The Coward

Captain Bob Hayworth, his brother Lieutenant Gilroy Hayworth and Captain Derek Marbury are in a World-War 1 trench on the front-lines in France. Bob Hayworth resents Marbury greatly as the latter had married the girl, Lucy Neville, Marbury was courting in pre-war London. Ordered to go on a night patrol, the cowardly Gilroy committed suicide rather than face his fear. Bob and Derek arrange it to appear that Bob had been killed by a shell-burst, and Derek, with his face camouflaged, takes the patrol posing as Gilroy. While on patrol, Derek is hit by a shell-burst and found by the German Red Cross, who turn him over to a family of French peasants. Weeks later, Drek awakens in an English field-hospital and has amnesia. Since he had no papers on him when found, the hospital staff name him Private John Drake, and he is shipped back to England several months later. There, he is recognized by Bob Hayworth, who has been courting the widow Marbury. Despite the fact that Marbury had undertaken the mission on order to keep the Hayworth family-name from shame, Bob brings charges of battlefield desertion against Derek. The latter, not even knowing who he really is, has no defense against the charges.

During the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century, anti-Qing (Manchu) Chinese forces led by Taiping commander Li Xiucheng march on Shanghai. Although the Western powers are officially neutral, the British consul in Shanghai sides with the Qing imperial government, and counter to his own government's policy he retains American adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward to raise a mercenary force of foreigners in Shanghai and oppose the Taipings. Ward's force is routed, with heavy casualties, but since many of the casualties are British, the British army soon is drawn in on the side of the Qings. The only support for the Chinese comes from Japanese in Shanghai and anti-imperialist demonstrations in Japan. A family drama plays out against this historical background. After a Chinese home is destroyed by careless British shelling, killing the father and crippling a daughter, the surviving son vows revenge but begins to see that his true friends may be the Japanese.

The title of the film, set in Luxembourg in 1942, during the Nazi occupation, amalgamates the words Schacko (helmet) and chapeau claque (opera hat). The village, in which it is set, has not yet been feeling the effects of the war at this point. The protagonist Chr"«scht Knapp is an 11 year old boy. Most of the people in the village are engaged in the Resistance, but some collaborate with the Nazis. Chr"«scht is taking care of his grandfatherâ€TMs cows with his friend Jhuliett and spends a lot of time in ‘hisâ€TM tree in the middle of the forest. Everything suddenly changes when one of the villagers is shot dead for taking part in the general strike of Oktober 9th 1942. The young Luxembourgers are forced to enroll in the Wehrmacht. Some villagers are arrested and others deported to Silesia. The Gestapo searches several houses, hoping to find draft evaders. The Knapp familyâ€TMs home is no exception. Chr"«scht decides to take action and warns the neighboursâ€TM son, who is hiding in the attic, of the Germansâ€TM arrival. His family realises that Chr"«scht is not a boy any longer and that he is ready to take on responsibilities. The last time he climbs into his tree, he watches the Alliesâ€TM planes heading towards Germany.