Otto Preminger

While awaiting the outcome of her husband's surgery, Julie Messinger discovers he has been having affairs. Julie Messinger has it made. She is a New York housewife whose husband, Richard, is an editor for a prominent photography magazine. They have a small circle of friends, including well-meaning, but inept Dr. Timothy Spector, photographer Cal Whiting and Cal's live-in girlfriend Miranda. Julie's mother spends her days getting pedicures and manicures, applying make-up and fake eye-lashes and buying expensive clothes, all the while criticizing her daughter for her looks and behavior. When Richard goes into the hospital for a minor mole-removal surgery, Julie gets more than she bargained for. Richard suffers from complications and goes into a coma, supposedly caused by a rare surgical factor, and she gathers friends and family together, culminating in a hilarious "quasi-cocktail-party" scene in the blood donation center of the hospital. While dealing with red tape, hospital bureaucracy and clueless doctors, Julie discovers her husband's "little black book," which contains the names of her friends. She confirms that her husband had been sleeping around and proceeds to make a fool out of him by getting it on with his male friends. When the complications get more ominous, guilt opens the door to her liberation as a woman. A scathingly funny examination of the dirty rich partying while one of their number lies on the brink of death. —thustlebird

Drama of a ruthless Southern opportunist who tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones. Following World War II, a northern cannery negotiates for the purchase of a large tract of uncultivated Georgia farmland. The major portion of the land is owned by Julie Warren, and has already been optioned by her unscrupulous husband Henry. Now the combine must also obtain two smaller plots; one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell, the other by Reeve Scott, a young black man whose mother had been Julie's childhood mammy. But neither Rad nor Reeve is interested in selling, and they form a partnership to improve their land. Although infuriated by the events, Henry remains determined to push through the big land deal. —alfiehitchie

The story opens on the night of December 6, 1941, at a dance in the Officers' Club at Pearl Harbor. We are at first introduced to Lieutenant (j.g.) William 'Mac' McConnel (Tom Tryon) and his wife Beverly (Paula Prentiss), who can't help but notice a visibly inebriated Liz Eddington (Barbara Bouchet) dancing with an Army Air Corps major (Hugh O'Brian) - spiting her husband who is at sea on gunnery practice. When the band launches into an upbeat swing tune, Liz engages in an exotic dance that for better or for worse draws the attention of every person in the club. Mac finally asks the band to make an end and play something else, which is heeded to Liz's disappointment. Her lover escorts her from the premises and takes her to spend the rest of the night on a beach near the base. Morning breaks over the unnamed heavy cruiser commanded by Captain Rockwell 'Rock' Torrey (John Wayne), who is nonplussed to find that his executive officer, Liz's husband Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), has overslept reveille, the latest of a number of blemishes on his record that (along with his mounting alcoholism) can be laid to his unhappy marriage. He tells Eddington to 'fish or cut bait' and gives him one last chance to pull himself together. Eddington apologizes for his conduct, but is left wondering what Liz has gotten herself into in recent hours. In Pearl Harbor, Mac reports for duty as Officer of the Day on his destroyer, the U.S.S. Cassiday. With some consternation, he reads a radio dispatch from the destroyer U.S.S. Ward, which has depth-charged an unidentified submarine contact much too close to Pearl for comfort. Torrey's ship has received the same message; he orders alert status, then general quarters when one of his lookouts sights several large formations of planes flying over Oahu. The Japanese surprise attack is only minutes away. One formation flies over and strafes the beach where Liz Eddington and her lover are awakening, and they make a hasty escape back towards Pearl. As they hurtle around a curve, a truck barrels toward them in the wrong lane from the opposite direction, and the head-on collision sends them both plunging in flames off a cliff to their deaths. As nearly 350 Japanese aircraft descend on Pearl Harbor, an emergency sortie signal is sent to all ships; Mac, without waiting for his C.O. or further instructions, orders the Cassiday with cool-headed authority to get underway at once. The captain and executive officer give chase aboard a torpedo retriever, but Mac, knowing any attempt to stop and bring them aboard will render the Cassiday a sitting duck, ignores their shouts and plows out of the harbor at high speed. The Cassiday is one of not a dozen cruisers and destroyers to escape the harbor as the battleships and aircraft are decimated by the Japanese planes, much to the dismay of Admiral Kimmel (Franchot Tone), once he receives a situation report from his flag lieutenant. Torrey, meanwhile, gives orders for all outbreaking ships to group with his cruiser and reports his force strength to headquarters. It is a woefully small squadron of four cruisers and eight destroyers, a sneeze at a typhoon. Vice Admiral B.T. Broderick (Dana Andrews) urges Kimmel to position the force against a possible invasion, but Kimmel decides instead to have Torrey seek out and engage the Japanese. The orders are met with surprise and some anticipation by Torrey and his officers, who request underway refueling the