Home / La Grande Illusion

La Grande Illusion

Year:

1938

Duration:

114 min | 94 min (1937 release) | Germany:107 min

Genres:

Drama | War

IMDB rate:

8.2

Director:

Jean Renoir

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination

Details

Country: France

Release Date: 1938-09-12

Filming Locations: Caserne de Colmar, Colmar, Haut-Rhin, France

Earnings

Opening Weekend: $7,526 (USA) (13 May 2012)

Gross: $172,885 (USA) (2 December 2012)

Cast

Actor

Character

Jean Gabin

La Grande Illusion

Dita Parlo

Elsa

Pierre Fresnay

Le captaine de Boeldieu

Erich von Stroheim

Le captaine von Rauffenstein

Julien Carette

Cartier - l'acteur (as Carette)

Georges Péclet

Le serrurier (as Peclet)

Werner Florian

Le sergent Arthur

Jean Dasté

L'instituteur (as Daste)

Sylvain Itkine

Le lieutenant Demolder (as Itkine)

Gaston Modot

L'ingénieur (as Modot)

Marcel Dalio

Le lieutenant Rosenthal (as Dalio)

Jacques Becker

L'officier anglais (uncredited)

Habib Benglia

Le sénégalais (uncredited)

Pierre Blondy

Un soldat (uncredited)

Albert Brouett

Un prisonnier (uncredited)

George Forster

Maison-Neuve (uncredited)

Georges Fronval

Le soldat allemand qui tue le capitaine de Boeldieu (uncredited)

Karl Heil

Un officier de la forteresse (uncredited)

Carl Koch

L'ordonnance de von Rauffenstein

Little Peters

La petite fille d'Elsa (uncredited)

Claude Sainval

Le capitaine Ringis (uncredited)

Michel Salina

(uncredited)

Claude Vernier

L'officer prussien (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

This pacifist war film shows no combat at all.

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The uniform worn by Jean Gabin was actually owned and worn by Jean Renoir, who served in the air force during WWI.

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Erich von Stroheim had a very large input on the depiction of his character. He designed his clothes and the neck brace that he wore in the film. He even wanted black sheets on his bed but Jean Renoir drew the line at that request.

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Goofs

When Lt. Maréchal is climbing down the rope from the watchtower the wooden window shutters can be seen closing above him even though he closed them himself minutes prior.

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As the WWI German soldiers are celebrating a French fort's capture, the map on the wall of the officers club is clearly an inter-war (1919-1938) map of Germany.

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When Boeldieu is dead, Rauffenstein wants to close his eyes with his hand. When the hand of Rauffenstein gets close to Boeldieu, his eye moves.

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Quotes

Capt. de Boeldieu: Out there, children play soldier...

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Capt. de Boeldieu: I think we can do nothing to stop the march of time.

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Capt. de Boeldieu: May I ask you a question?

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