World War II · Film · 1966
La Grande Vadrouille
When an RAF bomber crew bails out over Paris, a grumpy house painter and a pompous conductor are dragged into smuggling them south across occupied France, one farce at a time.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Palais Garnier opera house, Paris
Key location
An airman lands on the roof of the Opéra, where the irascible conductor Lefort reluctantly agrees to help him.
Stop 2: Grand Mosque of Paris
The fugitives' rendezvous at the mosque's Turkish baths turns into a comedy of passwords sung to the wrong people.
Stop 3: Meursault, Burgundy
In a Burgundy wine village swarming with Germans, the group tries to slip across the demarcation line hidden in wine casks.
What really happened
Until November 1942 France was split by a demarcation line between the German-occupied north and the so-called free zone run from Vichy. Allied airmen shot down over France were hidden by ordinary civilians and passed along escape lines such as Comète and the Pat O'Leary line, which smuggled thousands of them to Spain and back to Britain.
Gérard Oury's comedy turns that dangerous work into a chase through Paris landmarks and the Burgundy countryside, with Bourvil and Louis de Funès. It sold more than 17 million tickets in France, a record for a French film that stood until 2008.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- La Grande Vadrouille
- Directed by
- Gérard Oury
- Countries
- France, United Kingdom
- Languages
- French, English, German
- Released
- 1966
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe
- Themes
- Comedy
- Resistance
