Le mouchard

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

Just watched it on Channel 4 and loved it, very good cast and overall very enjoyable.

Full of great actors including Richard Attenborough and Tony Todd A bit different from the usual escape movies, in that there's some intrigue and tension caused by a informer within the British ranks this results in the deaths of 4 British prisoners before they finally work out who it is.

I do like the 50/60 British films and this is another that i will definitely watch again.

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 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.

A rare bright spot in a benighted genre, this British POW drama avoids familiarity not only by avoiding stiff upper lip and grey morality in favour of wit, tension and Hollywood stereotype, but also by a clever use of the metaphors of theatre. Most British war films parade their stifling docudrama-style 'realism'; this is often an excuse for imaginative paucity. 'Danger Within' uses the idea of play to question some of the received myths about the British Second World War.

Part of the novelty lies in its North Italian setting - we're so used to nefarious Nazis and brutal Japanese. Not that it makes much difference - the main villain, Capitano Benucci, is a Nazi-trained sadist, who imagines he's suavity incarnate with his sophisticated cigars, laidback walk, time goatie, and clipped, ironical speech. But the blanching sun makes a nice change, giving a parched, sandy feel, and the notorious stereotype of Italian incompetence makes the various plot points believable.

What makes this narrative absorbing is not the usual will-they-or-won't-they escape plot, but a kind of detective story. No matter how ingenious the efforts of the escape committee - and there is a brilliant one here involving sewers, light-switches, misplaced cigarettes and rugby posts- there is always the same welcoming committee of armed fascists ready to mow them down. It's clear there's an informer, but who?

The obvious culprit is a shifty-looking Greek. This is the film's first daring piece of iconoclasm. There is a lot of anti-Italian racism throughout, but that can be attributed to understandable wartime emotionalism, where contempt for what Fascism stands for is expressed in xenophobia. But the Greek's only obvious credentials for being an informer is the fact of being a Greek, a little small, sweaty, oily, you know, naturally sneaky. When his name is called at roll-call, a wit hurls a dead rat at the officer; we remember Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda that used similar analogies.

This is a strangely unideological war these men are fighting - there is no rhetoric about liberty and democracy; this is a prison film in which the criminals, all professionals, want to escape. Everything centres on the job in hand, with loyalty vouchsafed for anyone who agrees. This lack of sentimentality is refreshing an a genre stuffed with secular piety.

Even better is the working of the theatrical metaphors. The brilliant opening scene features a prisoner disguised as the commandant - their fatal meeting creates a mirror effect that echoes in the following narrative about, not only duplicity, but also people who don't seem to be what they are, including old fops who turn out to be very brave men. Of course, this is a situation where the Law are murderous criminals, and the prisoners are democratic saviours, ambiguous enough in itself. It creates a world where you don't know who to trust, especially dangerous in a situation where loyalty and trust need to be givens. This idea of acting and pretending (extending to the Capitano) culminates in the attempted escape during 'Hamlet', with the immortal Dennis Price in a mop wig as the Prince. It's a shame they couldn't have picked a more apposite play - King Lear, perhaps? - or worked it in better, with a play-within-a-play scene, for instance, to reveal the murderer. But that would have been silly, contrived, arty, and no British war film would ever be that. Michael Wilding is a bizarre sight in this testosterone heavy atmosphere; even more surprising is how excellent he is with his old queen patter and reserves of steel.