Episode 141: Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17″

A discussion of Billy Wilder’s 1953 film “Stalag 17.”

Click To Listen and Download. (00:59:52)

In 1953, Billy Wilder adapted a hit Broadway play for the big screen. “Stalag 17″ followed the trials and tribulations of a group of American prisons of war behind enemy lines in Germany during World War II. While the film depicted how the American POWs learned to survive and keep their spirits up in internment camps, “Stalag 17″ quickly turns into an intriguing mystery when it was revealed one of the prisons is a double agent.

Why did Billy Wilder take a lighter tone after making such a dark film in “Ace In The Hole?” How did Billy Wilder infuse humor into “Stalag 17?” And why is “Stalag 17″ the first film in a string of films Billy Wilder made that were considered “safe” for the legendary filmmaker?

Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17″ is the subject of episode 141 of the AuteurCast…