#grand illusion 1937

[oscarupsets]

This one was definitely a contentious match-up for me. Rom-com You Can't Take It with You won over the war drama La Grande Illusion, the first foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture.

You Can't Take It with You was based off of a 1936 play of the same name. During the film's release in 1938, the play was STILL running on Broadway. It was an instant box office success. The Radio City Music Hall had to increase to 5 screenings a day to handle the demand.

It was clearly a play adaptation, and it was wonderful. I have a soft side for screwball comedies, and this one was definitely a riot. There are also way too many characters, but not in a bad way.

La Grande Illusion is listed as a war drama, but definitely has some light-hearted comedy to it. I struggled to find a solid review from its US release, but many considered it the best French film to date.

Honestly, there was something different about La Grande Illusion. I'm not sure if I'm just getting desensitized to 1930s films, but this one felt significantly more sophisticated. And I couldn't even tell you exactly why (and it was not just the fact that it was in French). There were nuances that did not need to be described. The film style was simple but effective. It's aggressively political in nature without being overbearing. All around a great film. Great job, France.

As for the Academy Awards, we may have ditched the categories of Dance Direction and Assistant Director, but we've still got the weirdly similar Original Story and Screenplay, AND we've added a new confusing duo: Original Score and Scoring!

There were also some brief changes to the voting system prior to the 11th Academy Awards, but each source seemed to just confuse me more on that.

Current reception for both films is solid. Some argue that You Can't Take It with You is one of Frank Capra's weaker films, but still praise the comedy and the casting. Critics consider La Grande Illusion to be a successful anti-war film on par with All Quiet on the Western Front (and even more so because both were banned in Germany for some time.)

Unofficial Review: Watch both!

[france-cinema]

Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, La grande illusion, Jean Renoir, 1937.

[loveinstreams]

RAUFFENSTEIN GIVING UP THE CASTLE’S ONLY FLOWER FOR BOËLDIEU’S GRAVE

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[likeitovich]

The Grand Illusion by Jean Renoir (1937)

[entrehormigones]

[criterion-poll]

[alexlacquemanne]

Les frontières, c’est une invention des hommes. La nature, elle s’en fout !

Le lieutenant Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) dans La Grande Illusion (1937) de Jean Renoir, scénario et dialogues de Charles Spaak et Jean Renoir

[mattydemise]

The Grand Illusion, 1937.

[amrv-5]

Wahoo!! Happy (almost) New Year, and happy retrospective listmaking season!! I had an insane year for movies (308 this year, and 297 new to me), and a ton of trouble narrowing them down to 90 new favorites, much less nine, so I'm giving myself a cheater's runners-up list below the cut -- all of which might as well be on my top 9, too. Links go to letterboxd:

Blow-Up (1966), dir. Michelangelo Antonioni

Pickpocket (1959), dir. Robert Bresson

Tokyo Drifter (1966), dir. Seijun Suzuki

Horse Feathers (1932), dir. Norman Z. McLeod

Blue (1993), dir. Derek Jarman

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

A Woman is a Woman (1961), dir. Jean-Luc Godard

Daisies (1966), Věra Chytilová

Grand Illusion (1937), dir. Jean Renoir

As for runners-up: most any of these could have ended up in my top 9. They're all amazing, or had a strong impact on me, or were affecting or fascinating in some way -- and I'm still leaving off an unbelievable number. Anyway, here they are, in no order:

Taste of Cherry (1997), dir. Abbas Kiarostami

Opening Night (1977), dir. John Cassavetes

The Crowd (1928), dir. King Vidor

Dragon Inn (1967), dir. King Hu

Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018), Bi Gan

The Third Man (1949), dir. Carol Reed

Le Samouraï (1967), dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

Xala (1975), dir. Ousmane Sembène

The Exiles (1961), dir. Kent MacKenzie

Cure (1997), dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa

American Dreams (Lost and Found) (1984), dir. James Benning

Sholay (1975), dir. Ramesh Sippy

To Be or Not to Be (1942), dir. Ernst Lubitsch

A Face in the Crowd (1957), dir. Elia Kazan

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), dir. Chantal Akerman

Pather Panchali (1955), dir. Satyajit Ray

Closely Watched Trains (1966), dir. Jiří Menzel

The Double Life of Véronique (1991), dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski

