William Holden won anOscar for his complex portrayal of the hero/anti-hero of Billy Wilder'sblack comedy, "a singularly sophisticated movie from Paramount, whereWilder made a number of his trenchant assaults upon accepted values insociety.... Stalag 17 was the very opposite of the familiar thesisestablished by wartime prison-camp movies, which constantly made theupbeat point that duress brings out the best in a man; here we wereasked to realize that more likely it would have brought out the worst.In the claustrophobic hut, the prisoners were shown as a non-heroicbunch. Hardened by war, the GI played by William Holden made a wrycontrast to stereotyped Hollywood soldiers; and of the other men whoshared his hard and frightened little segment of space in a maddeningworld, there was only one who measured up to the traditional concept ofspruce rectitude. (The film's final twist) was no great surprise tothose who caught the bitter essence of the movie...." --Gordon Gow,Hollywood in the Fifties