IMDb plot summary: During WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
Directed by Jean Renoir. Starring Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, and Erich von Stroheim.
While on first glance this film doesn't resonate very deeply with me, it is vital to remember the foundation it laid for other films I've seen before. There's a scene where the French soldiers defiantly sing "La Marseillaise," and I immediately recognized the thread leading from this to a similar scene in Casablanca, one of my all-time favorite films. And virtually all great prison escape films owe a debt of gratitude to the characters and narratives spun here. I'm also intrigued by the relationship shown between the head of the camp and one of the more aristocratic prisoners, who form a bond around their shared understanding of class even though they are on completely opposite sides of the war. This one finally completes the Flickchart Global Top 100 for me, and I'm glad to have had the push to finally see it.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Grand Illusion < Fahrenheit 451
Grand Illusion > The Professional
Grand Illusion > Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Grand Illusion > Almost Famous
Grand Illusion > Out of Africa
Grand Illusion < Mrs. Miniver
Grand Illusion > Dunkirk
Grand Illusion > The Lighthouse
Grand Illusion > The Dinner Guest
Grand Illusion > New Faces
Grand Illusion < The Firemen's Ball
Final spot: #1761 out of 3410, or 48%.
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