Hardy Krüger, who passed away earlier this year, was an actor and a personality for whom I had a lot of respect: He did not only appear in films such as the fantastic 'The Flight of the Phoenix' (1965) but was a great traveller and author and notable for his public engagement against right wing extremism. In 'The One That Got Away' he plays the lead role and does so with aplomb. The film is based on a true event: on the escape of Luftwaffe pilot Franz von Werra, who had been shot down over England during the Battle of Britain and taken prisoner of war. In the course of his interrogation by his captors von Werra emerges as a thoroughly unlikable person. He is not only arrogant but also a bit of a phoney who owed his promotion to first lieutenant to the tall tales he told about his unverifyable exploits over Britain. I found the acting excellent, the photography good and the direction by Roy Ward Baker on the whole uninspired. Still, Baker achieves one thing: Von Werra may be unpleasant, but over time you begin to root for him. His sheer grit and determination are admirable. However, here is the main problem of the film: It never becomes evident why the man is so keen on getting back to Nazi-Germany. During his interrogation, one of the interrogators observes that von Werra believes in only one thing: in von Werra. He is no committed Nazi. And POW camps in Britain are portrayed as quite comfortable places where life was pleasant enough. That the motive driving the main character of the film remains a mystery as the central weakness of 'The One That Got Away'.
Review of The One That Got Away
