DramaHistoryWar
Grand Illusion
“A Great Drama of Human Emotions”
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.
Directed by Jean Renoir
79
User score
789 votes
Stream on
Status
Released
Released
June 18, 1937
Runtime
1h 54m
Language
Russian, German, French, English
Top cast
Jean Gabin
Lieutenant Maréchal
Dita Parlo
Elsa
Pierre Fresnay
Captain de Boëldieu
Erich von Stroheim
Captain von Rauffenstein
Julien Carette
Cartier, the Vaudeville Performer
Georges Péclet
Officer
Werner Florian
Sergeant Arthur
Jean Dasté
Teacher
Sylvain Itkine
Lieutenant Demolder
Gaston Modot
Engineer
Marcel Dalio
Lieutenant Rosenthal
Jacques Becker
British Officer (uncredited)
Habib Benglia
Senegalese (uncredited)
Pierre Blondy
Soldier (uncredited)
Albert Brouett
Prisoner (uncredited)
Géo Forster
Maison-Neuve (uncredited)
Georges Fronval
German Soldier Who Kills Captain de Boëldieu (uncredited)
Karl Heil
Officer of the Fortress (uncredited)
Carl Koch
Von Rauffenstein's Orderly (uncredited)
Little Peters
Elsa's Daughter (uncredited)
