Synopsis
Hailed by the New York Times on its Paris release as “one of the great films in motion picture history,” Raymond Bernard’s Wooden Crosses, France’s answer to All Quiet on the Western Front, still stuns with its depiction of the travails of one French regiment during World War I. Using a masterful arsenal of film techniques, from haunting matte paintings to jarring documentary-like camerawork in the film’s battle sequences, Bernard created a pacifist work of enormous empathy and chilling despair. No one who has ever seen this technical and emotional powerhouse has been able to forget it.
Cast
| Gilbert Demachy | Pierre Blanchar |
| Sulphart | Gabriel Gabrio |
| Caporal Bréval | Charles Vanel |
| Fouillard | Raymond Aimos |
| Vieublé | Antonin Artaud |
| Broucke | Paul Azais |
| Hamel | René Bergeron |
| Vairon | Raymond Cordy |
Credits
| Director | Raymond Bernard |
| Screenplay | André Lang |
| Based on the novel by | Roland Dorgelès |
| Cinematography | Jules Kruger and René Ribault |
| Art direction | Jean Perrier |
| Editing | Lucien Grumberg |
From the Current
Eclipse Series 4:
Raymond Bernard
by
Jul 23, 2007
It’s hard to think of an artist who better exemplifies the obscuring ebb and flow of film history than Raymond Bernard. Once a director equally admired by critics, fellow artists, audiences, and studio heads, Bernard is now, even among film scholars and French-cinema junkies, nearly forgotten . . .
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