Colditz 2x07, "French Leave"
Apr. 6th, 2012 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitThe episode opens with the British officers having dinner in the dorm. The news is read to them by Lt. Michael Brown, who every night listens to the news with the French contingent on their wireless, translates it, and reports back (the French have two wireless sets, the British have none). Ulmann comes in during the news reading and Simon goads him by admitting exactly what they were doing, which Ulmann reports to the Kommandant. Mohn, angry that "propaganda" is being spread around the camp, demands a crackdown to find the wireless, but is taken aback to learn that the news about German defeats in north Africa is true.
Simon approaches a French officer, Captain Vaillant, an overall shady character who is running a black market in almost everything, to try to bargain for the second French wireless. But he is turned down. Simon goes off to choir practice--he and George are both members of the choir, which is preparing for Easter.
The local Protestant pastor asks the Kommandant for permission for the prison choir to sing in the Colditz town church on Good Friday, since the church has no choir of its own. The Kommandant eventually agrees, obtaining the parole of Colonel Preston and the senior French and Polish officers that no escape attempt will be made.
Mohn announces to the French prisoners that on April 20th they will be transferred to a labor camp in Poland, to the dismay of everyone but especially Captain Vaillant, who is determined to escape.
As the choir prepares to go into Colditz town for its first rehearsal, Captain Vaillant appears. The CofE padre protests that he's not a member of the choir, but his name is on the list and he says he's filling in for another officer who was unexpectedly taken sick. During rehearsal, he flirts with the young girl, Gerda, who plays the organ. At the next rehearsal, she passes him a note explaining that she can help him escape. On Good Friday, the day of the performance, Vaillant ducks out of the group and hides in a drain under the street.
Meanwhile, the French Escape Officer, Captain Coty, has been discovered with forging equipment and false documents; Vaillant's picture is among the documents. Mohn immediately drives into town, has the performance stopped, and begins the search for Vaillant, but Vaillant hides in the drain all night and the next day Gerda helps him hide in her horse cart and takes him home with her. They go to bed together and he asks her to come with him, both because it's safer for her and because a man and a woman travelling together are less conspicuous than a single man, but she has family in Germany and refuses to leave. Vaillant's papers pass inspection the next day and he catches his train.
The Kommandant is furious with Colonel Preston, but Preston reminds him that he could only give parole for his own officers, not the French. The remaining French prisoners are evacuated as planned, and they pass a wireless along to the British contingent.
We learn that Gerda's note was discovered by Mohn among Vaillant's things, and he informed the SS about it. In the last scene, Gerda is praying in church as two Gestapo officers approach her.
Timeline: References to the German defeat in north Africa and the removal of General Rommel date the start of this episode to March 1943, and it continues through April 20th and the evacuation of the French prisoners. Clearly, Colditz exists in some kind of time warp.
Simon approaches a French officer, Captain Vaillant, an overall shady character who is running a black market in almost everything, to try to bargain for the second French wireless. But he is turned down. Simon goes off to choir practice--he and George are both members of the choir, which is preparing for Easter.
The local Protestant pastor asks the Kommandant for permission for the prison choir to sing in the Colditz town church on Good Friday, since the church has no choir of its own. The Kommandant eventually agrees, obtaining the parole of Colonel Preston and the senior French and Polish officers that no escape attempt will be made.
Mohn announces to the French prisoners that on April 20th they will be transferred to a labor camp in Poland, to the dismay of everyone but especially Captain Vaillant, who is determined to escape.
As the choir prepares to go into Colditz town for its first rehearsal, Captain Vaillant appears. The CofE padre protests that he's not a member of the choir, but his name is on the list and he says he's filling in for another officer who was unexpectedly taken sick. During rehearsal, he flirts with the young girl, Gerda, who plays the organ. At the next rehearsal, she passes him a note explaining that she can help him escape. On Good Friday, the day of the performance, Vaillant ducks out of the group and hides in a drain under the street.
Meanwhile, the French Escape Officer, Captain Coty, has been discovered with forging equipment and false documents; Vaillant's picture is among the documents. Mohn immediately drives into town, has the performance stopped, and begins the search for Vaillant, but Vaillant hides in the drain all night and the next day Gerda helps him hide in her horse cart and takes him home with her. They go to bed together and he asks her to come with him, both because it's safer for her and because a man and a woman travelling together are less conspicuous than a single man, but she has family in Germany and refuses to leave. Vaillant's papers pass inspection the next day and he catches his train.
The Kommandant is furious with Colonel Preston, but Preston reminds him that he could only give parole for his own officers, not the French. The remaining French prisoners are evacuated as planned, and they pass a wireless along to the British contingent.
We learn that Gerda's note was discovered by Mohn among Vaillant's things, and he informed the SS about it. In the last scene, Gerda is praying in church as two Gestapo officers approach her.
Timeline: References to the German defeat in north Africa and the removal of General Rommel date the start of this episode to March 1943, and it continues through April 20th and the evacuation of the French prisoners. Clearly, Colditz exists in some kind of time warp.
