Sir Ernest Pease, a brilliant but acerbic scientist, is the subject of a television programme based on This Is Your Life during which he is re-united with past acquaintances. He does not remember the senior British Army officer at all! A flashback ensues. In 1942, Pease is in charge of very important aircraft research during the Second World War. He needs to take a trip on a bomber to gain first-hand knowledge of the environment under which his special equipment is to be used. However, no one must know who he is. He goes as Lieutenant Farrow, a Royal Navypublic relations officer. The bomber is hit over Germany and, ignoring a crewman's warning, Pease is sucked out through a hole in the side of the aeroplane, but parachutes safely to the ground. He is captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp mostly occupied by Royal Air Force officers. His excellent command of German causes him to be suspected of being a spy, but when his real identity becomes known to Group Captain Travers, the senior British officer, he informs the men in his hut of his importance and that his escape is a top priority. Among Pease's roommates are Jimmy Cooper, "Jock" Everett, and "Bonzo" Baines. Pease is offered an opportunity to escape through a tunnel with two other men. However, he expects the pair to be easily recaptured. He instead plans to go into hiding after a fake escape attempt. He presumes the Germans will search for him for two weeks then presume he has got away, at which point they will step down the search and he can more safely escape. When the Germans eventually assume he has succeeded in getting away and lose interest, he will walk out of the camp, disguised as one of three visiting Swiss Red Cross observers, along with Cooper and Baines. Crucial to the plan is that Everett looks like the camp Lager officer, Major Stampfel. He must impersonate Stampfel, as he will be escorting the delegation. The escape committee, headed by Wing Commander Piggott, are very dissatisfied with Pease's plan, but Pease is determined to see it through. The plan nearly comes unstuck at the last moment, when another prisoner, "Grassy" Green, is revealed as an astute undercover Luftwaffeintelligence officer. He takes them at gunpoint, but mistakes Everett for Stampfel and is "dealt with". Pease, Cooper and Baines walk out of the camp and eventually make their way back home. Returning to the television programme, Pease is reunited with Baines, now a leading designer of ladies' foundation garments; Cooper, a missionary in India; Everett, a West London undertaker; and Stampfel, who has become a popular entertainment manager at a British holiday camp.
Cast
James Robertson Justice – Sir Ernest Pease, aka Lt. Farrow RN
The escape plan, to walk out of the camp dressed as Red Cross observers, was used in real life. It was briefly mentioned in Paul Brickhill's book The Great Escape. There were in fact two such 'Swiss Commission' escapes from German POW camps holding RAF prisoners - Oflag IXA/H, Spangenberg, in 1941, and Oflag VIB, Warburg, in 1942. The escape in 'Very Important Person' is based upon the latter, which was an Army-RAF joint effort, and not the one mentioned by Paul Brickhill. Both escapes are described by Charles Rollings in his books 'Wire and Walls' and 'Wire and Worse'. The film's screenplay was later made into a novelisation with the same title by John Foley, which has erroneously caused John Foley to sometimes be credited as author of the novel upon which the film is based. However, it was the other way around: his novel is based on the film.
Trivia
The Windmill Theatre mentioned at the end of the film was a famous variety and revue theatre which featured tableaux vivants similar to the Folies Bergère and Moulin Rouge in Paris. It continued to operated throughout WWII despite blackouts and the Blitz on London, and boasted "We Never Closed."
