The Elusive Corporal (1962) Le caporal épinglé (original title)

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Guy Lefranc (adaptation)
Jacques Perret (novel)
(more)

Release Date:

23 May 1962 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An upper-class corporal from Paris is captured by the Germans when they invade France in 1940. Assisted...

Plot Keywords:

Corporal | Paris France | World War Two | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Le caporal / The Corporal
Claude Brasseur	...	'Papa' / 'Pop'
O.E. Hasse	...	Le voyageur ivre dans le train
Claude Rich	...	Ballochet
Jacques Jouanneau	...	Penche-à-gauche
Sacha Briquet	...	L'évadé grimé en vielle femme
Raymond Jourdan	...	Hippolyte Dupieu
Guy Bedos	...	Le prisonnier qui bégaye
Philippe Castelli	...	Le prisonnier électricien
Gérard Darrieu	...	L'homme qui louche / The cross-eyed man
Lucien Raimbourg	...	L'employé de la gare
François Darbon	...	Un paysan / The last man
Cornelia Froboess	...	Erika Schmidt (as Conny Froboess)
Elisabeth Marcus
Elisabeth Stiepl		(as Elisabeth Stiepel)
Helmut Janatsch
Mario David	...	Caruso
Jean Carmet	...	Guillaume
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Fux	...	Surveyor directing two men working with measuring tape (uncredited)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Billy Kearns	...	Un garde / Guard (uncredited)
Sepp Löwinger	...	Man blowing whistle and announcing lunch (uncredited)
Raoul Retzer	...	Disciplinary camp officer commanding humiliating exercises (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Renoir

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Guy Lefranc		adaptation
Jacques Perret		novel
Jean Renoir		adaptation and dialogue
Charles Spaak		uncredited

Produced by
Adry De Carbuccia	....	producer (as Adry de Carbuccia)
Roland Girard	....	producer
Georges Glass	....	delegate producer: Austria

Original Music by
Joseph Kosma

Cinematography by
Georges Leclerc

Film Editing by
Renée Lichtig

Production Design by
Wolf Witzemann

Makeup Department
Ladislaus Valicek	....	makeup artist (as Ladisl Valicek)

Production Management
René Gaston Vuattoux	....	production manager (as René G. Vuattoux)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean Egon Kieffer	....	assistant director (as J.E. Kieffer)
Guy Lefranc	....	assistant director
Marc Maurette	....	assistant director
Paulo Rocha	....	trainee assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Eugène Herrly	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jacques Bissières	....	sound assistant (as Jacques Bissière)
Gaston Demède	....	sound assistant
Jacques Gérardot	....	sound assistant
Antoine Petitjean	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Eugène Herrly	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Stefan Börczök	....	still photographer (as Stefan Borcsök)
Gilbert Chain	....	camera operator
Robert Fraisse	....	assistant camera
Antoine Georgakis	....	assistant camera
Jean-Louis Picavet	....	chief camera operator
André Moindrot	....	lighting technician (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Madeleine Lecompere	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Serge Baudo	....	conductor

Other crew
Josef W. Beyer	....	general manager (as J.W. Beyer)
Charlotte Lefèvre	....	script girl (as Charlotte Lefèvre Vuattoux)
Yvonne Toumayeff	....	administrator

Production Companies

• Les Films du Cyclope
• Omnia Films

Distributors

• Pathé Consortium Cinéma (1962) (France) (theatrical)
• Union Film Distributors Inc. (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Maple Pictures (2007) (Canada) (DVD)
• StudioCanal (2006) (France) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Le caporal épinglé" - France (original title)

Runtime:

90 min | 105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Spain:7

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Les Films du Cyclope

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mississippi Mermaid (1969)

Pure Cynicism

Le Caporal opens with a montage of WWII documentary footage. "Honor and glory to the survivors" provides a nice interplay between themes in Grande Illusion and more personal philosophies regarding the condition of the human race (Renoir's 'humanism'). The drama moves at a relatively slow pace and the performances are full of affect. More documentary footage has a voice-over narration in French but from the perspective of the Nazis. There is an element of self-reflexivity to the film not just through the use of documentary footage and a more psychologically-based stylistic system but also infused into the themes of coercion and resistance. Le Caporal is more concerned with individualism than Grande Illusion which focused on group dynamics. This is underscored by the obsessive compulsive worry that one character shows for the safety of his cows, regardless of what is happening in the moment. The story does not track the multiple characters but instead folds their offscreen progress in with the corporal at regular intervals. He becomes a transient in their lives (hence elusive). There is a disconnect in this regard and a repetition to the structure of the narrative that underscores this disconnect. The graceful allusions in Regle with Schumacher are replaced by purely cynical portrayals of Germans (the drunken warmonger states "I'm probably a better German than you all"). Scorsese commented that Le Caporal Epingle is "in a different emotional key than La Grande Illusion".