Sneak preview of Polish 'Great Escape' movie
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
26.03.2014 10:22
A screening of a new docudrama that picks up the story of cult American movie The Great Escape was held on Tuesday in Szczecin, northern Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the WWII breakout.
Screening of The Great Escape to the North at Szczecin's Kino Helios. Photo: PAP/Marcin Bieliecki
Director Andrzej Fader's film The Great Escape to the North will serve as a kind of epilogue to the earlier movie.
Fader takes up the story of Norwegian RAF pilots Lieutenant Jens Muller and Sergeant Peter Bergsland, two of the 76 allied officers who escaped via tunnels from the infamous Nazi German POW camp in Sagan (today Zagan in Poland).
The docudrama follows the pair's clandestine journey to the then German city of Stettin (Szczecin) and the ultimate bid for freedom over the Baltic to Sweden.
The producers have revealed that a “sensational plot” was discovered during the making of the film concerning a Pole and an Englishman who also made it to Szczecin.
The story of Captain Harry 'Wings' Day and Flying Officer Pawel Tobolski has been woven into the docudrama.
Of the 76 inmates who escaped from the POW camp on 24 March 1944, 73 were captured and 50 were executed, including six Poles.
Lieutenant Jens Muller and Sergeant Peter Bergsland were two of the lucky three that made it to safety.
The premiere of The Great Escape to the North is planned for November 2014. An exhibition about the making of the film is currently on show at Szczecin's Kino Helios, where Tuesday's screening took place. (nh)
Source: PAP