La Grande Illusion (1937)

During the First World War, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are sent to a seemingly impenetrable fortress which seems impossible to escape from.

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Charles Spaak (scenario and dialogue), Jean Renoir (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Gabin	...	Le lieutenant Maréchal
Dita Parlo	...	Elsa
Pierre Fresnay	...	Le captaine de Boeldieu
Erich von Stroheim	...	Le captaine von Rauffenstein (as Eric von Stroheim)
Julien Carette	...	Cartier - l'acteur (as Carette)
Georges Péclet	...	Le serrurier (as Peclet)
Werner Florian	...	Le sergent Arthur
Jean Dasté	...	L'instituteur (as Daste)
Sylvain Itkine	...	Le lieutenant Demolder (as Itkine)
Gaston Modot	...	L'ingénieur (as Modot)
Marcel Dalio	...	Le lieutenant Rosenthal (as Dalio)

Storyline

During 1st WW, two French officers are captured. Captain De Boeldieu is an aristocrat while Lieutenant Marechal was a mechanic in civilian life. They meet other prisoners from various backgrounds, as Rosenthal, son of wealthy Jewish bankers. They are separated from Rosenthal before managing to escape. A few months later, they meet again in a fortress commanded by the aristocrat Van Rauffenstein. De Boeldieu strikes up a friendship with him but Marechal and Rosenthal still want to escape...

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Plot Keywords:

military | french soldier | despair | upper class | sentry | 

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Taglines:

A Film of Great Power and Compassion!

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French German English Russian

Release Date:

12 September 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

La Grande Illusion

Filming Locations:

Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$50,793, 13 August 1999

Gross USA:

$172,885, 2 December 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Réalisation d'art cinématographique (RAC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 94 min (1937 release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to 'The Book of Lists 2', this movie was being shown in Vienna in March, 1938, when the German Army poured into Austria during the 'Anschluss'. The movie theater was commandeered and the film was stopped mid-reel.

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Goofs

When Boeldieu is dead, Rauffenstein wants to close his eyes with his hand. When the hand of Rauffenstein gets close to Boeldieu, his eye moves.

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Quotes

Lieutenant Maréchal: They wear their hair short too.
L'instituteur: Short hair!
Cartier - l'acteur: Must seem like sleeping with a boy!
L'instituteur: When the cat's away the mice will play!
French POW: I'm sure my wife hasn't cut her hair.

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Connections

Featured in Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge (1989)

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Soundtracks

La Marseillaise
(1792) (uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle

User Reviews

Classic film on the death of ancient regimes

In the old European order, pre-WWI, one nation's aristocracy made war on another's not out of love for king and country or hatred for the enemy, but out of a sense of honor and duty. War was what they did, these aristocrats of l'ancien regime. Their castles in the air, their noble worldview, their time-honored way--all would crumble, as they very well knew, if the line between the rabble and themselves were allowed to continue to blur. The masses had new and different loyalties.

"La Grande Illusion" in 1914 was the hope that that old order could be preserved in the face of surging democracy and noveau-riche power. Jean Renoir's film presents us with an irony: the martial elites of France and Germany needed the war to vouchsafe their very identities, and yet that conflict would prove their undoing. Whatever side won, the hoi polloi would gain the upper hand.

Restored from its original camera negative, the 1937 French film now on DVD sparkles like new. The restoration lets us see that nothing is dated about this work of genius, even if its POW-camp situations today seem stock and its characters stereotypes of nationality and class. The fine acting, the deft pacing, and the fluid camerawork make for a film that could have been produced last year. The whispered subtext, the nuanced conflicts, and the ironic complexity make for a film that is timeless.

The subtext is the eternal tension between "in the air" and "on the ground," "on high" and "here below," "from a distance" and "up close and personal." From a distance, war is no more rancorous than a chess game, with national boundaries as artificial as the squares on a chessboard. Up close and personal, war separates humans from their lives and aspirations, lovers from their beloveds.

The old elites loved nothing but their class and its accoutrements. It was peasant stock and noveau riche who belted out national anthems and honored the borders which in wartime could sever lover from lover but, paradoxically, also shield prison-camp escapees who made it across them to sanctuary. Renoir's genius was that he could show that an emergent new order, manifestly better on the ground, comes at a steep price, tragically, in the air.