Stalag 17 | |
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![]() Theatrical re-release poster | |
Directed by | Billy Wilder |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | |
Produced by | Billy Wilder |
Starring | |
Narrated by | Gil Stratton |
Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
Edited by | George Tomasini |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 120 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,661,530 |
Box office | $10,000,000 |
Stalag 17 is a 1953 American war film directed by Billy Wilder. It tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 sergeants representing many different aircrew positions, but the film focuses on one particular barracks, where the men come to suspect that one of their number is an informant. The film was directed and produced by Billy Wilder, who with Edwin Blum adapted the screenplay from the Broadway play of the same name. The play was written by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski on the basis of their experiences as prisoners in Stalag 17B in Austria.
The film stars William Holden in an Oscar-winning performance, along with Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Richard Erdman, Michael Moore, Sig Ruman, and Otto Preminger. Strauss and Lembeck appeared in the original Broadway production.