La Grande Illusion

Perhaps the most striking thing about Jean Renoir's Le Grande Illusion - released in a restored version to mark its 75th anniversary - is its faith in a common humanity at a time when Europe was only two years from WWII. The cross-border romance which closes the film is presented as a vision of reconciliation between warring nations, which, in retrospect, seems naive. 

But it is Renoir's humanism which gives such depth to the main story of French POWs trying to escape during WWI. Although there are tunnelling scenes which would inspire the makers of The Great Escape, the director is less interested in the mechanics of escape than in the men and the bonds which grow between them. These are sketched with great warmth and humour. Best of all is Von Stroheim's perfectly controlled performance as the Prussian camp commandant, an aristocratic throwback with a neck brace and a silver knee cap. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]