following day. The morning of December 8 brings them nothing but an empty fleet oiler heading for home, leaving the task group without enough fuel to last half the day. Weighing his options, Torrey decides to cease zigzagging despite the known submarine threat. Not long thereafter, the American force is stalked by a Japanese submarine which is detected by the Cassiday as it approaches. Mac orders pursuit and depth-charging while Torrey orders zigzagging resumed. But the submarine gets into firing position and puts two torpedoes into the cruiser, causing severe damage in the engineering section and breaking Torrey's arm when he is thrown off his feet. Eddington goes below to take charge of damage control and finds the engineering deck a shambles of fire and out-of-control flooding. As DC parties scramble to save the ship, the Cassiday continues depth-charging, reporting a positive kill. Torrey orders all ships except the Cassiday back to Pearl Harbor, and conferring with Mac by megaphone, remembers him well from his days at the Naval Academy. Eddington reports the main damage under control as Mac complies with Torrey's request for a tow. A few days later, Torrey, his arm set and casted, reports to Admiral Kimmel's office where he is relieved of command for jeopardizing his force. He is reassigned to a desk to route convoys over his contention that the admiral's orders rendered the group 'expendable'. In the meantime, Eddington has learned of Liz's death and identifies her and her belongings at the Honolulu morgue, also learning of her companion's attachment to the Army Air Corps. In a rut of shock, he goes to a bar where he is offered a drink by another AAC officer who unwittingly rubs salt in the wound. The resulting brawl lands Eddington in the brig, where Torrey later arrives to have him released. They part ways in the sight of a new cruiser going to sea to replace their drydocked vessel - a baleful metaphor for the drydocking they both face. Three months later, Torrey's arm is pronounced healed by the X-rays of a nurse lieutenant named Maggie Haynes (Patricia Neal). His roommate, Commander Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a reserve intelligence officer, offers to celebrate at a social gathering in the Oahu hills. There, Torrey has a chance encounter with Maggie, who startles him with news of his estranged son - Jeremiah Torrey (Brandon De Wilde), now a reserve ensign who has been dating Maggie's roommate, Annalee Dorne (Jill Haworth). Torrey confesses that he has been divorced and not seen Jere in eighteen years. By the time Maggie drives him home and advises him that she's on temporary assignment, they have taken an obvious liking to each other. Torrey discovers that Jere is attached to a PT boat squadron in Pearl and goes to visit him, where they have a strained reunion; Jere lets it slip that he is about to be reassigned to Admiral Broderick's staff in preparation for an upcoming offensive called 'Skyhook'. Jere will be assistant to former Congressman Neal Owynn (Patrick O'Neal), serving in the Naval Reserve as Broderick's public-affairs officer. After a couple of weeks, a cheerful Powell arrives at Torrey's office, quietly letting on that he has been in Washington for the past ten days. Torrey takes him to lunch, and seeing Jere and Owynn sitting at a nearby table, takes the opportunity to ask Powell about Skyhook. Powell immediately puts a top-secret lid on it but is not surprised to discover that Owynn has been doing too much talking on Broderick's behalf. That evening, Torrey and Jere run into each other at Maggie and Annalee's apartment; there Maggie and Torrey remain while Jere and Annalee go to dinner at Owynn's house. As the evening wears on, Maggie and Torrey open up about each other's past of failed marriages and occupations chosen or unchosen. In the meantime, Owynn, obliging Jere's wishes, slips silently away to allow Jere a subtle run to second base. Annalee, wary of Owynn's disappearance and Jere's advances, puts the date - and their relationship - to an abrupt end. Torrey returns to his office after several days to find Powell waiting with a 'private little job': the routing of three hot and heavy convoys to a former Free French naval base on the island of Toulebonne in the South Pacific. Torrey figures out the Skyhook strategy, and explains to Powell that Broderick could use one of three nearby islands as a staging base to hit at a large island named Levu-Vana, whose central plain would make an ideal roost for B-17 squadrons. Powell wordlessly covers up the charts and leaves. Torrey arrives home that night to find Maggie sitting on his front steps; he invites her inside, where she regretfully tells him that her unit is being shipped out. Torrey, knowing where she's headed, calls on Powell to bunk out for the night, whereupon Maggie slips her shoes off in a classic 'fade to black' scene. Three weeks find the convoys safe and sound at Toulebonne, where Paul Eddington has been stationed since January overseeing piers and warehouses. Pursuant to a written request from Torrey, he boards the nurses' transport and asks to speak to Maggie, and welcomes her and several other nurses with flower chains, a basket of bananas and a hidden bottle of liquor. Maggie introduces him to Annalee and he immediately takes a shine to her. He gives Maggie the unexpected news that the convoy is due to shove off again that night for Broderick's advance base on Gavabutu, as 'that's where they're gonna need nurses'. Back in Hawaii, Torrey visits Beverly McConnel at her civil air defense post to give her the unpleasant news that Mac is MIA. She tearfully reads him a letter from Mac, written with his morale at a critical