Grand Illusion (1937) - The Criterion Collection

Synopsis

One of the very first prison escape movies, Grand Illusion is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Jean Renoir’s antiwar masterpiece stars Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay as French soldiers held in a World War I German prison camp, and Erich von Stroheim as the unforgettable Captain von Rauffenstein.

Cast

Lieutenant Maréchal	Jean Gabin
Elsa	Dita Parlo
Captain de Boeldieu	Pierre Fresnay
Captain von Rauffenstein	Erich von Stroheim
Cartier, the actor	Julien Carette
The schoolmaster	Jean Dasté
Demolder	Sylvain Itkine
Charpentier	Georges Peclet
The engineer	Gaston Modot
Rosenthal	Marcel Dalio

Credits

Director	Jean Renoir
Screenplay	Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak
Cinematography	Christian Matras
Producer	Frank Rollmer and Albert Pinkovitch
Editing	Marguerite Houllé
Music	Joseph Kosma

Disc Features

Newly restored digital transfer, created from the long-lost camera negative
New and improved English subtitle translation
A rare theatrical trailer in which Jean Renoir discusses both Grand Illusion and his personal war experiences
Audio essay by film historian Peter Cowie
Archival radio presentation: Renoir and Erich von Stroheim accept Grand Illusion’s Best Foreign Film honors at the 1938 New York Film Critics Awards
Press book excerpts: Renoir’s letter “to the projectionist,” cast bios, an essay on Renoir by von Stroheim, and essays about the film’s title and recently recovered camera negative
Restoration demonstration
Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

From the Current

Grand Illusion

by Peter Cowie Nov 22, 1999

Grand Illusion is the masterpiece that earned Jean Renoir enormous acclaim in the United States, exciting the admiration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and running for 26 weeks in New York after its opening in September 1938. Banned in Italy by Mussolini, and in Germany by Goebbels...