The Great Escape: Preparations for Freedom

Great Escape, The: Preparations for Freedom (2001)

*** (out of 4)

The second of a four part series made by MGM for their Special Edition release of THE GREAT ESCAPE is once again narrated by Burt Reynalds. This episode takes a closer look to a few parts of the film where they try to explain certain parts of the escape including the three tunnels, one of which was found by the Germans and other items including how they got the clothes to escape and what preparation was actually done. Original POWs Albert Wallce, James Cullen and John Weir are on hand to tell a few details and we also get interviews with Arthur Durand, Jonathan Vance and Robert Relyea. Overall this here is much better than the first episode because it does go into details about the real escape and what was or wasn't changed in the movie. We hear about how the producers wanted the tunnels to appear real and how the actual escape was pretty much truthful in the film. Of course, the biggest change in the story is how much the Americans and British actually did in the real escape but considering the producers needed stars, it appears most people understand why this was done.

This is the second of a multi-part documentary included on the bonus disc for "The Great Escape". My complaint about the first portion ("The Great Escape: Bringing Fact to Fiction") was that despite the title, it really did not have a lot to do with explaining how the film did and didn't recreate the story correctly from real life. However, to my surprise, much of this was addressed in "Preparations for Freedom"! This short film was about the actual prison camp, Stalag Luft III as well as the inmates of this institution. Apparently, many random and unorganized escape attempts were made before the camp decided to organize--to push for one HUGE escape instead of doing it haphazardly. The film also addresses an important historical inaccuracy in the movie--the American prisoners. Apparently, there HAD been some but they'd been transferred out of the camp before the escape. Some had worked on the tunnels. The filmmakers knew this but decided to use a few Americans (such as James Garner and Steve McQueen) in order to attract a broader international audience for the film. This is understandable...but quite inaccurate.

An interesting film that, unfortunately, ends on a cliff-hanger! Fortunately, it's addressed in the next film which talks about what happened during and after the escape.