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September 22, 2006

Sleep Deprivation - Movie Style: Stalag 17

I
n Billy Wilder's masterful 1953 comedic drama "Stalag 17," written by two former American POWs, Wilder tackles the very issue of sleep deprivation and War Crimes so high on the list of this President's priorities. To his credit, the President must be a movie buff (despite apparently not seeing Marathon Man), because Stalag 17 sure seems to suggest that -- in 1953 -- the perception was that the use of sleep deprivation to secure a confession was a war crime. And in the immediate post-WW II era, these folks knew war crimes.

I say this because of a scene in Stalag 17 when Camp Commandant Colonel Von Scherbach (played by Otto Preminger) forces an American officer suspected of sabotage -- Lt. Dunbar -- to keep him company, as he called it, in his quarters because Von Scherbach suffered from insomnia. On that pretext, Dunbar was forced to stand against a wall in Von Scherbach's office and stay awake after having not slept for the past couple of days as he was transported to the POW camp.

A Geneva Convention man shows up at the Stalag 17 while Dunbar is in with Von Scherbach. On visting the Commandant's office, there's this exchange:

GENEVA MAN
I want to talk about Lieutenant Dunbar. Is this Lieutenant Dunbar?

VON SCHERBACH
It is.

GENEVA MAN
What exactly is he charged with?

VON SCHERBACH
Whatever it is, it's out of your jurisdiction. This man is not a
prisoner of war. Not any more. He is a saboteur.

GENEVA MAN
He is a prisoner of war until you can prove sabotage.

DUNBAR
I didn't do it. I was in the Frankfurt station and the train was three miles
away when it blew up.

VON SCHERBACH
Oh, come now! You threw a time bomb.

DUNBAR
How could I have had a time bomb? They searched me when they took me
prisoner.

GENEVA MAN
And the way you search your prisoners, it does sound rather unlikely.

VON SCHERBACH
All I know is he did it. I am satisfied.

GENEVA MAN
I am not. According to the Geneva Convention --

DUNBAR
Is there anything about letting a guy sleep in the Geneva Convention? [Dunbar shuffles over to the sofa, and plunks himself down -- instantly asleep.]

VON SCHERBACH
(to the Geneva Man)
You were saying --?

GENEVA MAN
Simply this. After the hostilities are ended, there will be such a thing
as a War Crimes Commission. If this man should be convicted without proper
proof, you will be held responsible, Colonel von Scherbach.

VON SCHERBACH
Interesting.

GENEVA MAN
Isn't it?

A great exchange reflecting the prevailing view of the times -- a winner's history of sorts.

Amazing how far we've come. How far we've fallen.

Posted by shertaugh at September 22, 2006 4:58 PM

Comments

You fail to appreciate that our President is under compulsion from a higher authority than even our Holy Constition. He does the work of our Lord, whom no man can refuse, is conducting the Crusade agaist the Mohammedian Heresy.

War crimes under the laws of man, perhaps, but marvelous in the sight of God is he who is ruthless to the avowed enemies of our Lord!

Posted by: Learned Limb at September 22, 2006 6:11 PM

"you threw a time bomb"? I didn't know that's how time bombs work. And was he accused of throwing it three miles?

[Shertaugh: Later in the movie we learn that Lt. Dunbar lit a cigarette, put it inside a full matchbook and tossed out a bathroom window at the Frankfort train station. The matchbook and lit cigarette landed inside the open door of a passing train car, which caught fire and exploded 3 miles later. Von Scherbach himself learned the same thing from a German spy in one of the barracks later in the movie -- setting the table for William Holden's character to be the hero and for Holden to win that year's Oscar for Best Actor.]

Posted by: Emily at September 23, 2006 10:19 AM