MovieChat Forums > Colditz (1972) Discussion > The French Leave

The French Leave

posted 12 years ago by mandeep_basarke
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In this episode the french Captain Andre Vaillant and the German girl Gerda have fling and Andre escapes, the girl is arrested and taken away, I didn't get to see the ending so I don't know if Andre was recaptured. And I've read the Reid book and nothing even close to it is written in the book so its total fiction thought a Czech captain did get a Kiss from the town dentists nurse when she returned his muffler at the gates to Colditz. What I need to know is did Andre get recaptured and learn about Gerda being arrested and what his response to the would have been, or was it Col. Preton who learned about it from the Kommandant I seem to remember that from watching the show from the late 70's.

"Gentlemen, This is a War Room, There's no fighting allowed in Here!"

[–] lunettarose 11 years ago

I've watched this episode recently. So although it's a long time after your question, I'll answer it and hope that helps!

It sounds as though you did watch until the end, though you may have missed the credits - the last scene is the one with Gerda in the church, and then the Gestapo come in and she looks up and sees them.
That's how it ends. The Kommandant doesn't discuss Gerda with Col. Preston - he just says he is disappointed with Col. Preston, who gave his word that the prisoners wouldn't escape, etc. To which Col. Preston replies that he has not broken his word as no BRITISH officer did escape (which is quite correct)!

Mohn tells the Kommandant that they found the letter signed from Gerda and that he (Mohn) has informed the Gestapo. That's when the scene cuts of Gerda in the church and the Gestapo closing in on her.

We never find out if Andre was recaptured. TBH, from the impression I formed of the character, I don't think he would have cared too much what happened to Gerda - he wanted her to come with him because a man and a woman travelling together was better "cover" than one man alone. I don't think he really cared about her... but I could be wrong about that, that's just the way I perceived Vaillant.

But yeah, so that's all that happened. If you saw that, you've seen it all :)