Grand Illusion( 1937)

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79%

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A Great Drama of Human Emotions

Overview

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

Top Billed Cast

Jean Gabin
Le lieutenant Maréchal
Pierre Fresnay
Le capitaine de Boëldieu
Erich von Stroheim
Le capitaine von Rauffenstein
Marcel Dalio
Le lieutenant Rosenthal
Dita Parlo
Elsa
Julien Carette
Cartier, l'acteur
Gaston Modot
L'ingénieur
Georges Péclet
Le serrurier
Werner Florian
Le sergent Arthur
Jean Dasté
L'instituteur
Sylvain Itkine
Le lieutenant Demolder
Jacques Becker
L'officier anglais
Habib Benglia
Le sénégalais
Pierre Blondy
Un soldat
Albert Brouett
Un prisonnier
Georges Fronval
Le soldat allemand qui vise le capitaine de Boëldieu
Karl Heil
Un officier de la forteresse
Carl Koch
Un gendarme de campagne
Little Peters
Lotte, la petite fille d'Elsa
Claude Sainval
Le capitaine Ringis
Michel Salina
Claude Vernier
L'officer prussien
Géo Forster
Maison-Neuve

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Mon Jun 20 2022

Very much more of a character-driven look at the experiences of French prisoners during the first world war. The inmates represent - much as did their army - soldiers from all aspects of life. The aristocratic Pierre Fresnay as "Boeldieu", Jean Gabin "Maréchal" and Marcel Dalio "Rosenthal" as the more down to earth captives - but all proud Frenchmen with their own determination to escape their imprisonment. The film features many of their valiant escape attempts; along with providing us with quite an interesting illustration of the toughness of their existence and the diversions they sought fro...