Story
The Film was based on a novel by Rudolf Bolo Maeglin and based on the story of the real Gilberte de Courgenay (actually Gilberte Montavon), who was a waitress in a hotel in Courgenay, a small town near the Swiss-French border. She served thousands of Swiss soldiers that were stationed in Courgenay during the First World War, when the neutral Switzerland had to protect its borders. Hanns In der Gand made the song La petite Gilberte de Gourgenay by Robert Lustenberger and Oskar Portmann from the Winter 1915/16 very famous across Switzerland. The popularity of this song quickly resulted in Gilberte becoming an idol for the soldats that had to keep watch far from home and their families.
The film is a love story around Gilberte de Courgenay (played by Anne-Marie Blanc). In the winter of 1915/16 the artillery battalion 38 is sent to Courgenay. Initially assuming that the war will soon be over, they're disappointed when they hear that they won't be able to celebrate Christmas at home. Gilberte organises a Christmas celebration for the soldiers and so becomes their idol. Secretly, she loves Peter Hasler (Erwin Kohlund), who is upset because his fiancee Tilly (Ditta Oesch) is not answering his letters.
When a colleague of Hasler has to travel to Berne with a sick horse, he finds out why: Tilly's rich father had seized all the letters from Peter because he thought that he was not appropriate for her. Tilly immediately travels to the Jura when she discovers this.
She finds Peter just during the most famous part of the film: When he sings La petite Gilberte in the Hôtel de la Gare in Courgenay adoring Gilberte. But Gilberte steps back and leaves Peter to Tilly.
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Franz Schnyder was a Swiss film director and screenwriter. He directed 15 films between 1941 and 1968. His film Der 10. Mai was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival.
The spiritual national defence was a political-cultural movement in Switzerland which was active from circa 1932 into the 1960s. It was supported by the Swiss authorities, certain institutions, scholars, the press and intellectuals. Its aim was the strengthening of values and customs perceived to be ‘Swiss’ and thus create a defence against totalitarian ideologies.
Anne-Marie Blanc was a Swiss film and television actress, style icon and was commonly referred to as "The Grand Dame of the Swiss Film". Her granddaughter is the actress Mona Petri.
Rudolph Bolo Mäglin, was a Swiss journalist, publicist, writer, poet and cabaretwriter.
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Mathilde Alanic was a French writer of sentimental novels and short stories. Her work appeared in Les Annales politiques et littéraires, L'Eventail, Le Magasin pittoresque, Musée des familles, Le National illustré, La Petite Illustration, Le Petit Journal, Le Petit Parisien, Revue de l'Anjou, and other journals. Alanic was a recipient of the Montyon prize, Jules-Favre prize, Sobrier-Arnould prize, and was promoted Chevalier, Legion of Honour. She died in 1948.
Gilberte Montavon de Courgenay was a Swiss waitress who became a national symbol of spiritual national defense during World War I and World War II. She entertained Swiss Army troops at the Hôtel de Gare in Courgenay, which was owned by her family, and became popular with the soldiers. In 1917, the composer and folklorist Hanns In der Gand gave a concert at the hotel and performed his new song La petite Gilberte, written about Montavon. The song was adopted by the army to boost morale throughout the war. Montavon inspired Rudolph Bolo Mäglin's 1939 novel Gilberte de Courgenay and his play of the same name. Two films, August Kern's Marguerite et les soldates in 1940 and Franz Schnyder's Gilberte de Courgenay in 1941, were based on her life.
