The Password Is Courage **** (1962, Dirk Bogarde, Maria Perschy, Alfred Lynch, Nigel Stock, Reginald Beckwith) – Classic Movie Review 8,866

Andrew L Stone’s expert 1962 black and white war drama film The Password Is Courage stars Dirk Bogarde, who is on good form as Sgt Major Charlie Coward, the Brit who kept escaping and being captured by the Germans.

Thriller experts Virginia and Andrew L Stone eagerly take to the stiff-upper-lipped British war movie with this true-life tale of a British war hero ironically called Sergeant Major Charlie Coward, the only English soldier to receive the Iron Cross from the enemy, the Germans (mistakenly), after escaping from the Stalag VIII-B POW camp.

Writer/ producer/ director Andrew L Stone’s expert 1962 black and white war drama film The Password Is Courage stars Dirk Bogarde, who is on very good form in the lead role as the Brit who kept escaping and being captured by the Germans – on seven occasions in all – culminating in a final attempt with his fellow prison camp buddy, Corporal Billy Pope (Alfred Lynch). Maria Perschy co-stars as attractive Polish resistance agent Irena.

The Stones, filming as usual outside the studio (though ironically the locales were England not Germany), make this true story as exciting as their fiction stories. Maybe we should say the film is based on a supposedly true story. Look at this warning: ‘Certain of the characters depicted in this photoplay are fictitious and any similarity between such characters and actual persons is purely coincidental.’

The fine cast of British and UK-based stalwarts in the support cast do their usual impeccable job, including Nigel Stock, Reginald Beckwith, Richard Marner, Ed Devereaux, Lewis Fiander, George Mikell, Richard Carpenter, Margaret Whiting, Colin Blakely, Michael Mellinger, Bernard Archard, George Pravda, Mark Eden, and Douglas Livingstone.

Charles Coward has a cameo in the party scene.

Andrew L Stone’s screenplay is based on the biography of Sergeant-Major Charles Coward by John Castle (pseudonym). Davis Boulton (credited as David Boulton) unexpectedly shoots in black and white, either for realism or cheapness, or possibly for both.

The Password Is Courage is filmed at Teazle Mead, Thornwood Common near Epping, Essex, England (the POW camp); at London Bridge and Victoria stations, London; Radlett Station, Hertfordshire; and Gateway Service Station, Scratchwood, Hertfordshire.

The Password Is Courage is directed by Andrew L Stone, runs 116 minutes, is made by Andrew L Stone Productions, is released by MGM, is written by Andrew L Stone, is shot by Davis Boulton [David Boulton], is produced by Andrew L Stone, Virginia L Stone and Sydney Streeter (associate producer), is scored by Derek New, Tommy Reilly, Christopher L Stone and Virginia L Stone, and is designed by C Wilfred Arnold.

Release dates: October 1962 (UK) and 21 December 1962 (US).

Autographed production still of Alfred Lynch in The Password is Courage (1962).

Alfred Lynch (26 January 1931 – 16 December 2003) worked as a draughtsman before national service. He attended theatre acting evening classes while working in a factory, and he met his life partner, the actor James Culliford.

Among the large cast are Dirk Bogarde as Sergeant-Major Charles Coward, Maria Perschy as Irena, Alfred Lynch as Corporal Bill Pope, Nigel Stock as Cole, Reginald Beckwith as Unteroffizier, Richard Marner as Schmidt, Ed Devereaux as the Aussie, Lewis Fiander as Pringle, George Mikell as Necke, Richard Carpenter as Robinson, Bernard Archard as first prisoner of war, Ferdy Mayne as first German officer at French farm, George Pravda as second German officer at French farm, Olaf Pooley as German doctor, Michael Mellinger as Feldwebel, Colin Blakely as first German goon, Margaret Whiting as French farm woman, Mark Eden as second prisoner of war, Douglas Livingstone as Bennett, Arnold Marlé as Old Man on Train, and Charles Durning as American GI.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,866

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