The Blockhouse

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.

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???

The DVD box for "The Blockhouse" says "A true story of perseverance and survival". The same could be said for the audience. The constant darkness, illuminated only by candles, cannot shed enough light on this story of seven men, trapped underground for six years. As entertainment the film is a failure for three reasons. 1. The claustrophobic darkness is depressing. 2. The lack of any background or character development means a "so what" as far as differentiating who we like or dislike. 3. The abominable audio quality of the DVD makes understanding what is being said impossible. What you are left with is a dark, depressing, boring, and unintelligible movie. Not recommended. - MERK

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!

We're told in the opening credits that this is a true story and only two out of seven survive. We then move into a superb opening sequence of Allied bombing, which takes us neatly into the central story of trapped men.

The cast is excellent and the dark, gloomy and claustrophobic atmosphere is well done but, for me, the characters are insufficiently well-drawn. We are told very little about their background and how they arrived at this place. The sound recording leaves something to be desired and the dialogue is often unclear.

Having said that, this is a film which will stay with you, if you make the substantial effort required to watch it. As Sellers has said. "It's a film for connoisseurs of cinema. A very heavy movie, which could easily put you on a downer". My advice though is to make that effort.

One point of fact: the true story was actually one of seven German soldiers trapped in a food depot in Poland, blocked in, unknowingly, by their retreating comrades who dynamite the entrance.