Sadly Over-hyped

Better Late Then Never

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I saw a documentary about this true story and was very impressed, so I looked forward to the film and wasn't disappointed.The Wooden Horse is about officers attempting to escape a prison camp. This is actually a pretty decent camp - beds, exercise yard, and cooking facilities. The men have one tunnel started in their barracks, but they realize it's going to take too long to dig until they get under the wire fence. So they come up with another plan. They make a wooden exercise horse which they bring outside, closer to the fence. Someone hides inside who then digs a tunnel while the men leap over the horse and do various exercises. At the end of the exercise day, the person inside uses boards to cover the hole and then puts dirt over it as a camouflage.That's the first part of the film. The second part has to do with escaping to Sweden. It's all very suspenseful and engrossing and sports good performances from Leo Genn, Anthony Steel, and David Tomlinson.Really a great story, all the more amazing because it's true. A good watch.

Playing out as a sort of pre runner to The Great Escape some 13 years later, this smashing little British film plays it straight with no thrills and dare do well overkill. First part of the movie is the set up and subsequent escape of our protagonists, whilst the second part concentrates on their survival whilst on the run as they try to reach Sweden. The film relies on pure characters with simple, effective, and yes, believable dialogue to carry it thru, and it achieves its aims handsomely. No little amount of suspense keeps the film ticking along, and as an adventure story it works perfectly for the time frame it adheres to, so a big thumbs to the film that may well be the first of its type? 7/10

1943. Stalag III is a German POW camp specifically for Allied officers all of whom are keen to escape from the camp and cause as many problems as possible for their German captors. This is the story of one escape attempt from the camp (albeit not the most famous one) that saw a group of British officers deciding to take up vaulting to improve their fitness levels. However, unbeknownst to the guards, the wooden vaulting horse is designed to hold one man, who starts to dig once it is in position on the playing field.Although the relative fame/success of the two movies have meant that The Great Escape is the WWII escape movie of choice, however this film is also of value as it depicts an escape attempt from the same camp at the same time. Those expecting the same "adventure" and fun tone will perhaps be disappointed to find this is much more of a British affair and is slow, patient, detailed and rather more of a sombre telling of the story. In doing so the film is a bit more respectful to the memory and bravery of those involved although the downside is that it is a bit slow. At times it tempers this by being quite tense but it doesn't achieve this often enough to be considered strong enough. That said it is still engaging stuff as it details an interesting story in a solid and unspectacular fashion.The cast work well with this approach and turn in respectful performances that capture the "stiff upper lip" spirit of the officers without totally dehumanising them. Although they do very much rely on the caricatures of the genre, the cast do well and include solid turns from Genn, Tomlinson, Steel, Greene and others. Lee's direction is solid but he is perhaps a bit too respectful to the subject matter and should have either gone harder for tension or perhaps allowed a touch of levity to enter proceedings.Overall this is an engaging if unspectacular telling of a different tale from Stalag III. It could have been tenser or more fun but as it is it works well and stands as a solid tale.

The Wooden Horse was one of the first "great" escape stories from World War II, telling the true story of Eric Williams and others in their escape from Stalag-Lufft III in October of 1943. I really like this film, but had to by it on VHS from Amazon in England and get it transferred from PAL format in the U.S. I read the book when I was in hight school, after having seen a portion of the film in the early 60's on T.V. The taunt drama of Peter and John trying to escape from Germany during the war is more realistic than the treck of the escapes portrayed in the Great Escape. This film is a lost treasure, that should be made more available to American audiences.