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La Grande Illusion

Director: Jean Renoir
Year: 1937
Run-time: 1 hr 54 min

- I've always been a little skeptical of Renoir's reputation, despite the generally high quality of his films, but this is the first one where I think I understand. In the late 1930's, Renoir was likely the only director that could pull a feat like this off.  He puts so many coherent and moving messages into a film that's still fun and accessible.  To put it succintly, La Grande Illusion is The Great Escape, with three times the heart and no less excitement.

- I could say much more, but for a list watcher the excitement here is seeing three big names combine.  The excellent Jean Gabin from the last film isn't really the star performer here, since he gets to share the screen with Pierre Fresnay from the Marseille trilogy, and, strangely, Erich von Stroheim, the director of Foolish Wives, who just steals the show whenever he appears.  Dang, this film is really good.
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