The Wilder Hero: Stalag 17

Billy Wilder isn't really the director to focus on the heroics of people. His films are usually laced with anti-heroes. The Billy Wilder film doesn't bring to mind the the image of the common man fighting for un-just laws such as a Capra film, nor would it be full of the many "Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" persona reflected in many films by Hawks or Ford.

Wilder's men always seem to be too buried in reality to be the typical hero. There are times his characters do rise to the occasion. Jack Lemmon's C.C. Baxter in "The Apartment" for one does finally stand up to his boss simply because he couldn't stand the kind of person he became. Charles Laughton's lawyer in "Witness for the Prosecution" is one of the best attorney's ever put on screen, but even he evades real heroism at the end when all his work was in vain and he was actually a pawn caught in the middle of a bigger game that was being played.

Then sometimes Wilder doesn't even give his characters very heroic aspects at all, such as Fred McMurray in "Double Indemnity" or Kirk Douglas in "Ace in the Hole".

But I think there was at least one time a Wilder character became a hero in spite of himself, at for me that's William Holden's P.O.W. Sgt. Sefton in "Stalag 17".

"Stalag 17" might be considered minor Wilder, and there are those who felt Holden's best actor Oscar for the film was just a make-up for not getting it for "Sunset BLVD." On the contrary, in so many ways it's the perfect Holden role and the perfect Wilder setting.

The film takes place in a German P.O.W. camp and focuses on the lives of the captured Americans who try cope with their surroundings. There have been attempts of escape by many of the soldiers, but they have always been foiled by the Germans. It isn't soon after that the group of men begin to suspect a spy in their midst who tip the Germans off to their escape plans.

The perfect suspect for the men is Sefton, a natural born cynic who even puts wagers that the escape attempts will fail. He is not liked by the men due to his untrustful nature and the fact that he profits from the deaths of fallen comrades. He's the perfect man to suspect, and a revolt against Sefton begins, he's brutally beaten and is watched by the others. The only way now for Sefton to prove his innocence is to find the real spy.

Sgt. Sefton is the perfect Wilder hero, mostly because he becomes a hero in spite of himself. The audience begins to relate to this guy a lot more than his gung ho comrades, who sometimes act as if it's an honor to go out in the blaze of glory, and sometimes they're so blinded by loyalty, they don't realize Sefton is probably the most honest guy in the room. Sefton is more grounded in reality, he understands the odds and thinks it's foolish for the others to stick their necks out so needlessly. The film ends with a climactic escape attempt by Sefton and he does so in a way that is true to his character.

William Holden was one of the greatest movie stars ever and this part fits him like a glove. Holden always had the punch-drunk look in his face and the way he carried himself he seemed worn out and disappointed by the world. The first time I saw him in a film was in David Lean's "The Bridge on the River Kwai" where again he played an American soldier this time in a Japanese Prisoner camp. In that film he felt he had better odds living if he tried to escape from the camp than dying there.

As Sefton Holden finds the man's humour and sensibility very naturally like a glove. He doesn't try to gain our sympathy but instead just fleshes him out as a human being who might just be capable of doing the right thing.

Although this film is based on a stage play, Wilder makes the material his own. He revels in the humour of these sad and desperate men, and in Sefton I think he found a man he was willing to root for. In many ways I would call "Stalag 17" Wilder's feel good movie.