low, describing incessant air attacks on the Cassiday and the overall poor quality of Broderick's command, which has stalled the Skyhook advance and riddled the morale of the troops. Not long afterward, Torrey is summoned to a dinner party at Admiral Nimitz's quarters - and is shocked but pleased to find that the party is in honor of his promotion to rear admiral. Admiral Nimitz (Henry Fonda) tells him that he was correct in his guess at the Skyhook strategy, and awards tactical command of the operation to Torrey, effectively displacing Broderick from the action (or lack thereof). Broderick is incensed, and agrees with Owynn's suggestion to place a 'liaison officer' on Torrey's staff to keep him discreetly informed on Torrey's intentions, naming Owynn as that officer. Eddington arrives at Broderick's headquarters (having spent the past few hours at a whorehouse), and himself receives a surprise promotion to captain and an appointment as Torrey's chief of staff. Torrey and Eddington reunite on Gavabutu three days later and meet the rest of the staff, along with Australian coastwatcher Clayton Canfil (Stanley Holloway) and a ready and willing battalion of Marine paratroops. Their base almost immediately comes under a Japanese air raid and they make a mad dash for the command shelter, where Torrey outlines his plan to divide and conquer Gavabutu in three sections. At the all-clear, the staff scatter to their duties, and Eddington surreptitiously dismisses Owynn and Jere to prevent them from listening in on a scheme to procure additional transport planes. Torrey goes to the base hospital to visit Maggie, promising her that they'll make time for each other out here. The following Sunday, the Marines parachute into an open meadow on the north side of the island as an amphibious force lands on a northwestern beach, and a battalion of Marines, led by Canfil, crosses the mountains on foot. Torrey accompanies the paramarines aloft, ordering his plane's commander on a 'sightseeing trip' to overfly the mountains and deliver a change of orders to the foot battalion. Back at his HQ, Broderick, having arrived in the company of a group of war correspondents from Toulebonne, demonstrates a too-concise knowledge of the details, leading Eddington to suspect that Owynn has been quietly feeding him information. When Torrey returns, he is informed by his operations officer that the operation is well ahead of schedule - the Japanese garrison abandoned Gavabutu the previous night, presumably to reinforce Levu-Vana. He reports as much to Broderick and the correspondents, who are frustrated with the limited information Torrey gives them. Jere, earlier confronted by Eddington about his role in ratting on his father, renounces it in his newfound respect for him. Eddington later confronts Owynn as well, coercing him through harsh physical contact into returning to Toulebonne with Broderick. Owynn threatens a court-martial, but Jere, the only witness, refuses to bear him out, choosing instead to be transferred back to PT boats and remain under his father's command. Canfil returns to HQ from his guidance of the Marine battalion, and is promptly asked by Torrey and Eddington to reconnoiter the Japanese positions on Levu-Vana. He volunteers to go ashore alone with his intimate knowledge of the island and map the enemy emplacements. He is put ashore by a submarine under cover of darkness, sneaking into a Japanese camp and eavesdropping on a sake party. The next morning, Jere, back on duty with the PT squadron, is delivering mail to the hospital when he meets Maggie and Annalee; the latter shows him to the mail room, and old flames between them are rekindled, leading to an engagement to marriage after the war. Elsewhere in the world, other flames are fanned - Mac McConnel and the survivors of the Cassiday have been rescued and returned to the States for a month of survivors' leave. Beverly meets him in a passionate reunion at the pier in San Francisco, where he announces his promotion to lieutenant commander and his post-leave assignment as Torrey's flag secretary. Back on Gavabutu, Annalee, who is accompanying Eddington and a group of other personnel to a beach party, is warned by Maggie to be cautious around him, but insists on having a little fun. Maggie's warning is well warranted, for when Annalee separates from the group to go for a swim, Eddington follows her and watches from the beach. When she emerges from the water and tells him she's engaged, his reaction is less than rational - he flings her clothes out of her reach and rapes her, out of sight of the others. In her desperate attempt to fight back, she leaves her mark on his face, and it is noticed by Powell a couple of days later when Torrey and his staff put out to the harbor to meet his old ship, which along with several other cruisers and destroyers has just anchored at Gavabutu. Eddington dismisses the mark as 'just a friendly wound.' Aboard their old cruiser, Torrey and Eddington brief the senior officers of the task group on the planned invasion of Levu-Vana when they are interrupted by Canfil, just returned from his recon mission. He has painted a grim picture of the stronghold under construction, from tanks and troops to pillboxes and a nearly-completed airfield. Then he delivers the grimmest report of all - the Japanese are assembling a task force of their own at their nearby Cape Titan base. Torrey discusses options with his staff, deciding eventually that their best choice is to try and get a long-range recon plane from Pearl Harbor. In San Francisco, Mac McConnel returns from fleet HQ with ill tidings for him and Beverly: he has orders to proceed immediately to his new assignment on