The Blockhouse

All the actors in this film do a fine job. But honestly, I can't see why other reviewers are going ape over Peter Sellers - are they just surprised that he could be serious? The man was a good actor, not just a clown. But in this film, we don't really know his character - he's just one of seven sorry souls trapped underground in a large storeroom after an Allied raid on the camp where they were held prisoner.

The film has an interesting premise, but trying to cram six years of action into 90 minutes is beyond the ability of the director and writers. It becomes very episodic, starting with a decent amount of set-up, followed by what more or less amounts to a series of death scenes. The story is certainly tragic, but it feels like Cliff's Notes on celluloid. I'm going to try to find the book.

This was probably Stanley Myers's easiest film to score, since it only called for an opening and closing bit with only a couple of instruments. The lack of music throughout underscores the claustrophobic atmosphere of the "dungeon." The sound and picture quality of the DVD available from Netflix (in 2010) leave much to be desired. If you enjoy dark, depressing, hopeless stories, this should be in your top ten.

I consider myself as big a Peter Sellers fan as there is in the world, but this one film had eluded me for years until now...It is one of my favorite of Sellers' performances, and is a very powerful film overall. Highly recommended!

Talking Pictures TV does it again, they unearth a lost obscurity from the dusty cabinet of film. This time it's The Blockhouse, from 1973 starring Peter Sellers, I use that term loosely because it's a wonderful ensemble piece, in which actors share the screen, dialogue and drama the same. The premise of the movie is a work party of 7 POWs, country of origin indeterminate in occupied Europe. Flee the onslaught of allied bombing on D Day and their German guards by hiding in an underground bunker, on the entrance being bomb and blocked they have to hide further in the catacombs, with no way out they have to live on the contents of the cellar, which is wines, canned foods, cigars, etc etc in fact everything you could possibly want....over the hour and half we watch the men slow descent into madness and their long lingering death, due to the lack of fresh food, fresh air and light. It is so bleak, Sellers, Charles Aznavour, Jeremy Kemp and all are stunning and when you see the outcome and realise it's a true story it will leave a lasting impression.

The makers seem to have forgotten why films ate called movies - because the pivtures move.

They have scored an own goal by locking their internal cast in the dark underground for an hour and a half. It is simply unwatchable. To make matters even worse if that were possible they have underlit it that's turning the whole thing into an ordeal for anyone who decides to watch this film. We needed I was a bit more at the front of the pool to tell us what these people are going through, much less time spent underground simply not interesting. And we should have the scene when they're just covered. As it is it seems that the directors don't want to tell us the story. What's the best will in the world I found it very very difficult to watch and I have to admit that I spun forward after the first 45 minutes at double speed at least to the end of this film.

Clive Rees has made a wonderful "dark" film based on Jean-Paul Clebert's book which describes a WWII story that one can hardly believe, yet true! The film was ahead of its time and the production suffered from financial problems and lack of faith in the film. This caused in cutting down scenes, and finally in never releasing the film, despite the great stars involved in it (Peter Sellers, Jeremy Kemp, Peter Vaughan, Charles Aznavour and others)! Since then, the film has appeared a handful of times in festivals & retrospectives and was released as a VHS in USA (1984). Yet, the VHS version is a vulgarly abridged one where entire scenes are missing... I was happy to help the film be part of a Peter Sellers retrospective in the annual Athens International Film festival (September 2000), held by Sinema magazine. Clive Rees attended the screenings and brought with him the directors' cut version of the film, which runs about 15 more minutes. The result is a totally different film, a poetic creation, a really great drama, with wonderful performances of the participating actors! The audience gave 95,3% positive votes for the film and gave a long, spontaneous applause, which I think was, at last some reward to Clive Rees' unlucky film. If only had the film been released nowadays, I am pretty sure it would have had a completely different chance. Now, at least it deserves a great DVD version and I hope it soon will (but of course it would have to be the director's cut and hopefully a making of documentary). Does anyone listen???