Situation Hopeless - But Not Serious is a little seen curate's egg.
If it was not for an early appearance by Robert Redford, it would have been lost to the midst of time. Even though it stars Oscar winner Alec Guinness.
He plays the meek oddball lonely drug store clerk Herr Frick. He ends up jailing two US airmen who land in his small town. Not in a prison but in the cellar of his house where they are well looked after.
Captain Hank Wilson (Robert Redford) and Sergeant Lucky Finder (Mike Connors) try to escape without success. Unfortunately they end up staying for some years because Herr Frick does not tell them that the war is over and the allies won.
Shot in Germany, this is meant to be a satirical comedy but it does not hit the mark and is not always funny.
Maybe because it is a curious mixture of American, English and continental humour. Guinness treats it all as an Ealing comedy. Redford and Connors get to monkey around a bit.
The movie was adapted from a story by Robert Shaw. He would later appear with Redford in the Oscar winning The Sting.
If it was not for an early appearance by Robert Redford, it would have been lost to the midst of time. Even though it stars Oscar winner Alec Guinness.
He plays the meek oddball lonely drug store clerk Herr Frick. He ends up jailing two US airmen who land in his small town. Not in a prison but in the cellar of his house where they are well looked after.
Captain Hank Wilson (Robert Redford) and Sergeant Lucky Finder (Mike Connors) try to escape without success. Unfortunately they end up staying for some years because Herr Frick does not tell them that the war is over and the allies won.
Shot in Germany, this is meant to be a satirical comedy but it does not hit the mark and is not always funny.
Maybe because it is a curious mixture of American, English and continental humour. Guinness treats it all as an Ealing comedy. Redford and Connors get to monkey around a bit.
The movie was adapted from a story by Robert Shaw. He would later appear with Redford in the Oscar winning The Sting.