Gavabutu, despite having spent less than half of his leave. Beverly bursts into tears, lamenting that she may not get him back this time, and asks him to leave her with a baby. The rains are hammering Gavabutu and vicinity when Maggie returns to her barracks to find a note addressed to her. It is from Annalee - who has overdosed on sleeping pills, fearing pregnancy from the rape and being disbelieved by Eddington. Maggie desperately attempts to rouse Annalee, but finding that it's too late, she calls Torrey, who is discussing with Eddington and Powell the failure to secure a recon plane from Pearl. At Eddington's query, Torrey somberly tells him what has happened, leaving Eddington guilt-stricken as he heads for the nurse barracks. Maggie, boiling with anger, tells him the gist of the note, and Torrey promises to tell Jere personally before telling Maggie that Skyhook is starting very soon. She flings a farewell embrace on him and rushes away, as Torrey returns to HQ with his personal matters now weighing almost as much on his mind as his command responsibilities. First thing the next morning, Eddington dashes to the airfield and orders a long-range naval bomber prepared for him; he lifts off without telling a soul. Meanwhile, Torrey heads over to the PT boat base on the other side of the island, where he tells a grief-stricken Jere about Annalee and bids him farewell. He then repairs to HQ, where Mac has just arrived from Toulebonne, and sends Powell in search of Eddington before taking in a weather forecast. At the airfield, Powell finds out about Eddington's flight and summons Torrey and company, who arrive just as the radio operator makes contact. Eddington reports his position southwest of Cape Titan, but stops short as he sees a large task force heading south away from the cape. Ignoring a group of nearby Zero fighters, he drops out of the clouds for a closer look, counting twelve destroyers, four cruisers, and one gigantic battleship which he soon identifies as the Yamato - the largest and most heavily armed warship in the world. The Zeroes pounce on him again, and he has no time for evasive maneuvers before he and the bomber are destroyed. With the death of his best friend now compounding his concerns, Torrey dampens all optimism by concluding that the task force is headed straight for Levu-Vana to reinforce the land garrison. He decides to proceed with the invasion and then put back to sea with his own task group to try and stop the Japanese force at all costs. McConnel asks about a recommendation for a posthumous award to Eddington, but Torrey declines it, knowing that Eddington was trying to atone for his part in Annalee's death. Following the invasion, Torrey's cruisers and destroyers head for open sea to search and engage. They are unable at first to locate the enemy until they determine that the enemy is running through the narrow passage between Levu-Vana and neighboring Toko-Rota. Torrey orders the passage mined and the PT boats put in position. While waiting for a first report, he has a quiet conversation with Powell about battles at sea and the fear experienced by all men who take part in them - even admirals. All too soon, the Japanese reach the mine field, where several escorts are hit and disabled, prompting the PT boats to go in with guns blazing. The Japanese fight tooth and nail, and Jere, whose skipper is hit and killed by shrapnel, takes over command of his boat and manages to hit a heavy cruiser with two torpedoes before his boat is rammed and sunk by an enemy destroyer. The Yamato emerges from this stage of the battle unscathed. In the morning, amidst an unnervingly silent lull, Torrey receives the casualty report and is visibly devastated by the news of Jere's death in action. He is quiet but intent as he orders the destroyers to lay a smoke screen and prepare for the final engagement. The destroyers lay the screen as the cruisers turn broadside, lock and load, taking the first shots against the Japanese force. Many of the enemy escorts are hit hard; even the Yamato is lightly damaged, but presses on through the attack. Torrey orders evasive maneuvers as the Yamato opens fire. In spite of a number of hard course changes and pitched counterfire, the Americans are hopelessly outgunned, and the Yamato ultimately wrecks seven of their ships - Torrey's included. With the captain and bridge officers of his flagship killed, he attempts to take command but is hit and severely wounded by shell fragments from a magazine explosion. Mac, however, has stuck with him and gives the order to abandon ship, getting him into the water and onto a life raft. Torrey is in a coma for almost three weeks before he awakes aboard a hospital ship a day away from Pearl Harbor. His attending nurse summons Maggie, who rushes to his room to help him come around. She tells him all that transpired after he was knocked out - that he has lost his left leg and Mac is the only survivor of his staff. Torrey is all but traumatized, believing that he survived while the rest of his command was decimated to no good purpose. The next morning, with the hospital ship moored, Mac visits Torrey, telling him that the Japanese force turned tail and rushed back to Cape Titan for no fathomable reason. Admiral Nimitz comes aboard, and Torrey believes a court-martial is imminent until Nimitz sets him straight: he successfully turned back the Japanese task force and allowed Skyhook to take off, and the Japanese troops on Levu-Vana are now cornered. He further informs Torrey that he will be back in the Pacific theater on an artificial leg and commanding a new task force. Enlightened, Torrey drifts back to a well-earned sleep with Maggie watching over him.

