Grand Illusion, A Decades-old Masterpiece Hits Theaters

By Andrew Bender

You could make an intriguing movie about the original negative of Grand Illusion, the1937 masterpiece from French director Jean Renoir (A Day in the Country, The Rules of the Game).

First off, one needs to know that Renoir not only is the son of painter Auguste Renoir, but he is often considered France's greatest filmmaker.

Anyhow, three years after its release, Grand Illusion -- the first foreign film ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar -- underwent a journey that took it to Germany, the Soviet Union and back to France. Now, the Renoir film is in re-release at selected theaters nationwide.

Here are highlights of the Grand Illusion saga: Soon after the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, the Nazis seized the original negative, classifying it as "Cinema Public Enemy #1" because of its anti-war and pro-Jewish sentiment.

The negative was sent to Berlin, where it stayed until 1945 when the Soviet Army seized the negative and brought it to Moscow. Ultimately, because of a film exchange program between the Russians and the French, the Cinematheque of Toulouse acquired the negative in the 1960s.

Amazingly, there Grand Illusion sat unnoticed for another three decades until it was restored for this re-release. Everyone, including filmmaker Renoir, had long assumed that the negative was destroyed when the Allied troops bombed a film lab in Paris in 1942.

Although you could enact some fascinating scenes about Grand Illusion's history, this movie would hardly compare to the original film.

Grand Illusion focuses on French military officers in a World War I German prisoner of war camp. The film uses no special effects, no gore and only localized gunfire, but somehow it manages to achieve the humanistic heights of a Killing Fields or Platoon.

As the film opens, two French military officers on a reconnaissance mission are shot down over Germany. You'd expect them to be whisked off to a spartan POW camp, but, in the first of many surprises, they are instead taken to lunch in the German officers' mess -- by the very officer who shot them down.

Eventually, the two Frenchmen, Lieutenant Maréchal (played by the Gallicly dashing Jean Gabin) and his captain de Boeldieu (the aristocratic Pierre Fresnay), do end up in a camp with other French officers -- an actor, an engineer, a surveyor and a wealthy Jew named Rosenthal (played by the Jewish actor, Marcel Dalio). Together, the POWs amuse themselves with shows, plan escapes and share care packages of fine French food sent by Rosenthal's family -- and actually not confiscated by camp guards -- another of Renoir's surprises, based on his own war experiences.

Interestingly, Grand Illusion shows us that high-ranking officers sometimes had more in common with the leaders of their enemies than with their own countrymen. In one scene, the German camp commandant von Rauffenstein (played by the legendary Jewish director/actor Erich von Stroheim) suggests as much to Captain de Boeldieu, particularly with regard to the Jewish Rosenthal, and Maréchal, a mechanic by trade. This cultural conflict plays out in one of the film's pivotal moments, as de Boeldieu must choose whether or not to aid an escape.

As we well know, the 1930s -- when Grand Illusion was made -- were a time of virulent anti-Semitism in Germany. France was not immune to this feeling, and presenting Jewish characters in a sympathetic light was extremely controversial.

Incidentally, the role of Rosenthal was a breakthrough performance for Dalio, a French Jewish actor (born as Israel Blauschild), whose previous roles were primarily as informers or other people of questionable character. (He later appeared as Emil the croupier in the casino in Casablanca (uncredited), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Pillow Talk and the original Sabrina.)

The rest of the cast list also reads like a pantheon of European actors of that era. Jean Gabin (Maréchal) acted in some 98 films between 1920 and 1976, including portraying Jean Valjean in 1957's "Les Miserables." Pierre Fresnay (Captain de Boeldieu) was also in Hitchcock's original 1934 "The Man Who Knew Too Much," and the radiant German actress Dita Parlo plays Elsa, Maréchal's love interest.

And then, of course there's the Jewish actor/director von Stroheim, who plays the German Commandment Rauffenstein. The son of a Jewish hatter from Gleiwitz, in Prussian Silesia, who had settled in Vienna, von Stroheim -- who emigrated to the United States between 1906 and 1909 -- achieved fame in Hollywood as the director of the silent films "Greed" "Foolish Wives," "Merry Widow" and "The Wedding March." When sound came in, von Stroheim relied more on acting, ultimately garnering acclaim for his role as Max the butler in "Sunset Boulevard."

It is typical of this film (and, sadly, atypical of most fare these days), that the enemy von Rauffenstein is a full-fledged character, torn between duty and decency. The commandant -- remember, he's played by a Jew -- keeps stern watch over his camp while lovingly tending the lone geranium in his barracks. It may well have been this well-rounded treatment of a character that made Grand Illusion abhorrent to the Nazis.

Grand Illusion ("La Grande Illusion") - 1937
Directed by Jean Renoir
Written by Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak
Principal Cast: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Dita Parlo, Erich Von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio.
Running Time: 117 minutes.

As of this writing, the new print of the restored negative (with new subtitles) is slated for release in September and October in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle. Check local listings. Also available on video in unrestored version.

Andrew Bender is Los Angeles-based writer who specializes in culture, travel and restaurants. He frequently contributes to The Los Angeles Times and Conde Nast Traveler. He is a sometime screenwriter.