SECTION II: Thames Thursday

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Thames Thursday - "Colditz"

I was pleased with the response to last Thursday's topic, "The Protectors"! Thanks for the great participation!

Today's topic is "Colditz". I found "Colditz" about a year ago on YouTube. A few months ago, I found someone who had recorded the episodes and was kind enough to send me the entire series on DVD.

I like "smart television" and thoroughly enjoyed "Colditz". There are several interesting characters in "Colditz", but Flight Lt. Simon Carter grabbed me from the beginning. There was something about Simon Carter made me care about him from meeting him in England before his ill-fated flight until the liberation of Colditz.

Cousins, what are your recollections about "Colditz"?

2 comments:

JanBeck said...: There were some fascinating stories, in particular the episode where a prisoner pretends to go insane in order to gain release. I liked DMC’s character and I think it was an interesting role for him to tackle.

In general though I thought the actors looked too old. In war so many of the military are no more than boys, yet this lot looked in the 40/50 age range which seemed very unrealistic.

Jan; January 4, 2010 at 7:10 PM
Cat - No. 1, Section I, Southeastern U.S. HQ said...: Hi, Jan,

I agree Simon was a very good role for DM, and the stories are interesting. "Tweedle-Dum" was a very moving story.

I don't have a problem with the range of ages in "Colditz", though. War was a different beast in the days of WWI and WWII. My dad was drafted for service in WWII. He was nearly 30, married, with one 7-yr. old and a second child on the way.

If you were physically able to serve, you did. If you were older, you might not go to the front lines, but the military would put you to work. Dad served in the Philippines, working in the motor pool. My father-in-law, who was a couple of years younger than my dad, served on a sub in the Pacific.

I've just received the two Colditz books written by P. R. Reid. I'm trying to get into the story, but haven't made much progress. So far the only characters I've recognized for certain are Reid and Neave.

There is a photo on the front cover of the first Colditz book that shows the prisoners lined up(the men don't appear to be the actors; none look familiar). I don't know how or where the photo was obtained, but most of the men looked old and pathetically worn down. Some men wore what looked like "dough boy" hats (or whatever the helmet type-hat was called) like Sam Pierce wore during combat in A2 of "Sapphire and Steel".

Many prisoners were men with rank; all were notorious for escape attempts. Colditz was similar to the camp in "The Great Escape". In "The Great Escape", there were quite a few older men, like the senior British officer, Roger "Big X" Bartlett, Blythe and MacDonald.

The main thing I noticed from the photo on the book cover was that every prisoner, regardless of nationality, looked filthy; all their clothes or uniforms were dirt-colored. I didn't see a light blue shirt in the bunch.

I don't think they were far off the mark age-wise with casting, and characters like Simon, Phil Carrington and Dick Player looked like the some of the youngest in the bunch.

I'm not very far into the book, but I'm pretty sure DM's character was based on a Squadron Leader Paddon. He was called "Never-a-Dull-Moment" Paddon because he was instigating havoc constantly. In the prologue, Reid described Paddon as having a mustache and said Paddon had faced court martial.

I enjoyed reading "The Great Escape". I'll let you know if I make my way through both the Colditz books!; January 5, 2010 at 3:04 AM

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I am a "Man From U.N.C.L.E." first cousin (I realize I've just told you I'm old, but I'm not ancient - yet), and I've learned that there are a lot of first, second and third cousins who love UNCLE!

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