Colditz (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Stuart Orme

Writers:

Richard Cottan (writer)
Peter Morgan (writer)

Release Date:

27 March 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Brothers In Arms... Rivals In Love

Plot Keywords:

Special Operations Executive | Germany | One Word Title | Morphine | Prison Camp

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Damian Lewis	...	Cpl / Lt. Nicholas McGrade
Tom Hardy	...	2nd Lt. Jack Rose
Sophia Myles	...	Lizzie Carter
Laurence Fox	...	Capt. Tom Willis
James Fox	...	Lt. Colonel Jimmy Fordham
Timothy West	...	Bunny Warren
Jason Priestley	...	Flying Officer Rhett Barker
Guy Henry	...	Capt. Sawyer
Robert Whitelock	...	Flt Lt. Venning
Charles Kay	...	Colonel Henry Cartwright, Military Attaché in Switzerland
Juliet Howland	...	Mary
Scott Handy	...	Mullan
Alex Avery	...	Collins
Eve Myles	...	Jill
Robert Cambrinus	...	Tony de Jongh

Also Known As:

Escape from Colditz (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence, language, nudity and drug use.

Runtime:

UK:240 min | 185 min (2 parts)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R | Netherlands:12 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

Company:

Granada Television

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At about 32 minutes into part two, Jack is leafing through a German magazine. The photo on the cover was taken about a year later, during the Battle of the Bulge.

Movie Connections:

Features Young and Innocent (1937)

Fine war yarn, with melodramatic ending

COLDITZ

Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

(2 episodes)

A desperate POW (Tom Hardy) plots escape from Colditz after learning that a former inmate (Damian Lewis) has returned to London and stolen Hardy's fiancée (Sophia Myles).

Lively addition to the 'heroes of WWII' subgenre, filmed on location in London and the Czech Republic, and directed with cinematic flair by Stuart Orme (THE PUPPET MASTERS). Richard Cottan's screenplay (co-written with Peter Morgan, based on the book by Henry Chancellor and the 2000 TV series "Escape from Colditz") cross-cuts between events at Colditz castle - where Hardy and fellow inmate Laurence Fox (DEATHWATCH) hatch multiple escape plans, only to be thwarted by a combination of bad luck and reckless bravado - and the less-interesting relationship which develops between Lewis and Myles, though the two plot threads merge neatly for a melodramatic finale. Lewis gives the showiest performance, playing a selfish character whose charming demeanor masks a propensity for greed and violence, though Hardy and Fox are suitably intense in crucial supporting roles. James Fox (father of Laurence) and Timothy West make extended cameo appearances as senior members of MI9, while former teen heartthrob Jason Priestley plays a Canadian POW whose burgeoning drug habit pays lethal dividends. Fine cinematography and production values.