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In English-speaking countries, the film was released as Grand Illusion.
Grand Illusion was released in 1937 to much critical acclaim. Even as late as 1970, almost every credible list of the top ten best films in cinematic history included the film.
In 1938, Grand Illusion was the first foreign language film nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Academy Award for Best Picture (often better known as Oscar). The film won as Best Foreign Film award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the National Board of Review in 1938.
After it won a prize at the Venice Film Festival (for "Best Artistic Ensemble") in 1937, the Nazis declared the film "Cinematic Public Enemy Number One" and Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, ordered the prints to be confiscated and destroyed.
As the German Army marched into France in 1940Events January-February January 5 FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time. January 6 World War II: Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the Poznan, Warthegau. January 12 World War II: Russia bombs cities in Finland. February 2 F during the World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, the Nazis seized the prints and negative of the film, chiefly because of its anti-war message, and what were percieved as ideological criticisms pointed towards Germany on the eve of the Second World War. For many years, the negative was thought to have been destroyed in an Allied air raid in 1942Events January January 1 World War II: The word " United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact. January 2 World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. January 5 Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary ass, and prints of the film were only rediscovered in 1958Events January January 1 Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented January 4 Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4 1957) January 8 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship January 18 Armed Lumbee Nat. Subsequent to its rediscovery, it was preserved and restored during the early 1960s and re-released.
The original negative was captured by Russians as they occupied Berlin in 1945 and shipped to an archive in Moscow. Oddly enough, it returned to France in the 1960s, and sat unidentified in storage in Toulouse for over 30 years as no one thought the original negative survived. When discovered, in the 1990s, the original negative was restored and released as the inaugural DVD of the Criterion Collection, and is regarded as the most precise edition of the film since its 1937 premiere.
During the First World War, two French aviators Captain de Boeldieu (played by Pierre Fresnay ) and Lieutenant Maréchal ( Jean Gabin), embark on a flight to examine the site of a blurred spot on photos from an earlier air reconnaissance mission. They are shot down by an aviator and German aristocrat, Captain von Rauffenstein ( Erich von Stroheim). Von Rauffenstein, upon returning to base, states that he has shot down a French plane and instructs one of his subordinates to find out if the aviators are officers, and if so, invite them to lunch before dispatching them to a prisoner of war camp. During this scene we learn that von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu know each other through acquaintances—a depiction of the familiarity, if not solidarity, within the upper class (i.e. the aristocracy) across the myriad of national boundaries in Europe leading up to the first World War.
De Boeldieu and Maréchal are then placed in a prisoner of war camp, where they meet and befriend several of their fellow countrymen. Soon after their arrival, they participate in an attempt by their comrades to dig a tunnel underneath the camp as a means to escape. However, just before the tunnel is completed, they are forced to switch camps, and are unable to pass word of the tunnel to the incoming prisoners.
During the course of the war, Boeldieu and Maréchal are placed in camp after camp, finally arriving in Wintersborn, a mountain fortress prison commanded by Von Rauffenstein who has since their last meeting been disabled in battle and reassigned. Wintersborn, it is alleged, is inescapable, but we soon learn that Boeldieu and Maréchal have a history of valiant escape attempts.
At Wintersborn, Boeldieu and Maréchal meet one of their fellow prisoners from an earlier camp, Rosenthal ( Marcel Dalio ), a wealthy Jew. The three together conspire their escape, coming across an idea by paying close attention to how the German guards respond to emergencies. Boeldieu concedes that their plan can only serve two, and suggests that Maréchal and Rosenthal escape, while he serves to draw the German guards' attention as they get away. After some commotion, the guards order an assembly of the prisoners in the fortress courtyard, and proceed to call the roll. When de Boeldieu's name is called he is not present in the assembly, and as they realize his absence, he makes his presence known high up in the fortress, drawing the German guards in pursuit. Maréchal and Rosenthal take the opportunity during the pursuit of de Boeldieu to lower themselves from a window by a home-made rope and flee.
In the poignant sequence that follows, von Rauffenstein and his guards corner de Boeldieu, and von Rauffenstein pleads for him to give up. De Boeldieu refuses, and von Rauffenstein reluctantly shoots him. Nursed in his final moments by von Rauffenstein, de Boeldieu dies of his wounds expressing—in his last thoughts—a lament that their usefulness to society (as aristocrats) ends with this war, and that he has pity for von Rauffenstein who is left behind, alive, to find a purpose in this new, emerging social order.
The film continues with the plight of the fugitives Maréchal and Rosenthal as they journey across the German countryside seeking a route back to France. Rosenthal gets injured, slowing up the duo, and the two men take refuge in the barn of a German woman, Elsa ( Dita Parlo), who has been widowed by the war. She generously takes in the two men. Maréchal begins to fall in love with her, but he and Rosenthal must eventually leave for Switzerland (from there to France and return to the war), although Maréchal promises to come back if he survives. They depart. As the film closes, a squadron of German soldiers on patrol sight the two fugitives crossing a snow-covered valley. The soldiers fire a few volleys and miss, but are soon ordered to let Maréchal and Rosenthal go without incident, as they have apparently crossed the invisible Swiss border in the snow-covered valley below.
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