Young ANN LAKE has just moved to England from America with her successful but controlling brother STEPHEN. The two are extremely close, with Stephen doting upon Ann. In a hurry the day she enrolls her child, BUNNY, in a private school, Ann leaves her in the First Day room and asks the school's female German COOK to watch her and then runs off to meet the movers and do errands. At noon, Ann returns to the school to pick up Bunny. To her increasing dismay, however, no one at the school seems to know where Bunny is or even who she is. Ann interrogates one of the school's staff, Elvira, who hasn't a clue about the child. When the arrogant Stephen arrives, he badgers Elvira further. Soon, SUPT. NEWHOUSE, an unflappable British police officer, arrives, looking into the matter. He talks with all parties involved, including ADA FORD, one of the school's elderly founders. The eccentric Ada resides in an upstairs room, where she's currently compiling a tome about childhood nightmares. Newhouse continues his investigation, tolerating the threats and barbs from Ann's increasingly accusatory brother, Stephen. But as Newhouse puts together Ann's profile, he begins to doubt her story in subtle ways. After all, since no one saw the child (the Cook has quit and disappeared) he has to wonder if Ann even has a child. Is she delusional, perhaps? The insinuation infuriates Stephen, but he seems to back it up with references to Ann having had an imaginary playmate named Bunny as a child. Ann must now try to find clues that her child really existed. She must also fend off her creepy new landlord, WILSON, an aging Lothario actor who's always drunk and carting about his little dog. The POLICE interrogate him, as well. When Stephen comes across Newhouse talking and drinking with Ann in a pub, he blows up at the officer, threatening and accusing him. As police attempt to locate the Cook, Ann's nightmare intensifies. Desperate for evidence that will prove the existence of her child, she suddenly remembers the claim check for a doll hospital that's repairing Bunny's doll. In spite of the late hour, Ann goes off in a cab after telling Stephen where she's going. In the meantime, Newhouse and his MEN look into the ship travel records that brought Ann and Bunny to England. Ann finds the doll shop, which, although closed, has an unlocked door. She locates the doll. Stephen has followed her, however, and once Ann presents him with the doll and goes off to deal with the Proprietor, Stephen gets a crazed look in his eye and sets the doll afire. Ann is horrified and Stephen strikes her and takes her to a hospital unconscious and leaves her. Ann escapes the hospital and locates Stephen in the remote house they originally temporarily lived in after arriving in England where he has Bunny hidden. Stephen is the kidnapper! Indeed, Stephen is so close to his sister Ann he found Bunny an intrusion in their relationship. Stephen has now lapsed into another identity - a more murderous one and likely an extension of their imaginary selves as children. He's now intent upon killing the child, so as to have sole access to his sister again. Ann gets Bunny away from the demented Stephen by engaging him in a series of children's games. Stephen chases Ann and Bunny, but Newhouse and the Police soon arrive, arresting the demented brother. They finally found the evidence they needed of the child's existence by way of the ship's passenger records.

Spoiled Cecile, 17, spends her summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy dad and Elsa. Anne, her late mom's friend, visits and brings changes to all. Cecile's a decadent young woman who lives a luxurious life with her wealthy playboy father, a widower. When his old love interest comes to vvisit, she gets more and more comfortable, making Cecile afraid that her lifestyle will end, and sets out to make sure it isn't. —Dragan Antulov <dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr> Spoiled 17-year-old Cecile's spending summer with her, widower hedonistic father. When am old love of his arrives for weekdays supposed to be a brief visit, Cecile becomes ever-more nervous that this visitor might have poems to usurp her father's love - now specifically, get luxurious life, and plans to get her out. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Parisians Raymond, a widower, and his 17-year-old daughter, who calls her father by his first name, live a life of privilege, decadence, and frivolity, with whomever else they fancy who wants to be part of that decadent lifestyle. They are currently on vacation on the French Riviera with Raymond's latest conquest, Elsa, who is as much a casual lover for Raymond as she is a playmate and fellow party-er for Cecile. Their lives change when they receive a visit from Anne, Cecile's mother's best friend. Raymond falls in love with Anne and they decide to get married. Cecile is initially happy for Raymond, seeing Anne as a stabilizing force in his life. But then she realizes that this stabilizing force also applies to her and will change the decadent life to which she's become accustomed. Enlisting help from Elsa and from her own latest beau, Philippe (of whom Anne doesn't approve), she sets out to do whatever is necessary to protect her lifestyle, not foreseeing how this plan will ultimately affect her life. —Huggo

Captured Americans coping with life in a German POW camp in World War II are puzzled by the simplicity with which the Germans are able to stave off escape attempts, shooting those who try. Sefton () is a POW who has profitably wagered with his fellow American prisoners that these escapes would fail. The POWs fear there may be an informer in their midst, but who is it? As it becomes clearer and clearer to his fellow inmates that Sefton has considerable contact with his German captors, his fellow POWs mistakenly conclude that he is the informer and they turn on him, including physically beating him and helping themselves to some of his belongings. Sefton understands in full that to clear his name, he must determine the identity of the real informer, and he is, eventually, able to work out that Price (), whose English is impeccable, is a German informant masquerading as an American POW. Written messages, Sefton discovers, are being smuggled by Price to the Germans through a hollow chess piece on the chessboard in the barracks, with