Stalag 17 Page #12

MARKO:

At ease! Tuesday afternoon at two

o'clock all men from Texas will meet

behind the north latrine.

Boos and cheers.

MARKO:

At ease! Next:
A warning from

Kommandant von Scherbach. Anybody

found throwing rocks at low-flying

German aircraft will be thrown in

the boob. At ease! At ease!

(then in a lower voice)

Are the doors covered?

He looks around to make sure.

MARKO:

(to The Crutch)

Okay, Steve. Give 'em the radio.

The Crutch, leaning against the edge of the table, pulls up

the empty pant leg. Attached there is a small radio, a

makeshift set with tubes showing. Also a pair of earphones.

Blondie starts getting it out.

MARKO:

(to Hoffy)

You can keep it for two days.

HOFFY:

Two days? We're supposed to have it

for a week!

MARKO:

You're lucky to get it at all. The

boys are afraid the Jerries'll find

it here. This barrack is jinxed.

PRICE:

Don't worry. We'll take care of it.

HOFFY:

(to Stosh and Harry)

Take some men and get the antenna

going. Let's see if we can catch the

BBC.

In the background, Harry gets a volley ball from under the

bunk, Stosh picks up a roll of chicken wire from a corner of

the barrack, and the two lead six other P.O.W.s out into the

compound.

MARKO:

What about those guys last night?

What gives in this barrack anyway?

DUKE:

Just a little sickness. Somebody

around here's got the German measles.

SEFTON:

He oughta know. He went to Johns

Hopkins. He used to be a bedpan.

MARKO:

What's the gag?

SEFTON:

(imitating him)

At ease! At ease!

Marko shrugs and turns to Hoffy.

MARKO:

Be sure to put down the news. Looks

like the Germans have started a

counter-offensive and the other

barracks want to know.

Marko and The Crutch go off.

EXT. BARRACK

The men are setting up the chicken wire, attaching one end

to the barrack, and the other to a tall post: it becomes a

volley ball net, and in turn, an antenna. Stosh is slipping

a wire through the window into the barrack. They divide into

two teams, Stosh and Harry on opposite sides, and start

playing volley ball. In the background, Marko and The Crutch

are seen walking away.

INT. BARRACK

Triz has connected the antenna wire to the radio on the t

able. Blondie is sitting there with the earphones on, working

the dials, Price sitting next to him with pencil and paper.

The others stand around waiting.

PRICE:

Getting anything?

BLONDIE:

Getting too much. I'm tryin' to

unscramble.

SEFTON:

If you can't get the BBC, how about

getting Guy Lombardo?

HOFFY:

Are we boring you?

BLONDIE:

Hold it... Quiet...

He repeats what he hears over the earphones while Price writes

it down.

BLONDIE:

...has driven across Luxemburg...

The second German wedge is reported

fourteen miles west of Malmedy where

tank columns cut the road to

Bastogne... the Allied Air Force is

grounded by poor visibility...

The boys don't like what they hear.

EXT. BARRACK

The volley ball game is in fine progress, the ball popping

back and forth across the antenna. A German guard approaches,

puzzled over the sports activity on this lousy winter day.

He is a singularly grim fellow. He starts circling them.

Harry and Stosh, to appear nonchalant, break into the

SCHNITZELBANK SONG. The guard moves dangerously close to the

window. Quickly Harry flips the ball over the net at him.

The guard slaps it back across the net. Again Harry pops it

at him ... and slowly the guard finds himself sucked into

the game.

HARRY:

Wunderbar! Isn't he wunderbar!

STOSH:

He's the grrrrreatest!

The guard permits himself a smile as he goes on playing.

INT. BARRACK

The boys around the radio.

BLONDIE:

(Repeating what he

hears)

...five Panzer divisions and nine

infantry divisions of von Rundstedt's

army have poured into the wide

breach... meanwhile two of Patton's

tank units have been diverted toward

Bastogne and are trying to --

It's jammed again. Blondie fiddles with the dials.

HOFFY:

Come on!

BLONDIE:

Static!

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