Escape and evasion movies, both new and old, about WWII that come to our attention will be featured here. Links provide further detail. Our thanks to Richard Shandor, Dirk Vijverman, Edouard Reniere, and Franck Signorile for their suggestions of films and documentaries to add to the list. This page was started in Sept. 2021. We will welcome suggestions for additions. Please contact the webmaster with your suggestions.
New Films
“Wolf Hound” (expected 2021)
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- Based on the real life Nazi program KG 200, Wolf Hound chronicles the story of a Jewish-American pilot shot down behind enemy lines. With little more than his wits and a sidearm, he must outsmart a brilliant enemy, rescue his captured crew, and foil a plot that could change the course of the war. For more information, see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7319486/. For scenes from the film, see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7319486/mediaviewer/rm2383780865/. The Yankee Air Museum in Michigan allowed the filmmakers to use the original “Rosie the Riveter” bomber plant hanger as a major filming location. The museum also offered their North American B-25 Mitchell bomber and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, of which there are only ten still flying. Below is a scene from the film.
“Masters of the Air” – War drama miniseries based on the actions of the 8th Air Force during WWII. Filming was under way in 2021. For more see the Wikipedia article.and the following:
Belgian Films
- “Diane” – Amanda Stassart interviews:
- Part 1 (Témoignage d’Amanda “Mouchka” Stassart part.1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw_dIMwnv6M
- Part 2 (Témoignage d’Amanda “Mouchka” Stassart part2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1rIWOKK4s
- “I’ve Got a Secret” TV show of Dec. 10, 1958. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXNIT1cyDMM). The mysterious person is Anne Brusselmans. She is in the company of four U.S. airmen she helped as part of her activities in the Comète escape line: John Chernosky (E&E 1794), Martin Minnich (E&E 229), Stanley Lepkowski (evaded/captured/POW see https://www.evasioncomete.be/flepkowse.html), and Paul Shipe (E&E 237). Her husband, Julian Brusselmans, also appears.)
- “Nadine” – Andrée Dumon interviews:
- Part 1 (Témoignage d’Andrée Dumont Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gutW9K_-bA0
- Part 2 (Témoignage d’Andrée Dumont Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhCzGqgZrLc
Dutch Films
- “Black Book, The” – With Carrice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Haline Reijn. About the Dutch Resistance.
- De Overval (1962). About the Blokhuispoort prison in Leeuwarden and a famous raid on the prison by the Resistance. To view the movie on YouTube, click here. In Dutch. For an English-language article on the raid, “Raid on House of Detention in Leeuwarden,” click here. IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056321/?ref_=ttls_li_tt.
- “Forgotten Battle, The”. About the Battle of the Scheldt and the role of the Resistance. English subtitles. With Susan Radder, Tom Felton, Gijs Blom, Jamie Flatters, Marthe Schneider, Mark van Eeuwen, etc. Excellent dramatization.
- “Reckoning, The, Remembering the Dutch Resistance”. In English or English subtitles.
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBB4xN9VowY
- “Resistance Banker, The” With Jacob Derwig, Barry Atsma, Fockeline Ouwerkerk. About the Dutch Resistance.
- “Soldier of Orange” with Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbe, Derek de Lint, Edward Fox, Susan Penhaligon, etc.
- “Way to Freedom, More than 1080 (Weg naar de Vrijheid, Meer dan 1080)”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x96V6SiqMlc. This is a 1967 documentary by Dick Verkijk on the Dutch-Paris Line which helped Dutch Jews and Allied airmen. In Dutch.
- “Wartime in Winter” with Martijn Lakemeijer, Neal Adrian Lewis, etc.
- “Zes Jaren (Those Years)”, a 1946 film featuring members of a student Resistance group at Leiden University. Features Elisabeth (Elsie) Boon and Jan Glastra van Loon playing themselves. In Dutch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t0Gh3rj5Rg.
French Films
- “La grande Vadrouille” (“The Great Stroll”) (in the UK, “Don’t Look Now… We’re Being Shot At!”), French-British comedy. With Bourvil, Louis de Funès, Claudio Brook, Terry-Thomas, etc.
