"The Great Escape" - Visual Clues Quiz

Answer: Australian

James Coburn's awful attempt at an Australian accent was one of the few things that did not ring true in this film about the mass escape of prisoners of war from a German P.o.W. camp. Nevertheless, we could tell he is meant to be an Aussie due to references throughout the film to Sedgwick's homeland.

As Sedgwick was the escape committee's manufacturer, he had the foresight to carry some heavy duty chain cutters with him, enabling him to steal a locked bicycle and tootle off down the road on it. Sedgwick was one of the successful escapers and we saw him near the end of the movie crossing into Spain, by now on foot.

Answer: Colin Blythe

Blythe was the forger, and needed a camera to photograph the escapers in their escape kit, to provide authentic-looking travel documents for each man. He made his request to Hendley, the scrounger, who used nefarious means to convince a guard to bring him a camera.

Blythe was played by Donald Pleasence.

Answer: Dispersal

The character of Eric Ashley-Pitt, a Fleet Air Arm pilot, was based on the real-life FAA pilot who came up with the "penguin" idea for dispersing of dirt from the tunnels. His name was Peter Fanshawe. The dirt-filled bags inserted in the trouser legs of prisoners engaged in the task of dispersal gave them a round appearance and a bit of a waddle, hence the name "penguins".

David McCallum played Ashley-Pitt.

Answer: Nigel Stock

Cavendish was the X organization's surveyor, whose job it was to calculate the distance to the woods, and how far each tunnel had reached at any given time. He was also seen to lead diversionary carol-singing and gave Hilts, who was holding an armload of wooden slats, a bewildered look after finding himself on the floor. Cavendish got out through the tunnel, and became one of The Fifty executed by the Gestapo.

Answer: Danny and Willie

Danny Velinski and Willie Dickes were the tunnel kings, and represented the two real escapers who reached neutral Sweden by means of a merchant vessel. Once they left the tunnel, these two did not speak another word in the movie, but were shown finding the row boat, rowing along the river and boarding the ship with musical accompaniment only.

Danny was played by Charles Bronson and John Leyton played Willie.

Answer: Hendley and Blythe

Hendley's "Tally Ho" to various fellow escapers as he passed through the carriages was ill-advised, and could have had them all rounded up then and there. As it transpired, Hendley gave Colin (who by then was nearly blind) "a good push" and they both hid behind a haystack while the train chugged off around a bend. They later stole an aeroplane, crashed and Hendley ended up back in the camp by the end of the film. Colin wasn't so lucky.

James Garner played Hendley.

Answer: Richard Attenborough

Big X, Roger Bartlett in the movie, Roger Bushell in real life, was played to perfection by Richard Attenborough (in my opinion). They even gave him the facial scar that Bushell had received in a pre-war skiing accident! Big X was the chief mover of the X organization, and also was high on the Gestapo's hit list. Needless to say there was no happy ending for him.

Answer: Moonshine for the Fourth of July

Hilts, Hendley and Goff are the only three Americans in camp, and brew up a wicked batch of moonshine using every potato they can find. Unfortunately, the Germans find tunnel "Tom" during the celebrations.

Steve McQueen played Hilts and Jud Taylor was Goff.

Answer: Tossing a baseball against the wall

Hilts' first trip to the cooler was caused when he tossed his baseball over the warning wire, to test his theory that there was a blind spot between two guard towers and he took ball and glove with him that time. On two other occasions Goff tossed these items to Hilts as he was escorted to the cooler.

At the end of the film we could hear the ball bouncing against the wall and saw the guard hesitate and look back after locking Hilts in.

Answer: Harry

The tunnels were given the code names Tom, Dick and Harry so that they could be discussed without the use of the word tunnel. Tom was discovered when it was nearly ready to break. Dick and Harry had been closed to concetrate on Tom, and Harry was reopened after the loss of Tom. Though not mentioned in the movie, George was the name given to a fourth tunnel, started later in the same camp.

The photo used here is not of an escape tunnel, but of a tunnel dug below Vimy Ridge in France in the build up to the 1917 assault by the Canadians. One might say it is playing the part of Harry.