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Captured (Warner). Into a German prison camp come two British officers, Leslie Howard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Between their captures, time enough has elapsed for Fairbanks to discover that he loves Howard's wife and that she loves him. This makes incarceration with Howard intolerable to Fairbanks and he impulsively escapes by cutting a few lines of barbed wire, running to a nearby German airdrome, hitting a mechanic on the chin and flying home. But even in War-time international law operates to extradite civilians and soldiers charged with rape and murder. On the night of Fairbanks' escape, a milk delivery girl was found on the camp grounds raped and murdered. Nearby was Fairbanks' coat and a letter to him from Howard's wife, which is shown to Howard. Soon a German plane drops a note, countersigned by Prisoner Howard, requesting Fairbanks' return. On the front-line a white flag is raised. The Germans raise another, send out two men. The Allied lines send out three, including Fairbanks. In No Man's Land the party engages in chitchat, cigaret-exchanging, and Fairbanks is handed over. At his prison camp trial he refuses to testify, is sentenced to be shot, is saved by the actual murderer's note and suicide. As an adequate finish to this melodramatic tale (adapted from Author Sir Philip Gibbs's novel, Fellow Prisoners), the entire prison camp escapes. Howard, who has given the gentlemanly Commandant (Paul Lukas) his word not to try to escape, tricks the gate guard down from his parapet, kills him with his own gun, mans the parapet machine-gun. Thus covered the other prisoners stampede the remaining guards, bowl over the gates and swarm to the nearby airdrome. All together they fly home while Hero Howard stays at his parapet post until blown up, thus giving his wife to Fairbanks and keeping his word to the Commandant.
Effective in the early sequences in which a brutal commandant tortures the prisoners is the use of yellow color for shots and lamps in night scenes. Ably gloomy is Prisoner Howard's heavy-eyed performance. Remarkably feeble is the comedy relief supplied by a British cockney and a Texas cowboy. Good shot: the escaping mob of prisoners in murky hand-to-hand scrabbling with the airdrome troops.
Ambitious Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who appreciates direction more than most Hollywood actors, last week announced jointly with his famed father that they will play together in three British-made films under the direction of German Director Alexander Korda.