The Password Is Courage (1962)

Don't Believe the Hype

Blistering performances.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

All of the characters in that well-known film, "The Great Escape", were commissioned officers. But what about the "other ranks"? How did they fare under German captivity? "The Password is Courage" attempts to shed some light on the lives of the enlisted prisoners-of-war. It follows the experiences of a British Sergeant-Major, bearing the unlikely name of Coward, who proves to be anything but. Played by Dirk Borgarde, Sgt.-Maj. Coward was among the many British troops who couldn't manage to make it out of France after the fall of Dunkirk in 1940. Although taken prisoner, he did not consider himself out of the war and. For the next four years he did everything he could to make keeping him a prisoner as inconvenient as possible for his captors.Some of the film seems far-fetched. However, it was based upon the exploits of a real man. In fact, there seems to be every reason to believe that Charlie Coward's real experiences were, if anything, even more extraordinary than those depicted in the movie. All in all, a top- drawer British "ripping yarn".

This is truly a classic black and white British film and for those that claim it is just a poor version or copy of The Great Escape.maybe people should consider that the film was made and released a year before the great escape.And is in fact more factual than the more popular Hollywood version.For its age the copy of the film is very good and is still a nice and crisp print that shows some fantastic shots.The cast line up is the standard British stock for this era but you can spot many actors who only played extras or very small roles that went on to be stars of British TV and film.

The Password is Courage is another one of those "prisoner of war escape movies" but is not ""Just"" a typical pow escape movie. This movie in particular is one of my all-time favorite movies of this type. Dirk Bogarde portrays a real-life personality in the name of Sergeant Major Coward. I think that Bogardes acting in this film was most excellent and is one reason why this film must be remembered and brought back into mainstream movie watching.This film though is a serious film, also has many comical moments in it as well. One moment I really liked was when the Allied POWs managed to sabotage two German trains by switching their delivery signs around as well as sabotaging parts on the trains to make sure the trains wrecked. Another comical moment is when their camp was almost burnt down to the ground when they made sure a careless German Unteroffizier, who had a routine when he smoked his pipe, that the allied prisoners quickly caught onto and set up an elaborate plan. The plan was that they switched the sand in the Fire-buckets with Petrol--un-beknownst by the German guards.On a particular windy day, the German NCO was careless a usual, by throwing his match into a pile of wood--which immediately started a fire. The POWs then threw the contents of the buckets onto the fire--making it rapidly spread. In short, they almost completed in burning down that camp.This movie was so well made that it really needs to be released in DVD so that we all can enjoy watching it over and over again.

I've seen this film a lot. So much in fact, I've lost count. I always confuse it with "The Foreman Goes To France" because of the very similar type of endings that they both have.Dirk Bogarde is our hero, a British Army Sergeant-Major (who as an enlisted man later goes on to give his word as an Officer, slight mistake there). He's a prisoner of war and by the sounds of it he's been escaping from lots of places hence him being in a rather unpleasant camp as the film starts.Him and his best pal are constantly trying to escape or wind up The Goons. Most of the escapes get scuppered but they are often successful at upsetting the Germans and hindering them.They are digging a tunnel and disposing of the dirt in a storyline that was directly stolen by the film The Great Escape. Perhaps they were using the same techniques in a different camp. When pushed in tight situations people will come up with the same ideas in different places.Dirk is moved by The Germans to a lumber camp on a work detail to command some "lazy" troops. But The Germans have sent Dirk and his best pal into a trap to be killed by people who think they are spies, traitors or 5th columnists. Dirk fights his way through and defuses the situation bringing the so called "lazy" troops over to his way of thinking, to upset and confound The Germans.They manage to burn down the lumber camp and get sent to a train yard. At the train yard they sabotage trains, sending them to the wrong places.Finally Dirk makes contact with The Polish underground who give them maps and assistance to escape. Oh, and the password was actually "Cleaning Cloths", not Courage.They are sent back to their original camp and escape through a tunnel that was dug too short (again, another idea that The Great Escape stole from them). An old soldier with an accordion pretends to be drunk and saves a whole hut full of escaping men from being discovered.After a poor attempt at buying train tickets, making a fellow train passenger suspect them, they are caught by a badly forged travel document with a logo facing the wrong way.Dirk and his best pal finally escape posing as workers repairing bombed buildings who are finally met by retreating American soldiers telling them they are only a mile away from the Allied lines, but there are thousands of Germans in their way.Of course they steal a Fire Engine and The Germans stand aside to let them through and finally on the road to freedom.A good ending and an excellent film.