Grand Illusion
(1937)
★ 7.9 IMDb · 796 votes
Year: 1937
Runtime: 114 мин
Country: France
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Жан Габен, Дита Парло, Пьер Френе, Erich von Stroheim, Julien Carette, Georges Péclet, Werner Florian, Jean Dasté, Sylvain Itkine, Gaston Modot
Plot
A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
World War I. During an air-reconnaissance mission, German ace pilot Captain von Rauffenstein shoots down the plane of aristocratic French pilot Captain de Boeldieu and his civilian mechanic co-pilot, Lieutenant Maréchal. Before long, the captured officers wind up in the Hallbach POW camp for officers, and they befriend Lieutenant Rosenthal, a wealthy former Jewish banker. There, they organise an escape along with a handful of determined compatriots. However, fate has other plans in store for them. Now, a heavily guarded train transfers the team to the impregnable Wintersborn fortress prison in Alsace, France, overseen by Rauffenstein himself. But something unexpected has happened. As respect and appreciation unite von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu, the question remains. Will this delicate relationship, and the grand illusion, stand in the way of freedom?