GRAND ILLUSION [FrenCH: LA GRANDE ILLUSION] 139
group during a roll call, but he suddenly reveals himself overhead in the fortress,
which causes the German guards to pursue him in a fury. During this diversion,
Maréchal and Rosenthal escape through a win dow. Rauffenstein begs Boeldieu
to turn himself in, but Boeldieu refuses. Rauffenstein is forced to shoot his fellow
aristocrat, sending him to his death. Having escaped the fortress, Maréchal and
Rosenthal travel on foot across Germany towards the Swiss border. The pair rest
in a nearby German farm house and become friendly with the owner, Elsa (Dita
Parlo), who has suffered many losses as a result of the war. Elsa keeps the men
safe, even when a German patrol passes through. Maréchal and Elsa fall in love,
but he is forced to move on once Rosenthal recovers from his injury. Maréchal
tells Elsa that he will return for her and her daughter when the war ends. A Ger-
man patrol spots Maréchal and Rosenthal en route to the Swiss border, but the
pair crosses the border before the Germans reach them. A final long shot shows
Maréchal and Rosenthal trudging through deep snow—to freedom and an uncer-
tain future.
Reception
Released in France on 8 June 1937, La grande illusion proved to be a huge box office
hit. Estimates vary, but the film likely sold 10 to 12 million tickets between 1937
and 1939. France’s population was 42 million during this period, so it is likely that
roughly one out of every four French people saw the film. Screened at the 5th Ven-
ice Biennial [Film] Exposition in August 1937, La grande illusion was widely hailed
as a masterpiece of progressive humanism and a superlative anti- war film at a time
when the Spanish Civil War was raging and the threat of fascism was menacing
Eu rope. Naturally, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels hated the film—
despite the fact that it offers a highly sympathetic portrait of a German officer.
Declaring the movie “Cinematic Public Enemy Number One,” Goebbels tried to
intervene with Mussolini to prevent La grande illusion from winning a prize at Ven-
ice, but the festival jury gave it a special award for “Best Artistic Ensemble.” An
English- subtitled version premiered in the United States on 12 September 1938,
produced solid box office returns, and was warmly received by American film crit-
ics. A favorite of FDR, who recommended that “ every demo cratic person in the
world should see this film,” La grande illusion won the award for Best Foreign Film
at the 1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards. But Germany and Italy banned
the film in November 1938, and after World War II broke out, French authorities
also banned the movie “for the duration of hostilities,” fearing it would adversely
affect fighting morale. In August 1999, Rialto Pictures re- released the film in the
United States, based on the Cinémathèque negative. In 1998 the print was restored
and released as the inaugural DVD of the Criterion Collection. A new 4K digital
restoration was released in 2012 to mark the 75th anniversary of the film’s release.
Reel History Versus Real History
The film’s depiction of POW life is a mostly accurate repre sen ta tion of Offizierlagers
(officers’ camps), of which there were 73 in Germany by the end of WWI. Living
conditions for captured Allied officers were less harsh than those endured by