I like the film, always have. Never saw it as “fact”, always viewed it as entertainment. Nothing wrong with that.
But too many people don’t make that distinction. But I had read “Escape From Colditz” when I was 13, so I at least had some reality based knowledge to bounce off against it. (That is a remarkable story as well-they actually build a glider in a hidden attic to escape with, though it was never used)
As for escaping, I loved the story of Bob Hoover, who escaped from Stalag 1, made his way to an airfield, and stole a FW-190 which he flew as far as he could (wondering when an Allied fighter was going to blow him out of the sky!) until ditching it in a field in the Netherlands, and was saved by some British soldiers before the Dutch farmers could do him in, thinking he was a Nazi pilot!)
As for the “much whistled tune” I never did like the use of it in “The Great Escape”. It introduced a light-hearted aspect to the movie I never thought fit. (I think it was the fun, happy, upbeat tune they played every time they marched him off to solitary)
Just a few years ago, when they came out with the movie “The Monuments Men”, what had been a very slight irritation watching “The Great Escape” turned into a bitter anti-Hollywood BS that persists with me today.
I had read the book “The Monuments Men”, and I loved it. Great book. And when I heard they were going to make a movie on it, I did a fist pump! But boy, when it came out, what a piece of crap. All the Lefty movie stars making their appearances, and they put that same whimsical music in it that completely made it an un-serious movie.
That could have been a stellar movie, bringing to millions a story that hadn’t received much attention, but they made a silly, cartoonish abortion out of it, using it to serve as a vehicle for the likes of George Clooney.
I detest that movie!
Hollywood rarely gets the real story right, especially if it’s true. Even worse if it’s fiction.
Producers and directors want romance and mass appeal, so they include as much femininity-appealing stuff as they can cram in.
There are several books I have read, fiction and non-fiction that Hollywood has butchered on film.................