The Colditz Story (1955)

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General		Extras
Category	War	None
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1955
Running Time	93:26
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Guy Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	John Mills Eric Portman Federick Valk Denis Shaw
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Francis Chagrin

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Colditz Story is generally considered to be one of the better World War II movies, however in my opinion it never builds in the viewer the necessary tension and apprehension that you would expect to have been felt by an inmate of a prison during war time. The main reason for this is that the consequences for an unsuccessful escape or escape attempt were usually a period in a rather comfortable, less than solitary, solitary confinement rather than something more severe. The result is that the story as it is told in this movie mostly comes across as bit of game of cat and mouse between the Germans and the inmates rather than a serious struggle for freedom in which the price for failure was death.

    Colditz Castle is a special prison specifically for captured enemy soldiers who have made repeated attempts at escape from other prisoner of war camps and houses groups of British, Polish, Dutch and French. Its reputation for being escape-proof does nothing to dissuade the many inmates from making further escape attempts. In fact, so prevalent are the escape attempts, each independently organised by members of the different national groups, that they often interfere with one another, which not only wrecks the attempts but also brings them to the notice of the German guards. In an attempt to overcome this problem, Colonel Richmond (Eric Portman), the ranking British officer, organises an escape committee with representation from each national group to coordinate all escape attempts. The British escape officer is Captain Pat Reid (John Mills) who also itches to escape but accepts this role for the benefit of all the inmates. The camp Kommandant  (Frederick Valk) promises Colonel Richmond that in this prison the sole reward for an attempted escape is death. The prisoners are not dissuaded from their attempts by this threat, but initially at least are unsuccessful, with the camp's security officer Priem, (Denis Shaw) being very good at foiling the inmates' best efforts.

Video

    This transfer definitely highlights the age and condition of the source material.

    The transfer has been mastered in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced. None of the usual sources we check listed the original aspect ratio but I suspect that 1.66:1 is the correct  ratio.

    Sharpness varies a lot from scene to scene with some shots being reasonably sharp and detailed while others exhibit varying degrees of softness. The shadow detail, however, was always quite adequate. Minor edge enhancement can be seen from time to time.

    This black and white film exhibits an acceptable grey scale.

    There's an almost continuous display of small and medium sized marks and scratches, including long vertical scratches, throughout the movie. Depending on your sensitivity you may find these reasonably distracting.  At 26:07 the image loses focus for about 1 second due what appears to be damage to the source element. Pairs of reel change marks appear at 17:30 & 17:37 as well as at 68:17 & 68:24. There should normally be a set of these every 20 minutes or so but I didn't manage to spot any others. Film grain is evident throughout. Minor aliasing is seen on a couple of occasions but no compression artefacts were noted.

     No subtitles have been provided.

     There is no layer change on this single layered DVD-5 disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The mono audio has an expected dated quality. Some minor hiss and the occasional crackle is also present in the soundtrack.

    A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track has been provided.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. There were no problems evident with the audio sync.

    The main theme music, played initially over the opening scenes, is both dramatic and foreboding which is certainly an appropriate match to the visuals as the camera pans slowly over the grim parapets of Colditz Castle. While there is not a lot of music in the movie, when it is present it generally continues in this dramatic manner.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were both silent.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Absolutely no extras are provided.

Menu

        The menu, displayed in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with 16x9 enhancement, consists of a black and white image with colour text for the menu options. Neither animation nor audio are provided.

    It appears that The Colditz Story has been released in Region 2, as in Region 4, as part of the 4 disc The British War Collection. The content and features of the R2 disc are identical to those of the R4. This title has not been released in Region 1.

    The Colditz Story, while considered to be one of the better British World War II movies, never builds in the viewer the necessary tension that makes you fear for the lives of the inmates. This is because the attempts to escape come across more as a game rather than a serious life and death struggle.

    The video definitely shows the age and the less than pristine condition of the source materials.

    The audio quality exhibits a dated quality but is adequate for getting the story across.

    Extras? I didn't find any extras!

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall