The Password Is Courage
| The Password is Courage | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Andrew L. Stone |
| Produced by | Andrew L. Stone |
| Screenplay by | Andrew L. Stone |
| Based on |
The Password is Courage (1954) by John Castle (pseud.) |
| Starring |
Dirk Bogarde Maria Perschy Alfred Lynch |
| Music by | Virginia Stone Derek New Christopher Stone Tommy Riley |
| Cinematography | Davis Boulton |
| Edited by | Noreen Ackland |
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Production
company |
Andrew L. Stone Productions
MGM |
| Distributed by | MGM |
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Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Password is Courage is a 1962 film based on John Castle's 1954 Second World War memoir of the same name. It was written, produced and directed by Andrew L. Stone and stars Dirk Bogarde, Maria Perschy and Alfred Lynch. The film is a lighthearted take on the true story of Sergeant-Major Charles Coward, written under the pseudonym John Castle by Ronald Charles Payne and John Williams Garrod.
Sergeant-Major Charles Coward (Dirk Bogarde) is a senior British NCO incarcerated in the Prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-B. He encourages his fellow inmates to escape, and tries to humiliate the Nazi guards at every opportunity.
Coward first attempts to escape by leaving a forced march and finding refuge in a farmhouse that is requisitioned by a Nazi unit needing a field hospital. Inadvertently thought to be a wounded German soldier, he is taken to a hospital, where his identity is revealed, but not before being awarded the Iron Cross as Coward lies in his hospital bed.
Coward is transferred back to a POW camp but on the way to the camp, he engineers the destruction of a passing ammunition train. At the camp, he is involved in the elaborate tunnel schemes and plans an escape with fellow prisoner Bill Pope (Alfred Lynch). When Coward attempts to deceive his camp commander and Luftwaffe officials that he has knowledge of a secret bomb sight, he receives special favours which are used to bribe the guards.
When his ruse is discovered, Coward is transferred to a new camp where he is being set up as a traitor with the commanding officer hoping to use his fellow prisoners to kill Coward. When that scheme is unsuccessful, he blackmails the commanding officer (Richard Marner) who thinks he was responsible for a devastating fire. Coward extracts an extraordinary privilege in being able to go to the neighbouring town on his own, without an escort. When he makes contact with an attractive Polish resistance agent (Maria Perschy), he attempts to leave Germany by rail with his new friend providing assistance, but the pair are captured at a railway station.
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Wikipedia