24. A common mistake
Towards the end of the film, Private Mellish and a German soldier engage in an intense hand-to-hand battle.
Adam Goldberg as Private Mellish
Mellish loses, and the German soldier drives a knife into his chest. Upham is on the stairs just outside the room.
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A common mistake is to assume that the German who killed Mellish is Steamboat Willie – the man Upham saved from death earlier.
Steamboat Willie (pictured left), and the SS soldier who killed Mellish (pictured right)
But this is false. Steamboat Willie is in the battle, but it isn’t him who kills Mellish.
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The German who kills Mellish is in fact another random soldier, who happens to look very similar.
The point is: poor Mellish
You’d be forgiven for making the mistake – so many people have questioned this on the internet over the years. Well, now you know for sure!
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