The Blockhouse – 1973 | 93 mins | Drama, War | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Grim wartime drama based on the true story of six German soldiers trapped underground in Poland for six years and discovered in 1951. The incongruous casting of Peter Sellers, Charles Aznavour and Peter Vaughn lends piquancy to this difficult film.

Seven forced-labour workers, drafted by the Nazis to help construct their Guernsey coastal defences in 1944, entombed underground for six years following an Allied naval bombardment. They find ample stores of food and wine, but the workers undergo a tortuous time in their claustrophobic subterranean prison as they are stricken by boredom, illness and jealousy. Their candles only last so long, and the slow dying of their light seems to mirror their fate.