Danger Within

This virtually forgotten British WW2 POW thriller is set in Italy in 1943. An officer's camp of around four-hundred men is under the command of a sadistic Italian general, who delights in discovering the breakout plans of the Allied POWs through his informants, as it allows him to wait for the escape that gives him the excuse to kill the men, rather than stopping it at source. This thriller moves along at a nice pace. It suffers from being a tad lifeless, in the cinematography and directing, but the performances are stellar, as is the writing and character development. A very young Michael Caine makes an appearance towards the end.

Danger Within is directed by Don Chaffey and adapted to screenplay by Bryan Forbes and Frank Harvey from the novel "Death in Captivity" written by Michael Gilbert. It stars Richard Todd, Bernard Lee, Michael Wilding, Richard Attenborough and Dennis Price. Music is by Francis Chagrin and cinematography by Arthur Grant.

Northern Italy, 1943, a POW Camp. No matter how intricate the planning, how well executed, escape attempts are met by tragedy as the sadistic camp commander is waiting to not only foil the escape, but to also kill the escapees in cold blood. It can mean only one thing, there's an informer in the camp.

Packed with British thespian talent giving good turns, Danger Within serves as both a POW escape drama and a war time mystery thriller. The mystery element is a little undone since the informer is revealed to us the audience at the midpoint, but from there on in the suspense is amped up by way of wondering if the rat will be found, and if the amazing grand escape planned at film's end will succeed. With that, the second half of pic also serves as an escape procedural. Lots going on here, with plenty of slices of British humour into the bargain as well, while some of the dialogue is tough and the odd line is very much of its time; but in a good period setting way (for example; how wonderful to hear the word clot used as an insult again!). 8/10

Although similar but not as good as Stalag 17, this is one of the best British POW movies. The script is fast paced, the cast is excellent, the acting is top draw , without hamming it up. And like Stalag 17 there is a traitor in the camp. The film blends drama with a good whodunit, and throw in the Camp's production of Hamlet as a ploy to enable a mass escape is an absolute joy. Dennis Price, Bernard Lee,Richard Todd, Peter Arne and a who's who of British actor's make this such an enjoyable film. Richard Attenborough's performance as always is superb. I rate this film and recommend it to anyone who enjoys War-Drama movies. Danger Within is being shown on Channel Four on Tuesday afternoon 12th of July, please watch it, if i had a VCR i would record it!. This film deserves a quality DVD release in it's original aspect ratio, so whoever own's the rights please do something about it.

This is an absorbing, exciting and thoroughly entertaining British POW drama which has a cast that reads like a veritable who's who of British character actors. Not one of them disappoints either, and there are especially sterling performances from Richard Todd, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. In fact, it's a perfectly casted film which holds attention throughout, and has a plot which moves along nicely to a clever and quite novel conclusion. Although there are scores of similar films made on the subject, this is definitely one of the very best and, anyone who has not yet seen it will not be disappointed. Highly recommended!

There's something about POW escape dramas, you rarely get a poor one. Firstly, unusual to see one set in an Italian camp. I'm not sure the harsh reality of POW camps were put across here, but that's not necessarily what the movie was trying to do. What it does have is an interesting script that moves along at a healthy pace. this is helped by a top notch cast who are all utterly believable. There are definite comedy moments but they don't detract at all from the action. This film was over in what seemed like no time & I would watch it again in a heartbeat. Two minor quibbles. I thought the informant was revealed a shade too early for me and I never felt that his motivation was sufficiently explored. Great, Boys own stuff.