Mark Robson's exciting action film describes the successful mass escape of Allied soldiers from an Italian prison camp during World War II. Frank Sinatra plays the role of a tough yet deeply humane American officer who takes over the management of the dangerous enterprise in the war year of 1943. However, personal difficulties with an English major - played by the wiry, elegant Trevor Howard - jeopardize the meticulously planned course of the action. The smoldering confrontation up to the dramatic climax lift this film above the average framework of a usual war movie. Only when 600 prisoners were already on the threshold of freedom did the two officers overcome their mutual hostilities.