The Wooden Horse
Encyclopedia
The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film starring Leo Genn
, Anthony Steel and David Tomlinson
and directed by Jack Lee
. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams
, who also wrote the screenplay.
The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by British POWs
in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III
. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners used to conceal their escape attempt.
—the same POW
camp where the real events depicted in the film The Great Escape
took place—and involved Williams, Michael Codner and Oliver Philpot
, all inmates of the camp.
The prisoners were faced with the problem of digging an escape tunnel
despite the accommodation huts, within which the tunnel entrance could be concealed, being a considerable distance from the perimeter fence
. They came up with an ingenious way of digging the tunnel with its entrance located in the middle of an open area relatively near the perimeter fence and using a vaulting horse
(constructed largely from plywood from Canadian Red Cross parcels) to cover the entrance.
Each day they carried the horse out to the same spot, with a man hidden inside. The prisoners would then begin a gymnastic
exercise using the vaulting horse, while the concealed man dug down below the horse. At the finish of the exercises the digger placed wooden boards, cut to fit the aperture, in the hole, and filled the space with sandbags and dry sand kept for the purpose - wet sand taken from below the surface would be darker and hence give away the activities.
Eventually, as the tunnel lengthened, two men were hidden inside the horse while a larger group of men exercised, the two men continuing the tunnel digging. At the end of the day they would again conceal the tunnel entrance and hide inside the horse while it was carried back to their hut. They also had to devise a method of disposing of the earth coming out of the tunnel. For the final breakout Codner hid in the tunnel during an Appel, before three men were carried over in the horse: the third to replace the tunnel trap.
All three made it to neutral Sweden
. Williams and Codner travelled together, whilst Philpot travelled alone. Philpot, posing as a Norwegian
margarine
manufacturer and travelling by train via Danzig (now Gdansk
), was the first to make it to neutral territory.
The film was shot in a low-key style, fairly soon after the war, with a limited budget and a cast including many amateur actors. It contributed to establishing the genre of British
prisoner of war escape films. Some details from Williams' book were not used in the film, e.g. the escaped POWs discussing the possibility of visiting potentially neutral "whorehouses" in Germany. (The idea was abandoned because of fear that it might be a trap, not out of prudishness.)
's later book The Stolen Journey the author made it clear that he initially thought the plan was "crackers", telling its inventors "I give it a couple of days!". Nevertheless, Philpot helped with the sand dispersal, and later with the actual digging - at which point he was invited to take part in the escape.
The actor Peter Butterworth
, who appeared in many of the Carry On films
, was one of the vaulters in the real-life escape. He applied for a role in the subsequent film but didn't get a part as he didn't look convincingly heroic and athletic enough.
Leo Genn
- Early life :He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London, England to a Jewish family. His father, Woolfe Genn, was a jewellery salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson....
, Anthony Steel and David Tomlinson
David Tomlinson
David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English film actor. He is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug.-Early life:Born...
and directed by Jack Lee
Jack Lee (film director)
Jack Lee was a film director, writer, editor and producer.Wilfred John Raymond Lee was born in the village of Slad near Stroud in Gloucestershire...
. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams
Eric Williams (writer)
Eric Williams was an English writer and former Second World War RAF pilot and POW who wrote several books dealing with his escapes from prisoner-of-war camps, most famously in his 1949 novel The Wooden Horse, made into a 1950 movie of the same name.-Capture:RAF Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams was...
, who also wrote the screenplay.
The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by British POWs
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners used to conceal their escape attempt.
Plot
This true story is set in Stalag Luft IIIStalag Luft III
Stalag Luft III was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was in the German Province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan , southeast of Berlin...
—the same POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp where the real events depicted in the film The Great Escape
The Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
took place—and involved Williams, Michael Codner and Oliver Philpot
Oliver Philpot
Oliver Lawrence Spurling Philpot, MC, DFC was a Canadian born World War II RAF pilot and subsequently a businessman, best known for being one of the three men to successfully escape from Stalag Luft III in the escape known as The Wooden Horse.After escaping Philpot wrote a book Stolen Journey in...
, all inmates of the camp.
The prisoners were faced with the problem of digging an escape tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
despite the accommodation huts, within which the tunnel entrance could be concealed, being a considerable distance from the perimeter fence
Perimeter fence
A perimeter fence is a structure that circles the perimeter of an area to prevent access. These fences are frequently made out of single vertical metal bars connected at the top and bottom with a horizontal bar. They often have spikes on the top to prevent climbing. Residential perimeter fences are...
