AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

merklekranz Right from the git-go I just couldn't accept Richard Basehart as the German Commanding Oficer of the Colditz Castle prison. Sometimes he speaks English, sometimes he speaks German, which is distracting, and Basehart played more like a camp counselor that a prison warden. I think Klaus Kinski would have been a much better choice for Basehart's part, but then this is only a TV movie, so I guess that is just wishful thinking on my part. Doug McClure is also rather bland, actually normal for him, in his role as the man responsible for getting a valuable scientist out of Germany. In reality, this is nothing more than a small television film, that tries to be much more than it really is. - MERK

theycallmemisterc Reply to your comment of 28 June 2004 Author: Walter Collins (ondessonk71@yahoo.com) from Shreveport, LA USA on IMDb.com - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066833/#commentRe: The Birdmen (1971) (TV) – I saw the same movie. The same scene that you mentioned, the POW singing a German song, is the scene I remember the most. At the time I went to the library and was able to locate the song in a book about protest songs.Here's some information from the internet Die Gedanken sind Frei the German title translate to Our (My) Thoughts Are Free and here is a YouTube link, if your interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_6YQ-knKFw&mode=related&search= And finally here is an English translation of the German lyrics.Die Gedanken Sind Frei (Our Thoughts Are Free)Die Gedanken sind frei My thoughts freely flower, Die Gedanken sind frei My thoughts give me power. No scholar can map them, No hunter can trap them, No man can deny: Die Gedanken sind frei!I think as I please And this gives me pleasure, My conscience decrees, This right I must treasure; My thoughts will not cater To duke or dictator, No man can deny-- Die Gedanken sind frei!And if tyrants take me And throw me in prison My thoughts will burst free, Like blossoms in season. Foundations will crumble, The structure will tumble, And free men will cry: Die Gedanken sind frei!Neither trouble or pain Will ever touch me again. No good comes of fretting, My hope's in forgetting. Within myself still I can think as I will, But I laugh, do not cry: Die Gedanken sind frei!-- Traditional(Source for translation of song - http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1185.html )

jonwiler I saw this movie in Saudi Arabia in the late seventies with my brother. The other day he asked me if I remembered this war movie about a glider and starring Chuck Connors. Before he could say another word, I started to sing the tune. He was quite shocked that I still remembered. We tried Connors and McClure's autobiography on other websites with no success. This was the first site that I found that has all this information. Thanks a lot. I will now try to get this movie. Maybe my brother and I will get together, watch a movie, and reminisce. I never new if he enjoyed the movie, or even remembered it, as I did. He tried researching for the title to no avail. That is what spurred me on. That song is very catchy.

reinders1 The song that the prisoners sang was "Die Gedanken sind frei" Which roughly translates to My thoughts are free. It told the Germans that although you have my body in prison, you will never imprison have my spirit. This movie is one of my all time favorites. As a kid growing up, I loved movies and songs that showed American ingenuity. The premise of building a glider to escape from prison fascinated me. You can see the German words to the song at the following website: http://www.online.ee/~pikka/voorlaul.html#50 If you want to know what the words mean, copy and paste the test to Google's translation program.