phony air raid drills staged to enable the Germans to retrieve these messages undetected. Now realizing that Price has figured prominently in the death of the Americans that have attempted escape, Sefton plots revenge, and, after exposing Price's true identity to his fellow POWs, he maneuvers to force Price to make an unauthorized exit from the barracks. To the guards manning the tower, Price's exit looks like an American escape attempt, and they shoot him, much to the dismay of Stalag Commandant Von Scherbach (). The diversion created by the shooting incident gives Sefton a chance to escape, and he takes with him a brave lieutenant () who has recently been captured. Because of the measures of success against the Germans he had gained prior to his capture, the lieutenant is a marked man, but he and Sefton are successful in their escape attempt. The elimination of the German informer and the first successful escape by American POWs lift the spirits of the other POWs. ================================ A few days before Christmas, 1944, at the German prisoner-of-war camp, Stalag 17, two American POWs, Manfredi and Johnson, inmates of Barracks 4, are preparing an escape. The story's narrator, Cookie, one of the prisoners, suggests that there may be a traitor among the men of Barracks 4. The men have secretly been digging a tunnel from their latrine to a point just beyond the barbed-wire fence that marks the perimeter of the camp. After going over their plan to sneak into Switzerland, Manfredi and Johnson get out of the barracks through a trap door hidden under the wood-burning stove and sneak into the latrine. They crawl through the tunnel and begin digging to the surface beyond the barbed wire fence. Inside the barracks, the men speculate as to how long it will take their comrades to emerge beyond the fence. They begin to predict that the escapees will make it all the way when one of them, a shrewd man named Sefton, wagers two packs of cigarettes that the men won't even make it out of the nearby forest. The other men, most of whom dislike Sefton, wager against him. Outside, Manfredi and Johnson dig to the surface and are about leave when they are spotted by a small German squad outside the fence, who open fire, killing them both. Inside the barracks, the remaining prisoners, including Sefton, are disheartened, knowing their buddies could not possibly have escaped. The hot-headed Duke demands an explanation from the barracks' security officer, Price. Price says he doesn't have an answer. Meanwhile, Sefton and Cookie quietly gather up the cigarettes that Sefton has won in the bet and store them in a footlocker Sefton keeps under his bed. The next morning the entire camp is awakened for roll call. Barracks 4 is overseen by Sergeant Schultz, a jolly man whom the men have absolutely no trust for. In the camp's muster grounds, the men are addressed by the camp commandant, Oberst von Scherbach. Scherbach tells the men that his guards successfully prevented the escape from the night before and that no man has ever escaped from his camp alive. He also has the corpses of Manfredi and Johnson lying in the mud and uncovered for all the men to see. The Barracks 4 chief, Hoffy, protests the treatment of the bodies and demands they have a proper burial. Von Scherbach agrees to do so. Von Scherbach goes on, saying that being caught outside the barracks after lights out means summary execution. Also, the stove in Barracks 4 will be removed so it cannot be used to camouflage the trap door the men cut in the floor and the men will also dig up the tunnel they dug and fill it in. Von Scherbach also announces that each barracks will be given a small Christmas tree and that all the prisoners will go through delousing. One of the prisoners, the shellshocked Joey, begins to play his ocarina, which is gently taken away by another prisoner, Stanislaus "Animal" Kazawa (Animal makes Joey another one later as a Christmas present). While the commandant talks and uses a mocking tone, Animal slyly throws the ocarina at the water in front of the commandant, splashing his highly polished boots with mud. The Commandant demands the guilty man step forward. Animal does and is followed moments later by several other men. Eventually, the entire prisoner population steps forward, covering for Animal. The Commandant, temporarily flustered, cancels the Christmas trees and tells the men they'll be deloused with cold water from the camp's fire hoses. The men are dismissed. After the men have the opportunity to clean up in their latrines, and following a small incident where Animal is nearly shot for crossing the barbed-wire of the camp while lusting after Russian female prisoners, the men go back to their barracks for breakfast. Sefton fries himself an egg in front of the other prisoners and when questioned about how he paid for it, he tells them that he bartered for it using the cigarettes he'd won the night before. The other men are quite angry that Sefton would use cigarettes he'd gotten as a result of the deaths of their comrades, however, Sefton counters, saying that many other prisoners trade with the Germans and that life in the camp is such that thievery is common. One of the other prisoners, the short-tempered Duke, tells Sefton that collusion with the Germans could get him hurt or killed and small fight breaks out. Hoffy promptly breaks it up and Sefton, claiming he has indigestion, gives the fried egg to Joey. Price, the barracks security officer, asks Sefton how he could be so sure that Manfredi and Johnson wouldn't make it to freedom. Sefton says he didn't know for sure but he "liked the odds" of the situation. Sefton also angrily tells his comrades that they're wasting their time and risking their lives unnecessarily by trying to escape. Sefton plans to ride out the war as a prisoner and stay alive. The barracks of the camp share a ham radio that they keep hidden and use to listen to the BBC and other communications about the war. The radio is smuggled throughout the compound by Marko and his partner, Steve, who is on crutches having lost a leg in combat. They use his empty pantleg to hide various items, including the radio. When the radio is brought to Hoffy and Barracks 4, Marko tells them they can have it only for two days instead of a week; the traitor in their barracks is known to the rest of the camp and the other