Breakout: Fortress Escapes on AllMovie

Meet some of history's most famous escapees from some of the world's most impenetrable--and "escape-proof" prisons. Casanova slipped from the hands of his inquisitors in the Ducal Palace of Venice; Lord Nithsdale escaped his beheading in the Tower of London thanks to the help of his wife; inmates at the notorious Leavenworth prison crashed through the front gates in a hijacked train. For desperate prisoners, no danger is too great. Learn about these and many other courageous tales of escape--from Devil's Island, Alcatraz and San Quentin to Nazi Stalags, Soviet Gulags and Confederate prisoner of war camps--in this fascinating historical documentary of man's quest for freedom.