September 20 movie: Stalag 17. If "favorite movie" is determined by the movies you can watch over and over, this has to be one of my top 3, if not my all-time favorite. With most movies I love, I can't watch them too often or eventually I get tired of them. I can't remember that ever happening with Stalag 17. Every time I stumble across it on TCM, I have to watch the whole thing.
I read a criticism of Billy Wilder's comedy recently, which basically boiled down to "he's not funny." I don't agree with that, but it's true that the humor in Stalag 17 doesn't work as well as his great comedies like Some Like It Hot. There were some gags (mainly focused on the two comic relief characters and their obsession with girls in general, and Betty Grable in particular) that fell a little flat. But still, the movie hangs together so well, maintains the pace and the momentum so perfectly, that I hate to offer even that small criticism. I love the combination of tension and boredom, which I've heard was characteristic of WWII POW camps. I love Sig Ruman as the original Sgt. Shultz. I love how (major spoiler) the tallest, handsomest guy is the villain. And I love how William Holden's character finds his moment to save the day, without changing his basic personality. He's a greedy, abrasive jerk at the beginning of the movie, and he's a heroic, greedy, abrasive jerk at the end.
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That one blew me away the first time I saw it. I grew up watching Fury, so it never once entered my head that HE might be the traitor!
And then they did the same damn thing to me again in the first Mission: Impossible movie. I am SUCH a sucker for being misled by typecasting...
I think Holden's best moment is when he finishes up his fond farewells by striking a match on a fellow POW's facial stubble. As iconic movie smoking moments go, that's right up there with Paul Henreid's two cigarette move from Now Voyager