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Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely Fantastic

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

An R.A.C. (Realisation d'Art Cinematographique) Production. Parisian premiere: 30 June 1937 at the Marivaux Cinema. Copyright 15 January 1938 by World Pictures Corporation. New York opening at the Filmarte: 12 September 1938. Australian release through Continental Art Films: 8 June 1939. 10 reels. 113 minutes.U.S. and Australian release title: GRAND ILLUSION (cut to 96 minutes).SYNOPSIS: French fliers plan an escape from a German prison camp.NOTES: Nominated for Hollywood's most prestigious annual award for Best Film of 1938, which was won by "You Can't Take It With You". Best Foreign Film of 1938. – The National Board of Review (New York). Best Foreign Film of 1938. – New York Film Critics. COMMENT: Here is the daddy of all the POW movies that became so popular in the 1950s and 1960s. All the familiar ingredients are here, including the fatal escape, the camp concert, the underground tunnel, the dispersal of earth in the garden, the by-the-book German commandant, the transfer to another camp, the surly guards, the friendly guards, the long-awaited parcels from home, the boredom, the ribaldry, the mocking defiance of regulations. Yes, it's all here. So why did the film make such a varied impression on world leaders in its first release that its reputation still shines with such brilliance today? It's all about class, you see. The dying race of aristocrats, personified here by Fresnay and Von Stroheim, who must ultimately give way to the proletariat led by down-to-earth philosophers like Jean Gabin's garage mechanic or Carette's lecherous comedian. And yes, those elements are present in the movie, albeit accidentally, because Von Stroheim's part had to be enlarged when he was signed to play the commandant. However, it's good to say that Von Stroheim was not overawed by Renoir and still managed to invest his role with a few characteristic quirks and attention-getting bits of business. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie. The screenplay packs in plenty of suspense, it's well acted (particularly by two of my favorite players, Gabin and the Von), smoothly directed, atmospherically photographed and most capably produced. On the whole, I'd give it at least eight out of ten. (I thought the Dita Parlo scenes came as a bit of an anti- climax. They went on far too long, but I suppose you couldn't hope to make money in 1937 with a movie that had no feminine lead. Yet once you've got her in place, you've got to give her something to do). However, The Great Illusion is most certainly anti-war in its sentiments, doesn't glorify its horrors or turn them into a great adventure—and that's something to be proud of. One of the characters rightly exclaims that his greatest problem in coping with his incarceration lies in the monotony of living day by day in a state of sheer boredom. War is inhuman on every level.OTHER VIEWS: The finest film ever made. – Franklin Delano Roosevelt... Cinematographic enemy number one. – Joseph Goebbels... An excellent film in every respect, La Grande Illusion deserves the widest praise. – Hermann Goering... A degrading and divisive motion picture. – Henri Spaak (brother of Charles Spaak) who banned the film from exhibition in Belgium... A brilliant and inspiring film which cannot be praised too highly. – Louis-Ferdinand Céline... Stupid, insulting and deliberately perverse, the movie should be shunned by everyone. – Benito Mussolini.

I thought I had watched every WWI and WWII imaginable but stumbled across this by accident. What a fantastic movie. I holds up across decades and would recommend it to anyone who is connoisseur of WW movies. This has the feel of Casablanca yet with multiple locations and better cinematography and lighting. What a gem.

When I saw the ending of this film, I realised I saw this film as a boy many decades ago.Jean Renoir's, La Grande Illusion is set during The Great War. The film was made in 1937 and so its depiction of the Germans has not been tainted with the actions of the Nazis in World War 2.The story begins with two French officers, Lieutenant Marichal (Jean Gavin) and Captain De Boeldueu (Pierre Fresnay) taken to a Prisoner of War camp where the inmates have been digging a tunnel. After several attempts to escape, the French officers get sent to a castle high up the mountains run by Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim.) He is an intimidating looking, flamboyant but courteous officer we met earlier on in the film who treated the captured French officers very civilly.Rauffenstein sees in De Boeldueu an old way of life run by the aristocracy which is now at risk with the growing middle class in Europe with their newly acquired wealth. There are many times we know that De Boeldueu's word as an officer counts more to Rauffenstein.The film as another sub text about people in this camp trying to get along with people of different classes, religion, colour and nationality. One of the person Marichal will eventually escape with is a French Jew, one of the inmates in the camp who is ignored at times by the officers is black. When Marechal is leaving the first camp he tries to tell the incoming British officers about the tunnel they have been digging it falls to deaf ears as they cannot understand French.The inmates are united as they plan to escape, dig the tunnel and hide the dirt. They feel camaraderie when the British officers boost morale by putting on a stage show and the looks on their faces when one of them appears in drag for the first time, highlighting the fact that they have not seen a female for months or years.The film is in French but has a smattering of German and English. In some ways the film set the template for the second world war POW films like The Great Escape but this movie dos not have the tense excitement of such an action film that would follow three decades later. Then again it is more than just a film about prisoners escaping, more a character piece which also makes the film slightly stage bound and even slow moving at times.

LA GRANDE ILLUSION is one of the biggest accomplishment of French and world cinema. Anti-war theme is shown in a rather strange way. Senselessness of war is the essence. At a frivolous (human) and non-violent way emerged the war illusion. Human relations during the war, the loss of any meaning and value. This is a strange story about human relationships in a time of war.Prisoners of war camps. The camps in the war could be called hell on Earth. Here are just illusions. Renoir gives us a work of art that explores the depth and complexity of human relationships. One difficult and undesirable topics is presented with a lot of modesty and charm.In the film's social status is reduced to a minimum. The soldiers are essential and a little crazy. The relationship between prisoners and soldiers is almost friendly. Full of patience and respect. War is man's ultimate folly, for it brings him losses that are permanent, and victories that are pyrrhic and short lived.Scenography and acting are excellent. Watch Gabin (Lieutenant Maréchal) and Fresnay (Captain de Boeldieu) is a real pleasure. Erich von Stroheim (Captain - Major von Rauffenstein) is quite realistic figure and around him is spinning an illusion and absurdity of everyday life. Dita Parlo as Elsa appears briefly but leaves a strong impression. There are so many different and important characters who acting with a lot of freedom and creativity. Renoir reveals every aspect of his characters.This film is full of humanism, heroism, drama and adventure. All of these features are mixed in a war illusion in which is hard to believe, but it's very nice to see and feel. A little comedy of manners is welcome, romance also.Whether it is or not, the film tells us that men can act nobly, even when they are a part of something that is not itself noble. Mankind must rise from ruin. Unfortunately, to this day all is one La Grande Illusion.