Albert R.N.

British sailors held in a German prison camp are planning to escape. The problem is the roll call. Every man who gets out is immediately missed at the count, so the escape is discovered at once. The solution is a dummy: life-sized, portable, and convincing from a distance. They name him Albert. The subject is not the escape but the patience built around the dummy. Making Albert takes months, and then he has to be held at the right angle at every count, which is where the film finds its tension. The form is calm compared with British war films of the period. The camp is shot almost like a workshop, and most of what we see is craft and planning. The dummy was real. One was built in a naval prison camp during the war and used to fool the count, and the man who designed it worked on the production. What is on screen is therefore not a screenwriter's invention but a recorded escape device. The film was shown in America as Break to Freedom. Lewis Gilbert directs, with Anthony Steel, Jack Warner and Robert Beatty leading. Who it is for: viewers who like prison camp escape films and craft detail. Who it is not for: anyone wanting action; this is almost entirely preparation and the pace does not rise even at the end.