Biggar Little Cinema

All our proceeds go to local organisations and Rotary charities

As we are sure you know, The Corn Exchange remains closed because of the ongoing Covid-19 situation. The Trustees will be responding to Government advice as it develops, but it is expected that the closure will be for some time yet.

Biggar Little Cinema would like to thank all our supporters for their patience and understanding during these unusual and difficult times. We await further news about the closure of The Corn Exchange, and we trust that we may be able to safely show films at some time later this year.

Movie Trivia

Readers of our Facebook page will know that we have been running an occasional series featuring movie trivia which we hope bring a little light relief. Here’s another addition to our collection of strange movie facts.

The Great Escape, made in 1963, is one of the best known American epic World War II films, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. It is an account of the mass escape by British Commonwealth prisoners of war from German POW camp Stalag Luft III.

The cast of this classic film includes one genuine WWII Prisoner of War. In real life, Donald Pleasence, who plays RAF Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe, served with the RAF during the war. He was shot down in 1944, and was imprisoned for a year in a Stalag Luft.

Donald Pleasance volunteered with the RAF in Autumn 1940, after the attacks upon London by the Luftwaffe. He served as aircraft wireless-operator with 166 Squadron in Bomber Command, with which he flew almost sixty raids against the Axis over occupied Europe. On 31 August 1944, his Lancaster NE112, was shot down during an attack upon Agenville, and he was captured and imprisoned in the German POW Camp Stalag Luft I. Pleasence produced and acted in many plays for the entertainment of his fellow captives. After the war and his release, he was discharged from the RAF in 1946.