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande_Vadrouille
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060474/
- Amazon DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Grande-Vadrouille-Bourvil/dp/B00B1PPAE4
- Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/be/movie/la-grande-vadrouille/umc.cmc.6xog0rj0223nurc1xbcxn61zt
- 123Movies: https://123moviesfree.app/movie/la-grande-vadrouille-kw956/ykqrlyj
- UWATCHFREE: https://www.uwatchfree.ph/2021/04/la-grande-vadrouille-1966-full-movie/
- PlayPilot: https://www.playpilot.com/ca/movie/don-t-look-now-we-re-being-shot/
- “Michael Moore and The Museum of Tolerance present Collette“, documentary about Resistance worker, Collette. In French with English subtitles. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39eX1W8a6Ao&t=186s
Portuguese Films
- “Aristides de Sousa Mendes: A Rebel”
- “The Consul of Bordeaux”. This is the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man who issued 30,000 visas for safe passage to Portugal during WWII, in June 1940, defying the direct orders of his government. Among them were 10,000 Jews.
Escape and Evasion Via Switzerland
- “The Last Chance” (“Die Letze Chance”), full-length film by MGM Intl. with evadees in the cast. English subtitles. https://www.b17museum.ch/news_e.php?id=103
General Escape and Evasion Films
- “A Call to Spy”
- Netflix video about Virginia Hall, Noor Inayat Khan, and Ver Atkins – https://www.netflix.com/title/81318865
- IMD: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7698468/
- Actors include Sarah Megan Thomas (also writer of the screenplay), Stana Katic, and Radhika Apte.
- Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Call_to_Spy
- Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/22/a-call-to-spy-review-meticulous-depiction-of-female-war-time-agents
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Call-Spy-Sarah-Megan-Thomas/dp/B08KBJHCPP
- “Across the Waters” (Danish name: “Fuglene Over Sundet”)
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHmHeDfOUpU
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4838486/
- Amazon DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Across-Waters-David-Dencik/dp/B07V3NRRYQ
- Menemsha Films: https://www.menemshafilms.com/across-the-waters
- CJN (Canadian Jewish News): https://www.cjnews.com/culture/entertainment/danish-rescue-film-inspired-true-events
- “As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me” (see links below for cast)
- “Birdmen, The”, with Doug McClure, Rene Auberjois, Richard Basehart, etc.
- “Brady’s Escape” (aka “The Long Ride”; original title Hosszú Vágta) with John Savage, Kelly Reno, and Ildiko Bansagi.
- IDMb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085688/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady%27s_Escape
- Rare War Films: https://www.rarewarfilms.com/brady-s-escape-1984-aka-the-long-ride.html
- Time Out.com movies: https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-long-ride
- “Breakout” (“Danger Within”) with Richard Todd, Bernard Lee, Michael Wilding, Richard Attenborough.
- “Break to Freedom (“Albert, RN)”
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045487/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_R.N.
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqq5ILp7XK0
- “Bridge Too Far, A“, with Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine, James Caan, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Hardy Kruger, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O’Neal, Robert Redford, Maximilian Schell, Liv Ullmann, etc.
- “Colditz” with Damian Lewis, Sophia Myles, Tom Hardy, Lawrence Fox
- “Colditz Story, The” with Eric Portman, Lionel Jeffries, Christopher Rhodes, Bryan Forbes, Richard Wattis, John Mills, etc.
- “Coming Out Party, A (“A Very Important Person)” with James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, Eric Sykes. Comedy.
- “Commemoration of Allied Airmen Deported to Buchenwald” produced in 2014. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzhRqDNBGQ0.
- “Cross of Lorraine, The” with Gene Kelly, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Lorre, Hume Cronyn, Cedric Hardwick, Richard Whorf, etc.
- “Desperate Journey” with Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan. Allied pilots shot down behind enemy lines. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Journey. Imdb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Journey. ImdB: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Journey
- “Escape from Auschwitz”
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa3H_l4e1v4
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10944744/
- “Escape from Sobibor”
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oH5Of6iDwQ
- Wikipedia:
- “Escape from Sobibor” (1987). With Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, Joanna Pascula, Hartmut Becker, etc. About the “most successful prisoner escape in WWII.”
