The Wooden Horse
Published January 19, 2025
Film info
- Title The Wooden Horse
- Director Jack Lee
- Year 1950
- Run time 1hr 41m
- Genres Drama, War
- Tagline Charged with high voltage excitement!
Dramatisation of one of the most ingenious escape bids of World War II. In camp Stalag Luft III, the Nazis have built the prisoners' huts so far from the fence that underground escape is virtually impossible. One British officer, inspired by the tale of the Trojan Horse, proposes a daring plan to start a tunnel close to the boundary using a wooden vaulting horse as cover.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:57 | “…in the last war.” I would prefer a more final turn of phrase. |
| 4:31 | Actual clogs would be noisy on a wooden floor. |
| 8:08 | The patience required to dig a tunnel, and keep stopping for the guards. |
| 16:17 | He’s built an air conditioning unit out of wood? Love engineer types. |
| 19:22 | That’s more my style, the one that messes up on purpose as part of the plan. |
| 21:22 | Aren’t they going to be able to see on the ground where they’ve got a hole? |
| 25:53 | It blatantly looks like someone has swept the sand around with their hands. The guards must surely be suspicious. |
| 38:17 | Adorable splitting the cigarette in two. |
| 39:37 | Just like Phil to be putting on a pantomime. |
| 48:44 | I like that you can see the improvement in their jumping. They’re doing tricks and stuff now. |
| 58:59 | They’ve escaped! |
| 1:01:32 | “Three cheers for the horse!” |
| 1:12:15 | “Sorry I tore the roof down just now.” Love that as an apology phrase. |
| 1:16:50 | I’m not sure I could answer half those questions. |
| 1:26:56 | Hard to get out of the camp routines even on a ship. |
| 1:31:51 | “It’s this business of relying on other people.” |
Thoughts
An intriguing low-key war film, this one, featuring the true story of an escape from a prisoner-of-war camp via the means of a gymnastics vaulting horse. The first two thirds of the film are quiet plotting, planning and tunnel digging, as you marvel at the stubborn patience of these officers who have a sworn duty to try and escape however possible. It’s not quite at the same enticing level as Great Escape but it’s a similar sort of style.
Then once beyond the confines of the fences, our intrepid officers have to try and find their way to neutral ground - not at all easy, even more difficult than tunnelling out in the first place. Just an interesting film telling another of those important and surprising stories. It ends a little bit abruptly, but I suppose whatever happens next probably becomes a whole other story in its own right.
Rating: 4 / 5
