The Colditz Story


2:55 pm - 4:55 pm, Today on Film4 (14)

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About this Broadcast

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A medieval castle in Germany is turned into a PoW camp during the Second World War, and used to house the most rebellious Allied prisoners, all of whom have made repeated escape attempts. Although breaking out is supposedly impossible, the determined inmates refuse to be beaten and continue their bid for freedom. Second World War drama, starring John Mills and Eric Portman


1954 HD subtitles audio-description
Movie/Drama Prison Drama War

Cast & Crew

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John Mills (Actor) .. Pat Reid
Eric Portman (Actor) .. Col Richmond
Lionel Jeffries (Actor) .. Harry
Bryan Forbes (Actor) .. Jimmy
Ian Carmichael (Actor) .. Robin
Anton Diffring (Actor) .. Fischer
Richard Wattis (Actor) .. Richard
David Yates (Actor) .. Dick
Frederick Falk (Actor) .. Kommandant
Christopher Rhodes (Actor) .. Mac McGill
Guy Hamilton (Director)

More Information

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Did You Know..

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John Mills (Actor) .. Pat Reid
Born: February 22, 1908 in Norfolk
Best Known For: A distinguished film and TV career.
Early-life: Born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills at the Watts Naval School in North Elmham, Norfolk on February 22, 1908. His father was a teacher and his mother worked as a theatre box-office manager. John trained as a dancer in London at Zelia Raye's Dancing School and began appearing as a chorus boy in revues on the London stage.
Career: Mills made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932) and went on to appear in a number of films, including Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939), before he enlisted in the Royal Engineers at the start of the Second World War. His war was cut short in 1942 by a stomach ulcer. He quickly returned to acting and went on to star in a number of acclaimed films in a career that spanned 70 years. Notable works included Great Expectations (1946), Scott of the Antarctic (1948), The Colditz Story (1954), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Tunes of Glory (1960), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Young Winston (1972), Gandhi (1982) and Hamlet (1996). Among his roles on TV, he starred in Quatermass, Young at Heart, A Woman of Substance and Martin Chuzzlewit. He also appeared in a number of productions on Broadway. He was knighted in 1976. He died on April 23, 2005, at the age of 97.
Quote: "One of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was to be born with a desperate desire to become an actor."
Trivia: Father of actors Juliet and Haley Mills. Won an Academy Award for Ryan's Daughter. He portrayed a military character, usually an officer, in a number of films.
Eric Portman (Actor) .. Col Richmond
Lionel Jeffries (Actor) .. Harry
Bryan Forbes (Actor) .. Jimmy
Born: July 22, 1927 in London
Best Known For: Being part of the British movie scene in the 1960s and 1970s.
Early-life: Born John Theobald Clarke in London on July 22, 1927, he lived in West Ham until he was evacuated during the Second World War - first to Lincolnshire and then to Cornwall. Early success came when he became the question master of BBC radio series Juniors Brains Trust. It was for this series that he changed his name to Bryan Forbes. He went on to train as an actor at Rada before he was called-up to the army in 1943. After initial training, he joined the Army Theatre Unit.
Career: Upon leaving the army in 1948, Forbes quickly landed a leading role in The Gathering Storm at St Martin's Theatre. He went on to play a number of supporting roles in films, including An Inspector Calls (1954) and The Colditz Story (1955), but he increasingly devoted his time to writing and directing. He wrote The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) and I Was Monty's Double (1958), and directed Whistle Down the Wind (1961), The L-Shaped Room (1962), and The Stepford Wives (1975). He was in charge of film production at Elstree Studios in the early 1970s and gave the greenlight to The Railway Children (1970), The Go-Between (1970) and On the Buses (1971). He served as president of the National Youth Theatre, Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Beatrix Potter Society. He was also a successful novelist. He died on May 8, 2013 at the age of 86.
Quote: "I may not have come up the hard way, but I have come up the whole way."
Trivia: Forbes turned down the chance to direct the first James Bond movie, Dr No.
Ian Carmichael (Actor) .. Robin
Born: June 18, 1920 in Hull
Best Known For: Fifties comedies such as Lucky Jim, and I'm Alright Jack.
Early-life: Ian Gillett Carmichael was born in Hull on June 18, 1920. He was educated at Scarborough College, where the acting bug bit, and he later enrolled at Rada. His professional debut came playing a mute robot in Rossum's Universal Robots at the Stepney People's Palace in 1939, and he spent the next decade polishing his skills on stage in plays and musical revues.
Career: In 1947, Carmichael made his movie debut in Bond Street, and followed it up with small roles in Trottie True (1949) and Time Gentlemen, Please! (1952). His big break came in the West End play Simon and Laura. He was the only member of the cast retained for the 1955 film version. His most famous roles came in comedies Private's Progress (1956), Lucky Jim (1957), I'm Alright Jack (1959) and School for Scoundrels (1960). He also made a rare dramatic outing in The Colditz Story (1955). In 1965, he scored a TV hit playing Bertie Wooster in The World of Wooster. Carmichael worked steadily throughout the 1970s, in particular playing Lord Peter Wimsey on TV. In his later years, he had a recurring role in ITV drama The Royal. He died on February 5, 2010.
Quote: "When The Royal was referred to as a 'costume' piece I was taken aback. The 1960s were my heyday, and seem quite recent to me."
Trivia: He was awarded an OBE in 2003.
Anton Diffring (Actor) .. Fischer
Richard Wattis (Actor) .. Richard
David Yates (Actor) .. Dick
Frederick Falk (Actor) .. Kommandant
Christopher Rhodes (Actor) .. Mac McGill
Guy Hamilton (Director)

Before / After

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