The One That Got Away
Theatrical poster
Directed byRoy Ward Baker
Written byBook:
Kendal Burt
James Leasor
Screenplay:
Howard Clewes
Produced byJulian Wintle
Earl St. John
StarringHardy Krüger
CinematographyEric Cross
Edited bySidney Hayers
Music byHubert Clifford
Production
company
Julian Wintle Productions
Distributed byRank Organisation
Release date
1957
Running time
111 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUK
LanguageEnglish

The One That Got Away is a 1957 World War II film starring Hardy Krüger and featuring Michael Goodliffe, Jack Gwillim and Alec McCowen. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker with a screenplay written by Howard Clewes. It is based on the 1956 book of the same name by Kendal Burt and James Leasor.

The film chronicles the true exploits of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot shot down over England in 1940. He initially tries to escape from England, but is more successful when being transferred to a Canadian POW camp.[1]

Plot

Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz von Werra (Hardy Krüger) is shot down during the Battle of Britain, and captured. He is initially sent to a prisoner of war (POW) camp in Cumbria and bets the camp's RAF interrogator that he will escape and return to Germany within six months.

His first escape sees him recaptured after five or six days while hiding in a field, and von Werra is sent to a more secure POW camp (based on the Hayes Conference Centre) near Swanwick, Derbyshire. He and four others escape through a tunnel. The others pair up, but von Werra goes it alone. Reaching Codnor Park railway station, he impersonates a Dutch pilot whose Wellington bomber has crashed while on a secret mission. He telephones the nearest airfield, RAF Hucknall, and cons the duty officer into sending a car. When his story starts to fray, von Werra sneaks away and tries to steal an experimental Hawker Hurricane, only to be caught at the last moment.

He and many other POWs are sent by ship to Canada. On the train ride across the country, von Werra escapes near Smiths Falls, Ontario by opening and jumping from a window while the guards are distracted. He makes his way south, and crossing the nearly frozen St Lawrence River using a stolen rowboat, reaches Ogdensburg in the United States, which at that time was still neutral, and claims asylum. The RAF interrogator receives a postcard from von Werra posted from New York informing him that he has lost his bet.

The film's epilogue states:

Despite the efforts of the Canadian Government to obtain his return, and of the United States Authorities to hold him, von Werra crossed the border into Mexico. Travelling by way of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Spain, he reached Berlin on 18th April, 1941.

On October 25th of the same year, while on patrol, his plane was seen to dive into the sea. No trace of von Werra was found.[2]

Von Werra was indeed lost while on a patrol over the sea, probably due to engine failure, but there were no witnesses.

Cast

File:One That Got Away dvd.jpg
U.S. DVD cover

Production

Kenneth More says he was approached to play the lead role but turned it down as he had just played another real-life POW, Douglas Bader in Reach for the Sky (1956).[3]

Reception

The One That Got Away was generally well received by audiences and critics; Howard H. Thompson of the The New York Times noted its "... restrained, well-knit scenario."[4]

References

Notes
  1. ^ Erickson, Hal. "The One That Got Away (1957)." The New York Times. Retrieved: 6 May 2012.
  2. ^ The One That Got Away. The Rank Organization Film Productions Limited, 1957, as broadcast January 22, 2011, Turner Classic Movies Canada.
  3. ^ Kenneth More, More or Less, Hodder & Staughton, 1978 p 171
  4. ^ Thompson, Howard H. "The One That Got Away (1957): Escape Drama Opens." The New York Times, 23 April 1958.
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