Von Ryan's Express

Other mistake: When Ryan arrives at the camp he observes a funeral taking place yet when he goes to meet the camp Commandant he asks what they are celebrating outside.

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Suggested correction: I would agree that a funeral is not really an occasion for "celebration." The British regiment are holding a funeral for one of their dead officers: they are speaking English, and since Colonel Ryan is a US soldier, he can fully understand what they are saying, and he should know what is going on. He has worked out that a funeral service is in progress, but, having only just arrived at the POW camp, he will not know all the details of what is going on, and might be interested to know more. It might be insensitive to ask one of the British soldiers, so he decides to ask one of the Italian guards instead. Now, Colonel Ryan's history previous to the start of the film is not described, but he must have experienced some harrowing events in his military career, and this has probably left him feeling cynical and bitter, so he is probably using sarcasm. After all, Colonel Ryan is rather sarcastic throughout the rest of the film, too.

Revealing mistake: In the opening sequence when Colonel Ryan's plane has crashed and is on fire, you can see a metal pole supporting a burning aircraft shell, not a real plane.

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Question: Why didn't the prisoners just walk through the tunnel to Switzerland on the other side?

Answer: The majority of prisoners were heading towards Switzerland through the tunnel, only a few prisoners with weapons were acting as a rear guard to hold off the German troops chasing them and buy the prisoners time to escape.

Scott215

All the prisoners were on the train. I've contended before, they didn't need to fix the track. Just leave the train on the bridge and go straight through the tunnel. That route HAD to be shorter than going around on the walkway, and they would have had a much larger head start than waiting to fix the track.

kaevanoff

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