At the height of World War I, the German ace aviator, Captain von Rauffenstein, shoots down the plane of the aristocratic French pilot, Captain de Boeldieu, and his co-pilot, the working-class civilian mechanic, Lieutenant Maréchal, during an air-reconnaissance mission. As the captured officers find themselves in the Hallbach POW camp for officers, they befriend the wealthy former Jewish banker, Lieutenant Rosenthal, and along with a handful of determined compatriots, they organise an escape. However, fate has other plans in store for them, and shortly before the implementation of the plan, they are transferred by train to the impregnable Wintersborn fortress-prison in Alsace, France, overseen by Rauffenstein himself. More and more, respect and appreciation bond von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu. But, will this delicate relationship, and the grand illusion, stand in the way of breaking out?

Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Grand Illusion (1937) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio, Dita Parlo, Julien Carette DIRECTOR: Jean Renoir CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christian Matras MUSIC: Joseph Kosma PRODUCTION: Réalisation d'Art Cinématographique

Box Office Performance

Grand Illusion earned $172,885 in worldwide box office revenue.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

Elements of La Grande Illusion are semi-autobiographical in nature. Jean Renoir was a reconnaissance pilot during World War I, and received a change of post after being wounded in action. Renoir's life was saved by a French pilot, Armand Pinsard, when he was under attack by a German Fokker in 1915, during the First World War. Renoir used his own uniform as Jean Gabin's costume in the film. Several other cast members had also fought in the war, Marcel Dalio won the Croix de Guerre for his actions with the French artillery during the Action at Villers-Cotterêts (1914), and Pierre Fresnay was in the army between 1916 and 1919. Renoir developed the screenplay with Charles Spaak, and spent several years trying to finance it. an assistant to the financier, Frank Rollmer, and the attachment of Jean Gabin, private producers finally supported a small production budget.

The casting of Erich von Stroheim came as Renoir was a great admirer of the director's films, and had inspired him to pursue filmmaking. According to Renoir's memoirs, Stroheim, despite having been born in Vienna, Austria (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire) did not speak much German as he had been living in the United States since 1909, and struggled with learning the language along with his lines in between filming scenes. Renoir eventually resorted to hiring a dialect coach to help Stroheim with his lines.

La Grande Illusion was filmed in the winter of 1936–37. Other exteriors were filmed at the artillery barracks at Colmar (built by Wilhelm II) and at Neuf-Brisach on the Upper Rhine. The interiors were shot at Epinay and Billancourt Studios.

▸ Music & Score

The score was written by the Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma, who also wrote the famous song "Autumn Leaves". The soundtrack also includes many well-known songs of the day from French, English, and German culture. The uncredited musical director was the film and music critic Émile Vuillermoz, who had been a composer in his early career.

Songs:

* "Frou-Frou" (1897) lyrics written by Montréal and Blondeau, music by Henri Chatau, performed by Lucile Panis. * "Il était un petit navire" ("There Once was a Little Ship"), played by Boëldieu with his penny whistle to distract the German guards from Rosenthal and Maréchal's escape, a traditional French song about a shipwrecked sailor who must cannibalize another sailor to survive. Later in the film, the fugitives Rosenthal and Maréchal shout the song sarcastically at one another as they have a near falling out. The lyrics speak to their own condition of running out of food. As Maréchal realizes this, his singing trails off. * "Frère Jacques", a French nursery rhyme * "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" * "Si tu veux Marguerite" (1913) by Harry Fragson * "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem