The One That Got Away (film)

For other uses, see The One That Got Away.

The One That Got Away
US DVD cover
Directed by	Roy Ward Baker
Produced by	Julian Wintle Earl St. John
Written by	Book: Kendal Burt James Leasor Screenplay: Howard Clewes
Starring	Hardy Krüger
Music by	Hubert Clifford
Cinematography	Eric Cross
Editing by	Sidney Hayers
Studio	Julian Wintle Productions
Distributed by	Rank Organisation
Release date(s)	1957
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The One That Got Away is a 1957 World War II film starring Hardy Krüger and featuring Michael Goodliffe, Jack Gwillim and Alec McCowen. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker with a screenplay written by Howard Clewes. It is based on the 1956 book of the same name by Kendal Burt and James Leasor.

The film chronicles the true exploits of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, a Luftwaffe pilot shot down over England in 1940. He initially tries to escape from England, but is more successful when being transferred to a Canadian POW camp.

Plot

Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz von Werra (Hardy Krüger) is shot down during the Battle of Britain, and captured. He is initially sent to a prisoner of war (POW) camp in Cumbria and bets the camp's RAF interrogator that he will escape and return to Germany within six months.

His first escape sees him recaptured after five or six days while hiding in a field, and he is sent to a more secure POW camp (based on the Hayes Conference Centre) near Swanwick, Derbyshire. He and four others escape through a tunnel. The others pair up, but von Werra goes it alone. Reaching Codnor Park railway station, he impersonates a Dutch pilot whose Wellington bomber has crashed while on a secret mission. He telephones the nearest airfield, RAF Hucknall, and cons the duty officer into sending a car. When his story starts to fray, he sneaks away and tries to steal an experimental Hawker Hurricane, only to be caught at the last moment.

He and many other POWs are sent by ship to Canada. On the train ride across the country, he escapes near Smiths Falls, Ontario by opening and jumping from a window while the guards are distracted. He makes his way south, and crossing the nearly frozen St Lawrence River using a stolen rowboat, reaches Ogdensburg in the United States, which at that time was still neutral, and claims asylum. The RAF interrogator receives a postcard from von Werra posted from New York informing him that he has lost his bet.

The film's epilogue states:

Despite the efforts of the Canadian Government to obtain his return, and of the United States Authorities to hold him, Von Werra crossed the border into Mexico. Travelling by way of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Spain, he reached Berlin on 18th April, 1941.

On October 25th of the same year, while on patrol, his plane was seen to dive into the sea. No trace of Von Werra was found.

Von Werra was indeed lost while on a patrol over the sea, probably due to engine failure, but there were no witnesses.

Cast

• Hardy Krüger as Franz von Werra
• Michael Goodliffe as RAF Interrogator
• Colin Gordon as Army Interrogator
• Alec McCowen as Duty Officer, Hucknall
• Terence Alexander as RAF Intelligence Officer
• Jack Gwillim as Commandant, Grizedale
• Andrew Faulds as Lieutenant, Grizedale
• Julian Somers as Booking Clerk
• Harry Lockart as German Prisoner
• Robert Crewdson as German Prisoner
• George Mikell as German Prisoner
• George Roubicek as German Prisoner
• John Van Eyssen as German Prisoner
• Frederick Jaeger as German Prisoner
• Richard Marner as German Prisoner
• Paul Hansard as German Prisoner
• Edward Cast as the driver sent from Hucknall (uncredited)
• Cyril Chamberlain as Sergeant 'Later' (uncredited)
• Michael Golden as First Detective (uncredited)
• Glyn Houston as Harry, the aircraft fitter working on the Hurricane fighter (uncredited)
• Stratford Johns as Second Detective (uncredited)
• Charles Morgan as the Workshop Manager at Hucknall (uncredited)
• Anthony Sagar as Cook who captures von Werra in Kent (uncredited)
• Frank Williams as the railway station porter (uncredited)
• Ken Arts as German Prisoner (uncredited)

External links

• The One That Got Away (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• The One That Got Away (film) at the TCM Movie Database
• The One That Got Away (film) at AllRovi
• The One That Got Away (book) by James Leasor, 1956, 2011. ISBN 978-1-908291-12-7