Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion (1937)

Director: Jean Renoir

Writer: Jean Renoir

Cast:

Jean Gabin
Dita Parlo
Pierre Fresnay
Erich von Stroheim
Julien Carette
Georges Peclet
Werner Florian
Jean Daste
Marcel Dalio
Gaston Modot

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Grand Illusion is the story of two French officers who are shot down and captured during the first World War. They are sent and stationed in various German POW camps to live out the remainder of their days. It's here that they are introduced to the fellow prisoners of various backgrounds that they are to be imprisoned with. The goal of these men are too bide their time and come up with a plan of escaping there confines and getting back to a normal existence that they use to have before being captured and placed in these camps.

Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion isn't a war film that most people would have come to relish in today's society with high amounts of brutal violence and patriotism that is stuffed down the throat of every viewer who is willing to take part in a Hollywood produced war film. Jean Renoir instead takes an approach to war and prison camps like no other, he stakes his claim with Grand Illusion at creating one of the most offbeat War themed films ever made. What essentially could have been a more dramatic film in terms of the themes flowing through Grand Illusion comes off as a masterpiece in the circumstances of turning a subject like this on it's head and executing it with ease. Jean Renoir only deserves the highest amount of praise for his effort with this film.

My interpretation of Grand Illusion is that even in the horrors of war and imprisonment there is a bond like no other, this bond is friendship which can strive amongst the greatest of bonds and outweigh the worst of situations. We are subjected early on in this movie to friendship and it is a theme that runs rampant in this film. The film never lets you forget two things, this is friendship can survive the harshest of environments and the plan of escape that they will see through to the very end. Grand Illusion through out it's running time only borders on the darker themes for a moment and diverts right back to it's lighter side and this is what makes it offbeat, instead of being a horrific tale of war it shows the softer side which amounts to much of why the film is humorous and at times laugh out loud funny, which is rare for this type of film.

The actors involved in this film are fantastic. They all convey performances worthy of praise, Jean Gabin the leading man is an actor I've never heard of before until watching Grand Illusion, it's stated in the Audio Essay that the man has brought tears to peoples eyes in some performances because of his great acting talent, I haven't witnessed it yet but in Grand Illusion he delivers a performance that I think could have won him an Oscar. Erich Von Stroheim as the flamboyant Captain von Rauffenstein never really delivers the performance you'd see intended for the villain of the film but Grand Illusion is intended to be offbeat and his performance is one of immense talent. Pierre Fresnay delivers a stiff performance with hints of Peter Sellers in terms of looks, his performance is of the subtle kind and is worth the watch. Lastly Dita Parlo the only older female role in the film shows a gracious and sincere performance that made me fall in love with her character.

Being the first Jean Renoir film I've had the pleasure of witnessing, I can safely say the man knows how to direct a fantastic looking movie. Grand Illusion is not epic in the sense of the word but while being at most times in a confined space or smaller set Jean Renoir is able to lift above these modest shots and bring us something quite spectacular. Renoir can direct quite the tracking shot and Grand Illusion has many moments that show his talent and eye for cinema. Once out in the open and we are shown more landscapes, Renoir is still able to bring a beauty to this film. The final moments in the snow covered mountains looked incredible.

Finally Grand Illusion from the poster is one of those movies that can be described as "Looks Can Be Deceiving" which would also make a great tagline. I mean this in the utmost respect, what looks like a war film at first is a completely different type of war film. It throws all war elements out the window and while POW camp themes are felt in this film, the film never shows the horrors that are behind the camp, instead going for a playful side and being pure entertainment. I can see why this film is loved around the world. It is a movie worth watching and deserves the critic acclaim that it's received over the decades.


NOTABLE SCENES:

- Chapter Five: Dressing Up: This entire sequence to me felt like it was the most playful arrangement in the entire film, it was when all groups came together and played like children. No separation or differences. It was when the theme of friendship was flowing through the characters and story, all characters working together. Ending on a hilarious note when one of the officers comes out of the dressing room, dressed in women's clothes stopping every other soldier dead in his track.

- Chapter Seven: Putting On A Show: Another comedic sequence in the film that shows all the prisoners having fun. Putting on a show for the other soldiers and Guards, it starts of with a hilarious song and ends with a can-can styled dance, only this time the can-can is performed in drag ending another scene with a Hilarious Moment.

- Chapter Twelve: Preparing The Escape: Possibly the most darkest sequence in the film, mainly the book burning scene, but the escape sequence is the most emotional for reasons I wont ruin, the scene runs into Chapter Thirteen called The Magic Flute and this involves the escape, which in today's standards has the most action on display, a simple yet rewarding scene.


EXTRAS:

- Renoir Intro: Not very rewarding in the sense that if you have already seen the film and the Audio essay you'd have already heard what Renoir explains. What seems like a trailer is just Renoir speaking about his war experiences and giving a comment on each actor. Most rewarding thing about the intro is that you get to see Jean Renoir himself in all his mighty glory.

- Commentary (Audio Essay): Peter Cowie is a film historian who recorded an audio essay for Grand Illusion in 1987. He discusses through out the commentary things about Jean Renoir, The Actors and The Movie Itself, it is an interesting watch in the sense that Film Historians go into much more details then today's directors do, if you love everything about film, the Audio Essay with Peter Cowie is worth a watch. Very Insightful.

- Radio Presentation: Included on the Criterion release is a radio broadcast that you're able to listen too, the live broadcast is from 1938, it was done at the New York Film Critics Awards, it features Jean Renoir and actor Erich von Stroheim as they accept the Best Foreign Language Film Award for Grand Illusion. It's worth the listen hearing the broad cast from 1938, it doesn't add anything new to the films legacy.

- Press Book: Told in four parts on the Criterion release, About The Title, The Lost Camera Negative, Von Stroheim On Renoir and Cast Biographies. The best part of the press book relates to The Lost Camera Negative. We discover that this film was confiscated by the German occupying forces in France during World War II. The film was in a way was saved when confiscated due to an allied raid destroying one of the leading Paris Laboratories that housed film negatives. It's almost hard to hear that Grand Illusion went through so much, being lost, destroyed negatives and much more. But it's a good thing that the real negative was discovered because we have this wonderful film now.

- Restoration: The restoration feature is the most rewarding special supplement in terms of what's on display for the viewer. It shows us what the people at Criterion did to give us the magnificent looking film that we see before us, they have removed all scratches, bad cuts and splicing, blurring, hair, dirt, stains and cigarette burns. A truly wonderful and worthwhile feature.

- Color Bars: A screen with Color Bars is a useless feature on the disc. I'm not too sure why it is even included on a release like this but this deserves the award for dumbest supplement on any DVD I have ever seen.

RATING: 8 out of 10

SPINE: 1