Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Escape II: The Untold Story, The
Comment: The VHS recorded tape of this made-for-tv movie was a travesty. The original film was shown in 2 nights. The running time of the original was 178 mins. Vidmark's VHS version is 93 mins. You do the math. What is left is a film that makes absolutely no sense to a first time viewer. Some of the scenes are spliced together with no thought to continuity, jumping from one scene to another. Viewers are bound to wonder "what did I miss". I would highly recommend giving this VHS version a definite "miss". If I could rate it lower than 1 star I most would do so.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Horrendous slashing of the original
Comment: The original miniseries was a really good show . . . all four hours of it. But this release has been so severely slashed [to just 93 minutes, less than half of the story] that the story makes no sense. Actions seem to be taken for no reason at all [when the basis for the action was dropped to the cutting room floor]. The people who made this travesty ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Poor 2nd To The Mini-Series
Comment: Apparently D. Brown never saw the original release on TV. (And Wings Day did NOT escape to Italy; he was re-captured, and sent to Sachsenhausen concentation camp -- from which he also tunnelled out.)
I wish I had read the review of "A Viewer" before ordering. The commercial version omits several scenes, including "Mike Corey"'s arrival at Sagan and a large chunk of him being re-united with the French Resistance agent, "Marie".
If this is re-released on DVD, I hope Vidmark will use the original version; then I will definitely upgrade my review.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Good Movie
Comment: I enjoed this movie a lot. It's hard to beat the 1963 Great Escape but this one is good. I thought this movie was very accurate. I recommend it for Great Escape fans!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Escape 2 VHS - only show in town, but not that good
Comment: The phrase "only show in town, but not that good" refers to the Vidmark Home Entertainment prerecorded VHS tape made from the original television miniseries. I mean that it is the only commercially available version, but Vidmark's version of it is almost painful to watch if you have seen the original.The original television miniseries "The Great Escape II: The Untold Story" ran in 1988 according to information I have seen on the Web (I do recall it being shown in the 1980s). It was shown in two parts, each at least 2 hours long including commercials. Vidmark's version is only 93 minutes, which should indicate that something had to go.
I would hope that a more skillful editing job could preserve more of the nuances of the story. Since a VHS SP tape runs 120 minutes (and I understand that a bit more can be "fudged"), there are some things that could have been retained and would help story flow. For instance, one of the original prison guards reappears near the end of Part 2 of the original TV series, and provides useful information to the Allied investigators. This is completely cut out of the Vidmark release.
This should really have been issued as a 2-tape (VHS SP) set. Vidmark could definitely have done a better job on a one-tape release, but there is no way to cut down the original series to even 2 hours and not have a major negative impact. Like I said, the Vidmark release is "the only show in town," but it's not that good. I've seen other negative reviews of the Great Escape 2, and I think that most of the reviewers would think differently about the original TV series.
If you haven't seen the original series, and you can get the Vidmark tape cheap ($2-$3), I'd say that it might be worth buying. It would be nice if the full original series (less commercials) was released on DVD. If not, I hope that the original TV series is rebroadcast someday to allow good home recordings. Either would be greatly preferable to this disappointing Vidmark release.