. They came up with an ingenious way of digging the tunnel with its entrance located in the middle of an open area relatively near the perimeter fence and using a vaulting horse
Vault (gymnastics)
The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. Vaulting is also the action of performing a vault. Both male and female gymnasts perform the vault...
(constructed largely from plywood from Canadian Red Cross parcels) to cover the entrance.
Each day they carried the horse out to the same spot, with a man hidden inside. The prisoners would then begin a gymnastic
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
exercise using the vaulting horse, while the concealed man dug down below the horse. At the finish of the exercises the digger placed wooden boards, cut to fit the aperture, in the hole, and filled the space with sandbags and dry sand kept for the purpose - wet sand taken from below the surface would be darker and hence give away the activities.
Eventually, as the tunnel lengthened, two men were hidden inside the horse while a larger group of men exercised, the two men continuing the tunnel digging. At the end of the day they would again conceal the tunnel entrance and hide inside the horse while it was carried back to their hut. They also had to devise a method of disposing of the earth coming out of the tunnel. For the final breakout Codner hid in the tunnel during an Appel, before three men were carried over in the horse: the third to replace the tunnel trap.
All three made it to neutral Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Williams and Codner travelled together, whilst Philpot travelled alone. Philpot, posing as a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
manufacturer and travelling by train via Danzig (now Gdansk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
), was the first to make it to neutral territory.
The film was shot in a low-key style, fairly soon after the war, with a limited budget and a cast including many amateur actors. It contributed to establishing the genre of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
prisoner of war escape films. Some details from Williams' book were not used in the film, e.g. the escaped POWs discussing the possibility of visiting potentially neutral "whorehouses" in Germany. (The idea was abandoned because of fear that it might be a trap, not out of prudishness.)
Cast
- Leo GennLeo Genn- Early life :He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London, England to a Jewish family. His father, Woolfe Genn, was a jewellery salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson....
as Peter - David TomlinsonDavid TomlinsonDavid Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English film actor. He is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug.-Early life:Born...
as Phil - Anthony Steel as John
- David Greene as Bennett
- Peter BurtonPeter BurtonPeter Burton was an English film and television actor born in Bromley, England. His biggest claim to fame is being the first actor to portray Major Boothroyd, better known as Q, in the first James Bond film, Dr. No...
as Nigel - Patrick WaddingtonPatrick WaddingtonPatrick Waddington was an English actor, educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. Born and died in York, England.-Filmography:*Department S: Who Plays the Dummy? - NATO General...
as the Senior British Officer - Michael GoodliffeMichael GoodliffeLawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts....
as Robbie - Anthony DawsonAnthony DawsonAnthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...
as Pomfret - Bryan ForbesBryan ForbesBryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
as Paul - Dan CunninghamDan CunninghamDan Cunningam was an actor who made few screen appearances but was a noted professional stage actor, performing at Eichstätt. In 1955, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's Richard III.-References:**...
as David - Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
as the Australian in Hospital - Philip Dale as Bill White
- Russell WatersRussell WatersRussell Waters was a Scottish film actor.Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then appeared in repertory theatre, at the Old Vic and in the West End. On screen Waters generally...
as 'Wings' Cameron - Ralph Ward as the Adjutant
Trivia
The Wooden Horse plan itself was actually conceived and entirely thought through by Williams and Michael Codner in equal measures. In Oliver PhilpotOliver Philpot
Oliver Lawrence Spurling Philpot, MC, DFC was a Canadian born World War II RAF pilot and subsequently a businessman, best known for being one of the three men to successfully escape from Stalag Luft III in the escape known as The Wooden Horse.After escaping Philpot wrote a book Stolen Journey in...
's later book The Stolen Journey the author made it clear that he initially thought the plan was "crackers", telling its inventors "I give it a couple of days!". Nevertheless, Philpot helped with the sand dispersal, and later with the actual digging - at which point he was invited to take part in the escape.
The actor Peter Butterworth
Peter Butterworth
Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk'...
, who appeared in many of the Carry On films
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
, was one of the vaulters in the real-life escape. He applied for a role in the subsequent film but didn't get a part as he didn't look convincingly heroic and athletic enough.
External links
- The actual story - WOODEN HORSE ESCAPE KIT PRESENTED TO IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM
- The Wooden Horse at ScreenonlineScreenonlineScreenonline is a Web site devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund.Reviews...