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQLQ1DrnvO0
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Sobibor
- “Escape from Stalin’s Death Camp”
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbzH0e90HwA
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5591786/
- “Escape to Athena” with David Niven, Telly Savalas, Roger Moore, Claudia Cardinale, Stefanie Powers, Elliott Gould, Sonny Bono, etc.
- “Escape to Victory” with Pelé, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Osvaldo Ardiles, Bobby Moore, Max von Sydow, etc.
- “Gaston’s War” with Werner de Smedt, Stuart Laing, Peter Firth, Olivia Williams, Clive Smith, Stefan Perceval, etc. About the Flemish Resistance in WWII.
- “Grande Illusion, La“ with Erich von Stroheim, Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Dita Parlo, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, etc. About French soldiers’ escape attempts in WWI.
- “Great Escape, The” with Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, etc.
- Review of the movie.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Escape_(film).
- AmazonPrime: Available for rent.
- “Great Escape II: The Untold Story, The”. With Christopher Reeve, Judd Hirsch, Tony Denison, Donald Pleasance. 1988 TV movie.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095252/?ref_=ttls_li_tt.
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Escape_II:_The_Untold_Story
- AmazonPrime: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Escape-II-Untold-Story/dp/B0845RS4T7
- “Great Escape from Stalag Luft III – Alex Bristow’s Journey as an RAF Bomber Command Pilot and POW” – Illustrated documentary by his daughter.
- “Great Escapes of World War II, The” with Ed Asner, Lucie Aubrac, Raymond Aubrac, etc.
- “Great Raid, The” with Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, Connie Niessen, Cesar Montano, Natalie Mendoza, etc. Americans in Japanese POW camp.
- “Hannibal Brooks” with Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard, Karin Baal, Peter Carsten, Helmuth Lohner, Wolfgang Preiss, etc.
- “Inn of Sixth Happiness, The” with Ingrid Bergman
- “Last Best Hope”: PBS documentary
- Amazon DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Best-Hope-Evasion-Remembrance/dp/B000ILYYXU
- Briscoe Center for American History: https://briscoecenter.org/about/news/belgian-resistance-and-u-s-p-47-pilot-featured-in-last-best-hope-a-pbs-documentary/
- Documentary on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zECvEQuJzqw
- “Last Escape, The” with Stuart Whitman, John Collin, Martin Jarvis, etc.
- Note that the film’s titles do not appear until approx. 7:58 minutes into the film.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065966/
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xF7cTvMmAg
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Escape_(1970_film)
- “Last Passage, The” (documentary):
- “Long Road Home, The” with Elliott Hasler, Matthew Wyn Davies, and Pete Walsh
- “Lost Airmen of Buchenwald”, documentary by Michael Dorsey. First issued in September 2011 with an updated version in 2021 (see his website at https://www.mikedorseyfilm.com/ and the film’s trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P46Xnmiogw ). He is the grandson of one of the “168 of Buchenwald”, 2nd Lt Elmer Clayton Freeman, pilot of B-26 Serial 42-96143, shot down over France on 8 May 1944. After evading capture for more than 2 months, he was caught in a trap set by French traitor Jacques Désoubrie, put in the Fresnes Prison in Paris, then sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Ended up in Stalag Luft 3, liberated by US troops on 29 April 1945. For a brief explanation of the fate of those airmen, most of whom had initially evaded capture with the help of French citizens and members of the Résistance, see Phil Lamason’s page at https://www.evasioncomete.be/flamasopj.html .
- “Man Escaped, A”. With François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod, etc. About a member of the French Resistance, imprisoned, scheduled to be executed, who escapes.
- “Max Manus: Man of War” –
- ImDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029235/
- Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Max-Manus-Man-of-War/197301
- “McKenzie Break, The”. During WW2, German POWs in Britain plot to escape from their prison camp in Scotland. With Brian Keith, Helmut Griem, Ian Hendry, Jack Watson.
- “One of Our Aircraft is Missing”. With Godfrey Tearle, Eric Portman, Hugh Williams, Bernard Miles, Hugh Burden, Emrys Jones, Googie Withers, Pamela Brown.
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_of_Our_Aircraft_Is_Missing
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035153/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBueIQSltMI
- “One That Got Away, The”. With Hardy Kruger, Colin Gordon, Michael Goodliffe.
