Fraulein (1958)

During the waning days of WWII in Germany, an American prisoner of war (Mel Ferrer) escapes with the help of a German professor (Ivan Triesault) and his daughter (Dana Wynter). After the war, the POW, now a Major in the U.S. army, attempts to track down the two Germans who helped him. Based on the novel by James McGovern and directed by Henry Koster (FLOWER DRUM SONG). Severely different from the provocative novel on which it is based (interracial romance, rape, homosexuality, neo-Nazism), while the movie shows the harsh realities of apolitical Germans adapting to the difficulties of post war occupied Germany, it still romanticizes the situation to an extent and leads to a happy ending. Ferrer's prisoner of war, a major character in the film isn't even in the book but created by the film makers for that happy ending. For what it is, I liked it and it was nice seeing the appealing Dana Wynter (who I've always liked) in a lead role that is the focus of the film. Alas, the transfer I saw was less than stellar. With Dolores Michaels, Margaret Hayes, James Edwards, Theodore Bikel, Herbert Berghof, Jack Kruschen and Helmut Dantine.