barracks chiefs fear the radio will be discovered. The men set up the radio immediately, using a few yards of chicken wire as the antenna, which doubles as their volleyball net. One of the prisoners, Blondie, is a radio expert and begins to report about military actions in Europe; the news he picks up is about the famous Battle of the Bulge. Just then, Schultz arrives to seize the barracks stove and the radio is cleverly hidden in a pail of water. Hoffy and Duke try to grill Schultz about the barracks spy but Schultz refuses to tell them anything. Schultz also notices that a signal from the spy has been left for him; a loop has been tied in the cord for one of the bare light bulbs hanging from the rafters. After he barks orders for the men to report outside to fill in the escape tunnel, he goes to the chess board and takes the black queen. Pulling off the crown, he sees a small note rolled up and hidden inside. He exchanges the queen for an identical piece, pulls the loop out of the cord and walks out. While the men uncover the escape tunnel they dug, they notice a horse-drawn cart going by with the coffins of Manfredi and Johnson. The men all remove their hats in respect. Cookie narrates for a while about Sefton himself who, despite the poor conditions of the camp, has built a substantial entrepreneurship for himself based mostly on the trading of cigarettes. Sefton has several successful businesses at his disposal including distilling schnapps from potato peels, horse races (he uses mice that run around a small track), and a telescope that the men use to peek into the delousing shack in the Russian compound where female prisoners are disinfected. Hoffy, Price and Duke are not pleased with Sefton's ventures, fearing that the Germans will find out and punish them more harshly than ever. During a session where Sefton has the telescope set up, Harry Shapiro and Animal try to sneak into the Russian prisoners camp to look inside the windows of the delousing shack, using a pot of white paint to mark a line down the center of the road. They're caught immediately by a German guard and escape when they slap him in the eyes with the brush, making it back to their camp successfully as their comrades cheer. A new prisoner arrives; Lieutenant James Dunbar, who is being housed at 17 until the Germans ship him to the officers camp. Dunbar is greeted warmheartedly and comically by the rest of the barracks. However, there is instant friction between him and Sefton. Sefton, from the same suburb of Boston, tells everyone that Dunbar is from a wealthy family and should be pampered during his stay. Dunbar lets the first few comments go but tells Sefton that he can resent his family's wealth but he should tread cautiously. Sefton tells Dunbar that his family fortune won't protect him in the camp. Sefton leaves the barracks, to an unknown destination. The rest of the men ask Dunbar about how he was captured & brought to the camp. He was shot down on a bombardment mission and had been on his feet for three days without any sleep. He'd have been brought to Stalag 17 earlier but there was a major delay coming out of Frankfurt: a German munitions train was destroyed just outside the city and snarled much of the Reichsbahn transport for miles around. The sergeant that accompanied Dunbar, Bagradian, tells everyone that it was Dunbar himself that blew up the train. Dunbar is modest about the incident but tells everyone that he'd rigged a simple time bomb and tossed it aboard the train as it was leaving the station. Schultz shows up unexpectedly, telling the men they'll be getting new blankets. A visit from a representative of the Geneva Conventions is due to show up in a few days & the Commandant wants to give the appearance that the camp is complying with regulations. Hoffy scoffs and says that they know the blankets will be confiscated after the Geneva agent leaves. Schultz also confiscates the radio, playing coy for a bit before revealing it's hiding place in the bucket. He also sees that a new message has been left for him by the spy. He orders the men outside to get their blankets and retrieves the hidden message. After the men file back into the barracks they turn on Cookie, demanding to know where Sefton has been for the past few hours. With Hoffy's permission, Animal breaks into Sefton's footlocker & discovers a wealth of contraband that Sefton has been hoarding, including a cuckoo clock and silk stockings. Duke appears and tells them that he knows where Sefton disappeared to: he's been over at the Russian women's barracks partying with them. In a fury, Hoffy smashes Sefton's prized telescope. When Sefton returns, he finds the men staring angrily at him and that his footlockers have been broken into. Hoffy and the rest of the men suggest that he's the German spy they've been unable to identify. Sefton claims he's innocent and that the men should hold a kangaroo court. The Commandant suddenly makes an appearance and arrests Dunbar for suspicion of sabotaging the train that was destroyed near Frankfurt. Dunbar is taken into custody and the men become angrier with Sefton, immediately suspecting him. They turn on him and he is brutally beaten. The next morning, on Christmas Eve, the men are rousted out by Schultz to receive Red Cross parcels, brought by the Geneva agent. A mistaken shipment leaves the men with a large supply of ping-pong balls. Sefton is nearly unable to get out of bed and Schultz notices that he's been severely beaten. Sefton tries to bribe Schultz into revealing the identity of the traitor but is rebuffed. When the other prisoners walk in on them, their belief in Sefton as the traitor is reinforced. Hoffy tells Sefton that he tried to get Sefton transferred to another barracks but couldn't. Sefton tells everyone that he'll find out who the traitor is. Schultz walks in with the Geneva agent, who inspects the barracks and sees through the ruse of beautifying the camp: the blankets smell of moth balls & the meat promised in the men's meal is missing. When he asks Price and Harry about the conditions they live in, they both give non-committal answers but refuse to speak up about problems. When he questions Sefton about his obvious injuries, Sefton refuses to rat out his fellow prisoners. Hoffy takes the opportunity to tell the agent about Dunbar being taken to the Commandant's quarters without