- German fighter pilot shot down over the UK in 1940 makes attempts to escape.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050803/?ref_=ttls_li_tt
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_That_Got_Away_(1957_film)
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000A08LY?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_amazon&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_amazon-20
- “Passage, The” with Anthony Quinn, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell, etc.
- “Password is Courage, The” with Dirk Bogarde, Maria Peschy, Nigel Stock, Alfred Lund, Richard Mameer, etc.
- “The Real Great Escape – Codename Tom, Dick, & Harry” Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEMW2svLTF8. “Stalag Lufte III: The POWs Who Escaped the Nazi Fortress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgshIFRrp1I. “Visiting Stalag Luft III: The Real Great Escape” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVCza1YUq0w; “The Real Great Escape from Stalag Luft III” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyBFnYPRFvU “The Untold Story of the Great Escape” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaUU-0-4a3g .
- “Réseau Shelburn, Le” with Alexandra Robert, Laurent Chandemerle, and Brice Ormain. “The Shelburn Network” a film by Nicolaus Guillou.”Synopsis: During the Second World War more than 10,000 Allied planes fell on French soil. From 1943 to 1944, the Shelburn Network was set up by the Allies and the French Resistance to evacuate airmen to England. Right in the occupied territory, the evacuation point was set up on the coast of Brittany in the Côtes du Nord at Plouha. Will the courage of these men and women be enough for the operation to be a success?”
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11046384/
- French trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0cRjbUXXFE
- French trailer: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7qj0xc
- Vodistribution: http://vodistribution.fr/shelburn/?fbclid=IwAR2D25suaEOD-hdHuWNU5G59_e0AenHm7-ooUK8Ypzjg0o0KdD7c_vu-L48
- Resistance 1942 with Jason Patric. See review in The Guardian at https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/04/resistance-1942-review.
- “Scarlet and the Black, The” with Gregory Peck, Christopher Plummer, John Gielgud, and Raf Vallone. “Based on J. P. Gallagher’s book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican (published in 1967), the film tells the story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a real-life Irish Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome.” (Wikipedia article)
- “Stalag 17” with William Holden, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, Otto Preminger, Don Taylor, Sig Ruman, etc.
- “Stalag Luft”. Comedy with Stephen Fry, Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Geoffrey Palmer.
- “T-34” (Russian POW escape story) with Irina Starshenbaur, Vinzenz Kiefer, Aleksander Petrov, Viktor Dobronravov, Yuriy Borisov, Artyom Bystrov, etc.
- “To End All Wars”.
- “Twelfth Man” (“12th Man, The”) with Thomas Gullestad as Jan Baalsrud.
- “Varian’s War”. With William Hurt, Howard Ryshpan, Carol Shamy.
- “Victory”. With Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Pelé.
- “Von Ryan’s Express” with Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carra, Brad Dexter, Edward Mulhare, James Brolin, etc.
- “Way Back, The” with Saoirse Ronan, Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Gustaf Skarsgard, Mark Strong, etc. Escape from a Siberian gulag to India.
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Back_(2010_film)
- BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11900920
- AmazonPrime: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Back-Ed-Harris/dp/B004XACT1G
- AmazonPrime: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Back-Ed-Harris/dp/B07HDQMRZS/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3P7XVCRGKWGO1&dchild=1&keywords=the+way+back&qid=1633297306&s=instant-video&sprefix=The+Way+Back%2Cinstant-video%2C240&sr=1-4
- “Wooden Horse, The” with Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel.
- “WWII’s Great Escapes: The Freedom Trails” – Former marine Monty Halls retraces the routes of great escapes from Nazi territory, meeting surviving escapees and locals who risked their lives to help them.
WWII Films But Not Involving Escapes
- “Appointment in London (Raiders in the Sky)” – Dirk Bogarde, Ian Hunter, Bryan Forbes, Dinah Sheridan, etc. Detailed bombing mission in the latter part of the film.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045513/
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCissO6gMUI
Interviews with Allied Airmen and Their Helpers
For interviews with Allied airmen and their helpers posted elsewhere on this website, go to “AFEES Evade! dvd; Interviews”.
Underground Railroad
- “Underground Railroad: The William Still Story” – DVD and future airings on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/home/