It beggars belief that both Kenneth More and Dirk Bogarde were considered for the role of serial escapee von Werra in this adaptation of the book by Kendall Burt and James Leasor and top marks to director Roy Ward Baker for insisting upon a genuine German.
In his first international film young Hardy Kruger excels as the type of character for which he was to become best known although for this viewer at any rate he is just as effective in his less bombastic roles in Bourgignon's 'Les Dimanches de Ville-d'Avray' and 'Der Rest ist Schweigen' for Helmut Kautner.
Kruger himself by all accounts escaped three times from the Americans although one assumes in not nearly as dramatic a manner as depicted here and were it not for the fact that the film is based on a true story one would find it almost incredulous.
As one critic has pointed out, it is hardly likely that the Germans would have made 'The Wooden Horse' but despite the hero being a Nazi, the handsome and charismatic Herr Kruger certainly contributed towards its box-office success in Britain as well as cracking the German market which enabled producer Julian Wintle to form his own production company and make two more films with German protagonists, namely 'Bachelor of Hearts', again with Kruger and 'Tiger Bay' featuring Horst Bucholz.
The supporting cast is uniformly competent with plenty of 'stiff uppers' on display whilst the excellent Michael Goodliffe, so effective in 'A Night to remember' for the same director, is a standout and his interrogation scene with Kruger is arguably the film's most memorable.
The exterior shots of Northern England and Canada are impressive whilst the momentum is on the whole, well sustained.
Roy Ward Baker is one of a myriad of directors who have never stamped a personal imprint on their films. He has given us here a solid escape war movie which is watchable but somehow lacks the indefinable touch of an auteur.
In his first international film young Hardy Kruger excels as the type of character for which he was to become best known although for this viewer at any rate he is just as effective in his less bombastic roles in Bourgignon's 'Les Dimanches de Ville-d'Avray' and 'Der Rest ist Schweigen' for Helmut Kautner.
Kruger himself by all accounts escaped three times from the Americans although one assumes in not nearly as dramatic a manner as depicted here and were it not for the fact that the film is based on a true story one would find it almost incredulous.
As one critic has pointed out, it is hardly likely that the Germans would have made 'The Wooden Horse' but despite the hero being a Nazi, the handsome and charismatic Herr Kruger certainly contributed towards its box-office success in Britain as well as cracking the German market which enabled producer Julian Wintle to form his own production company and make two more films with German protagonists, namely 'Bachelor of Hearts', again with Kruger and 'Tiger Bay' featuring Horst Bucholz.
The supporting cast is uniformly competent with plenty of 'stiff uppers' on display whilst the excellent Michael Goodliffe, so effective in 'A Night to remember' for the same director, is a standout and his interrogation scene with Kruger is arguably the film's most memorable.
The exterior shots of Northern England and Canada are impressive whilst the momentum is on the whole, well sustained.
Roy Ward Baker is one of a myriad of directors who have never stamped a personal imprint on their films. He has given us here a solid escape war movie which is watchable but somehow lacks the indefinable touch of an auteur.