The War Collection Volume 3

Trio of classic war films. Adapted from the classic novel ‘The Tunnel Escape’ by Eric Williams, ‘The Wooden Horse’ (1950) is the story of British POWs trying to escape from a Nazi camp through a tunnel underneath their exercise horse. As their huts are too far from the boundary, one of the officers decides to start a daily gymnastics session, close to the boundary, in order to make digging a tunnel a lot easier and less likely to arouse suspicion. In ‘They Who Dare’ (1953), German planes are disrupting the lines of communication between the Allies and their forces in Africa at the height of WWI. Lieutenant Graham (Dirk Bogarde) leads a raiding party on German-controlled airfields in Rhodes to free the airwaves from enemy interference. ‘Cross of Iron’ (1977), director Sam Peckinpah’s only war film, follows the story of a doomed German platoon facing annihilation at the hands of the Russians in 1943. Non-Nazi German soldier Steiner (James Coburn) resents the arrival of arrogant Prussian Stransky (Maximillian Schell) as his new commanding officer. Stransky is desperate to win an Iron Cross – a medal Steiner has already earned, but considers worthless – and so promotes the highly-recommended Steiner to sergeant. During a siege, Stransky hides in his bunker, terrified of battle, only to later file a report claiming that he himself led a victorious counter-attack. However, when Steiner disputes this Stransky takes measures to remove him.