Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)

Runtime: 114 minutes

Directed by: Jean Renoir

Starring: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Julien Carette, Dita Parlo

From: RAC

While it’s unfortunate this classic is leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month, their print being 540p in quality and having sickly yellow subtitles-what a relic of the DVD era, which was the last time they ever had the rights to the film-meant that after a few minutes, deciding to spend a few bucks to see my second Renoir (after La Bete Humane) on Apple TV was the right choice. Lionsgate and StudioCanal lovingly restored the movie a little more than a decade ago. Beforehand, there were no foreknowledge that there was an important scene at the conclusion set during the yuletide season, yet there it was.

It is a tale which seems deceptively simple from basic description yet is much more complex in reality. Two French airmen (one a common man, the other aristocratic) in World War I are shot down and end up in a variety of different camps. What a colorful variety of characters we meet throughout; a key theme is an anti-war message. After all, the upper class of different countries can sometimes share friends and those of more modest means can fall in love despite the language barrier. Escape attempts occur, including at a impregnable mountain fortress aptly named Wintersborn.

Arguably the keystone of the movie’s themes is humanism, and how even an injured German Major we briefly see in the beginning (unforgettably played by Erich von Stroheim) who is in charge of Wintersborn, that relationship is always respectful despite their countries being on opposing sides of a silly & needless war. There were no difficulty in rooting for our two leads & their fellow countryman… not to mention be fascinated by von Stroheim’s character.

The performances are all aces, from the actors I knew (Jean Gabin, von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay) to those less familiar, such as Marcel Dalio and Dita Parlo. This stunning film-which sadly was almost lost for good during World War II as Nazi scum were naturally against it-should have been experienced by me years ago if I had any inkling it would have worked so well for me.