Situation Hopeless -- But Not Serious

It's a good idea/set-up but this movie is really not handled well. Direction and pace are stodgy. Alec G is on oddball mode, grinning and emotionally remote with a clip-on German accent. Redford and Connors are very typical GI types who don't even look dirty, let alone age, despite years held in captivity. There is no further character development, but neither is there enough tension or decent humour to keep it all going, I was looking at my watch throughout. I baffled constantly at the lack of clear motive as to why the captive situation continued to exist. Equally as frustrating was how the two, fit young GI's made practically no attempt to out-fox or overpower their elderly captor. It's all very shallow, passive and careless. Even more annoying was the lack of satisfying pay-off at the end. We were not shown any scenes of the two captive's reactions upon realising the truth, which at least could have redeemed something of the movie. Instead we get a bizarre final scene that left me scratching my head, spluttering as to why and how THIS was happening now! Lots of classic Alec G movies out there, but this aint one.

A recent biography of Alec Guinness says that he did not think too much of this film. He felt it was a rehash of characters he played before like in The Lavendar Hill Mob or The Man In The White Suit. Why he took it is a mystery unless this was the best he was being offered at the time. One thing he did note to his wife Merulla was that he felt that Robert Redford was going to be a big star.

Situation Hopeless...But Not Serious is one weird film. It has some interesting and funny moments in it, but it's just way too weird.

Guinness is some quiet and nebbish like German who in the waning days of World War II when two American fliers Captain Robert Redford and Sergeant Michael Connors take refuge in his basement, he locks them up there and they become his own private prisoners. Not that he treats them bad, he just craves company since he has no friends. On V.E. Day had he let them go, no harm no foul. But Guinness keeps them on through 1946.

I could probably draw a lot of conclusions as to why Guinness's character was so wanting their company, but the Code was still somewhat in place. And as Guinness was a repressed gay Catholic man his whole life, this film must have hit close to home.

For the strangest Alec Guinness film out there, check out this one.

If you're an older individual or a younger one with more of a brain than most, you'll probably enjoy the humor of this film. It's not laugh out loud hilarious but it has some good performances in it. It's one of the best performances ever given by Mike Connors. Redford is good in it too and so is Alec Guinness, which should really surprise no one since he was a great actor.

But this is an older comedy that requires some intellect to enjoy it. Suffice to say, if you're a fan of Adam Sandler, you probably won't understand it.

It's also based on the first novel of actor Robert Shaw (Quint from "Jaws.") The novel is more serious than this film though, and the film was not as critically acclaimed as the novel. Many don't know Shaw was also a great writer as well as a great actor. He even wrote "The Man in the Glass Booth," one of the most famous plays ever written.

But overall, it's a fun story and a very original idea.

It's interesting to note that later on, Shaw and Robert Redford's names would be linked up again when they both appeared in the film "The Sting." And Alec Guinness also has worked with Shaw on stage in different plays.

Although most Americans have little knowledge of his work other than Star Wars, Alec Guinness produced an amazing body of work--particularly in the 1940s-1950s--ranging from dramas to quirky comedies. I particularly love his comedies, as they are so well-done and seem so natural and real on the screen--far different from the usual fare from Hollywood.

This movie stars Robert Redford and Mike Connors as two aviators who are shot down over Germany during WW2. They are captured by civilian Guinness who doesn't have the heart to turn them in to the Nazis. So what does he do? That's right--creates his own jail and keeps them himself!! The problem is, Guinness is a lonely man and grows to like having these prisoners in his life. So much that when the war ends, he doesn't tell them and keeps them! Where this weird movie goes from there is something you'll just have to see for yourself. However, for some inexplicable reason, this movie has been panned by many. I'm not sure why, as I enjoyed it and admire it for its originality.

Some excellent acting and several funny scenes but apart from that not much, I am afraid. A very weak plot, I dare say.