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Stalag 17

Stalag 17

Comedy · Drama · War · 1953

After two American prisoners are killed by guards in the act of escaping from a German POW camp in World War II, barracks black marketeer J.J. Sefton is suspected of being an informer.

Movie details

Stalag 17

“The star-spangled, laugh-loaded salute to our P.W. heroes!”

1953 Comedy · Drama · War 2h 0m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.9 / 10

61.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

91 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

84 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

After two American prisoners are killed by guards in the act of escaping from a German POW camp in World War II, barracks black marketeer J.J. Sefton is suspected of being an informer.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Stalag 17?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Cross of Iron

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Billy Wilder

Written by

Edwin Blum · Billy Wilder

William Holden

William Holden

J.J. Sefton

Don Taylor

Don Taylor

James Dunbar

Otto Preminger

Otto Preminger

Oberst von Scherbach

Robert Strauss

Robert Strauss

Stanislaus 'Animal' Kuzawa

Harvey Lembeck

Harvey Lembeck

Harry Shapiro

Richard Erdman

Richard Erdman

Hoffy Hoffman

Peter Graves

Peter Graves

Frank Price

Court is in session

Put Stalag 17 on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.