Grand Illusion Rating: Release Date: 24 March, 1998 Retail Price: $39.95 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Jean Gabin Dita Parlo Marcel Dalio Pierre Fresnay Complete Cast (8 total)

Grand Illusion Reviews

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Excellent film
This film was my first contact with Renoir, the director.

The acting is very genuine and honest. And it feels fresh even 70 years after it was performed. The anti-war message is intelligent, but primarily emotional. The emotional focus means that this film will be relevant as long as we have wars (so probably forever).

As a consequence of discovering Renoir, I've ordered several other films by Renoir.

War is Hell?
Not in Grand Illusion. World War I was the last gentlemen's war...If you're a pilot & an officer. Life as a POW seemed pretty cushy. Parcels from home accross enemy lines?, fine dining with the enemy? No problem. Who'd want to escape? But you must try. It is your duty. The two main characters are French officers who form a close relationship in planning various escapes.
Marechal is working class & de Boiedieu is upper class. It is a callaboration not possible in civilian life.
Because they are escape risks they are transfered to a more secure prison run by a Prussian of the old
school Captain von Rauffenstein, played superbly by Eric von Strolheim. He basically dominates every scene he is in. At this point in the movie, Renoir ups the ante. Class & breeding are everything to the old Captain. The old order is crumbling & he may sense this as does de Boiedieu. They embrace each other as comrades with their common aristocratic background. All other considerations such as the fact that they are at war & mortal enemies fall away completely. DeBoiedieu uses von Rauffenstein's devotion to this concept to good effect as he engineers yet another escape attempt. An excellent movie with a good pay-off at the end.
Bt way of comparision, Jean Renoir made this movie two years before his much acclaimed "Rules of the Game". Basically the same subject but with the idle rich instead of military men. This movie is far superior. 41/2*.

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