formal charges and the agent promises to investigate. At the Commandant's apartment, Dunbar is being forced to stand upright in an attempt to make him confess. Dunbar has held out but is rapidly becoming weaker with the lack of sleep he had while being taken to the camp. After talking a bit about how he became a prison camp warden, he places a call to his superior to let him know he has caught the saboteur responsible for the Frankfort train explosion. When the Geneva agent arrives, he asks about Lt Dunbar. The agent tells Von Scherbach that he cannot torture Dunbar in this manner without proof. The Commandant agrees and says he'll find out about the time bomb Dunbar allegedly used. Later in the day, the men celebrate with a small tree they decorate with their dog tags, smuggled to them by Marko and Steve. The men have traded Sefton's distillery equipment for the camp's phonograph and begin to sing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Price steals away from the group and sees that the cord for the light used to flag a message has been looped. Revealing himself as the traitor, he's able to switch the black queen for a new one. When the marching line of his barracksmates catches up to him, he enthusiastically joins them. Sefton, still recovering in his bed, notices that the loop in the cord is gone. Later, while playing horseshoes with Bagradian, Price asks him how the Lieutenant could have carried any explosive device with him through the German prisoner searches in the train station. Bagradian tells him Dunbar simply folded a lit cigarette into a book of matches. When the cigarette burned down it lit the matches, causing a fire that detonated the ammunition. That night the men gather around the tree and sing "O, Come All Ye Faithful". Sefton notices that the loop in the cord has reappeared. The solemnity of the evening is ruined when the camp lights go out & Schultz tells them all to evacuate and take refuge in the trenches used in case of bombings. Schultz waits until everyone leaves and begins talking in German to Price, who'd lingered behind to make sure the barrack was empty. He shows Schultz how Dunbar sabotaged the train using the method Bagradian told him about. After they leave, Sefton steps out from a hiding spot, having heard the whole conversation. On Christmas Day the men throw a party in their barracks with music and much of the liquor and wine that Sefton had been hoarding. Sefton talks to a suspicious Cookie about the traitor in their midst. Sefton talks about the potential consequences of revealing the traitor to the others & what punishment they'd face if they killed the man outright. Sefton suggests that a well-constructed plan to rid themselves of the traitor and appear blameless is needed. Cookie suggests that Sefton tell Hoffy or Price. Sefton takes the suggestion to heart. Hoffy shows up and announces that the SS has arrived to take Dunbar into custody -- his method for destroying the ammo train has been uncovered. Hoffy tells the men that they've come up with a plan to rescue Dunbar from the SS. All the men from the other barracks will disperse outside and help with a diversion. Sefton seizes the opportunity to demand that he stay in the barracks & be guarded by someone they trust -- Sefton suggests Price. Outside, the men have Steve drop a smudge pot crafted from ground ping-pong balls from his empty pantleg onto the mud near the SS agents car. When the cover from it is thick enough, also making it impossible for the tower guards to open fire, a small group of the men rush the SS guards and grab Dunbar, hiding him. The commandant is furious and runs checks of every man against their records. The barracks are thoroughly searched and the prisoners are forced to stand in the appelplatz for six straight hours, however Dunbar is never found. It is later revealed that Dunbar is hiding out in one of the water towers above one of the latrines. That night Hoffy calls a meeting where they'll collect everyone's dog tags, with the notable exception of Joey and Sefton, and draw the name of the man who will get Dunbar out of the water tower and out of the camp through the barbed wire. When the name is drawn, Price takes the tag and says he'll go. He figures that his work as barracks security chief has been less than adequate and he'd like to make it up to the men. Another trap door is cut in the floor and as he prepares to leave, Sefton steps forward and announces another wager that Dunbar will never make it out of the camp. The men are instantly furious with him but he slowly begins to reveal Price as the traitor: he approaches Price and asks him where he was when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Price slips up, saying he was having dinner at six in the evening, but in Germany, when America was getting the news earlier in the day. Sefton tells everyone that Price had sworn loyalty to his family's homeland and had gone back to Germany when the war broke out, he'd been trained as spy and was planted in the camp. Price tries to escape through the trap door but is easily caught and subdued. Sefton then tells everyone that he'll be the man to get Dunbar out -- he likes the odds because now they can use Price as a decoy. Considering that he'd sent Johnson and Manfredi out to their deaths when they tried to escape, Hoffy and the other prisoners are eager for payback. They'll throw him out the door with cans tied to his leg and he'll draw the searchlights and gunfire from the Germans in the guard towers. Sefton slips down through the trapdoor, bidding everyone a sardonic farewell and sneaks over to the latrine. He gets a freezing Dunbar down from the water tank and waits for the signal from his comrades. When Price is thrown out into the appelplatz he draws fire from all the towers, despite his cries for help in German. As he desperately tries to approach the commandant's offices, he's gunned down. At the edge of the camp, Sefton cuts through the wire fence and he and Dunbar escape into the woods. In the appelplatz, the commandant and Schultz first smile at the corpse lying the mud but are quickly chagrined to find that it's not Dunbar, but Price. In the barracks, the men reflect on how well Sefton's plan worked. The Animal suggests that Sefton merely wanted to steal their wirecutters. Cookie happily begins whistling the theme of the Army Air Force.