Among many distinctions, Jean Renoir's anti-war masterpiece, made two years befor WWII, was the first foreign-language film to be nominated for legit Oscar--Orson Welles said that if he had to choose one great film, it would be Renoir's.
Grand Illusion (1937)
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Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 33
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 9.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Calling on his own experiences as an aviator in WWI as well as those of his comrades, Jean Renoir's antiwar masterpiece bids farewell to the class constrictions of European society and calls for the unity of humankind across class and... Calling on his own experiences as an aviator in WWI as well as those of his comrades, Jean Renoir's antiwar masterpiece bids farewell to the class constrictions of European society and calls for the unity of humankind across class and national boundaries. Set in the German prison camps of WWI, the film stars Jean Gabin as Marechal, and Marcel Dalio as Rosenthal. Like the charming aristocrat de Boldieu (Pierre Fresnay), these two French aviators were shot down and now spend most of their time escaping from German prison camps before inevitably being recaptured. Between escapes, they do what they can to amuse themselves, which includes running a talent show, but after a tunnel they've dug is discovered, the three are sent to Wintersborn, a forbidding fortress of a prison, which is commanded by former ace pilot von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). The humane commandant practices noblesse oblige toward de Boldieu, hoping for an alliance across national lines. But he comes to learn that this phrase has a different meaning for the Frenchman. One of the great films of all time, GRAND ILLUSION perhaps most purely embodies director Jean Renoir's characterstic humanism, manifested less here in camera technique than an instinctive ability to educe truthful performances from his cast. [More]
Starring: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich Von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio
Starring: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich Von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio, Dita Parlo, Carette
Director: Jean Renoir
Director: Jean Renoir
Screenwriter: Jean Renoir, Charles Spaak
Producer: Albert Pinkovitch, Frank Rollmer
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Release:
Sep 9, 2008
Reviews for Grand Illusion
Renoir films have a way of talking about one thing while being about another.
You don't know war films can be like this until you see it: elegant, humane, seriocomic, deeply wounded, with a sublime regard for life that exceeds all borders.
Renoir has created a strange and interesting film, but he owes much to his cast.
La Grande Illusion, even after more than a half a century, is still a phenomenal work of art-- elegant, eloquent and powerfully moving.'
Achieves that rare distinction of having a precise vision of an earlier time, making that vision relevant to its own time, and remaining strangely contemporary in any age.
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