeared in twenty-eight films during his career, as well as many theatre productions. Lorraine was born Gwidon Alfred Gottlieb in present-day Kraków, Poland in 1912. He studied at the School of Foreign Trade in Lwów (Lviv), where he sang in restaurants to earn money. He learned to play the accordion and piano as a child. Lorraine founded a military theatre group during World War II. He is credited as the first singer to perform the song, "Red Poppy Flowers of Monte Cassino", in public. He adopted the pseudonym Guy Borucki after World War II and moved to London. He appeared on BBC radio, television and film. His film credits during the era included ''Hotel Sahara'' in 1951, 1955's ''The Colditz Story'' and ''Blue Murder at St Trinian's'' in 1957. He also starred in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anton Diffring
Anton Diffring (born Alfred Pollack, 20 October 1916 – 19 May 1989) was a German-born character actor who had an extensive career in the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1980s, latterly appearing in international films. He appeared in over 50 features and was typically cast as a Nazi officer. Early life Diffring was born Alfred Pollack in Koblenz. His father, Solomon Pollack, was a Jewish shop-owner who managed to avoid internment and survived Nazi rule in Germany. His mother, Bertha Pollack (née Diffring), was Christian. He studied acting in Berlin and Vienna, but there is conjecture about when he left Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II. The audio commentary for the ''Doctor Who'' series ''Silver Nemesis'' mentions that he left in 1936 to escape persecution due to his homosexuality. Other accounts point to him leaving in 1939 and settling in Canada, where he was interned in 1940, which is unlikely as he appears in the Ealing Studios film ''Convoy'' (released ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugene Deckers
Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic lead, he specialized in "continental" character roles, playing many an obsequious concierge and imperious diplomat. As he grew older, Eugene Deckers expanded his characterization range to include Germans and Italians as well as Frenchmen. One of his biggest and best roles was as the arms dealer Peters in '' North West Frontier'' (1959). Deckers appeared in Sheldon Reynolds television series ''Foreign Intrigue'' in the early-1950s. In 1954–55, Deckers played at least seven different characters in the French-filmed Sheldon Reynolds television series ''Sherlock Holmes''. After appearing in over fifty film and television roles, Deckers made his final screen appearance in the 1969 film ''The Assassination Bureau''. While working as an acto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machiel Van Den Heuvel
Machiel van den Heuvel (7 May 1900, Haarlemmermeer – 29 June 1946, near Bandung) was a Dutch army officer. As a prisoner-of-war in Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle, Germany, during World War II, he served as Escape Officer for the Dutch POWs, a role also held by Captain Pat Reid, the author of ''The Colditz Story'', for the British. Van den Heuvel played a key role in most Dutch officer escapes (such as Hans Larive, Francis Steinmetz and Anthony Luteyn) during the war. POW Machiel ("Jim") van den Heuvel, known as "Vandy" by the British POW's, was a captain in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) who happened to be in the Netherlands at the outbreak of World War II in May 1940. After the Dutch capitulation he refused to give his word of honour not to harm German interests and was sent to a German POW camp. Here van den Heuvel was quickly appointed Escape Officer. Together with Lieutenant Gerrit Dames the two KNIL officers were a main factor for most Dutch escape successe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ''The Kidnappers'' (1953), ''The Enemy Below'' (1957), ''I Want to Live!'' (1958), ''My Fair Lady'' (1964), ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' (1966), and '' 200 Motels'' (1971). For his portrayal of Sheriff Max Muller in ''The Defiant Ones'' (1958), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He made his stage debut in ''Tevye the Milkman'' in Tel Aviv, Israel, when he was in his teens. He later studied acting at Britain's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made his London stage debut in 1948 and in New York in 1955. He was also a widely recognized and recorded folk singer and guitarist. In 1959, he co-founded the Newport Folk Festival, and created the role of Captain von Trapp opposite Mary Martin a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and "one of the most important figures in the British film industry".Batty DBryan Forbes, acclaimed film director, dies aged 86 ''The Guardian''. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013 He directed the film '' The Stepford Wives'' (1975) and wrote and/or directed several other critically acclaimed films, including '' Whistle Down the Wind'' (1961), ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964) and '' King Rat'' (1965). He also scripted several films directed by others, such as ''The League of Gentlemen'' (1960), ''The Angry Silence'' (1960) and ''Only Two Can Play'' (1962). Early life Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, London. His father was a salesman and he grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