High Anxiety (1977), dir. Mel Brooks

Two-way tie for A Matter of Life and Death (1946), dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and Peeping Tom (1960), dir. Michael Powell

(also -- sorry to tag so many people and a few that I don't know very well (yet!), but I love learning what people are watching and getting recommendations u are all passionate about -- please feel free to share ur top 9 new-to-you of the year (or more or less) and tag some friends if you'd like, but no pressure if you'd rather not!! @hawkesque @pomegranate @partlyironic @efort @machihunnicutt @honey--wraith @fieryphrazes @captainhunnicutt @persianflaw @writedrunk @andloawhatsit @columbosunday @theberryboy @draftdodgerag @writtenbyalanalda @loopnoid @local-human-disaster @ezrasimp @localpubliclibrary @radioprune @romeythehomie @allulily @bruce-greenwood @slightlychilledbeans @discocaptain @gaysails @jbhoneydew @hyperbo-lee @hearteyespierce @kaviiinsky @kejfeblintz @macbethheadband @theblob1958 @veganthranduil @windmillcrusader @always-a-mad-comet @guckygarnes @asmallcoat and anyone else who sees this and wants to play--if I missed tagging u it was surely an accident!!! or I got intimidated .)

[mogwai-movie-house]

The 50 Best War Films of All Time

This is a tricky genre to try summarize, because of what each individual will choose to classify as a "war film", but I've done my best and tried to focus for the most part on stories set within the thick of actual warfare, rather than dramas taking place afterwards or behind the scenes, and except for a small number of impossible-to-ignore exceptions, very few comedies. Ranked and rated in loose order of quality, high-to-low:

Apocalypse Now (1979) ★★★★★★★★★★

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) ★★★★★★★★★½

The Great Escape (1963) ★★★★★★★★★½

Ballad of a Soldier (1959) ★★★★★★★★★☆

Schindler's List (1993) ★★★★★★★★★☆

The Cranes Are Flying (1957) ★★★★★★★★★☆

The Boat (1981) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Saving Private Ryan (1998) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Catch-22 (1970) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Last Bridge (1954) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Deer Hunter (1978) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Thin Red Line (1998) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Killing Fields (1984) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Ice Cold in Alex (1958) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Wings (1927) ★★★★★★★★½☆

The Grand Illusion (1937) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Enemy at the Gates (2001) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Three Kings (1999) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

The Big Parade (1925) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

The Destiny of a Man (1959) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

The Bridge (1959) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Army of Shadows (1969) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Dr. Strangelove (1964) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Full Metal Jacket (1987) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

The Burmese Harp (1956) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Five Graves to Cairo (1943) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Patton (1970) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Napoleon (1927) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

The Wooden Horse (1950) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Zulu (1964) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

Birdy (1984) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

1917 (2019) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

The Tin Drum (1979) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

Valkyrie (2008) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

M*A*S*H* (1970) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

Land of Mine (2015) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

The Hurt Locker (2008) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Gallipoli (1981) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Empire of the Sun (1987) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

'71 (2014) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Born on the Fourth of July (1989) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Paths of Glory (1957) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Breaker Morant (1980) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Inglourious Basterds (2009) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Platoon (1986) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

[howtomakeyousee]

“You’re not looking back?”

“If I do, I might never leave.”

The Grand Illusion - 1937

[france-cinema]

A. Jourcin, La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir, 1937.

Synopsis : Au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale, deux militaires français tombent entre les mains du commandant von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), un aristocrate allemand qui fait preuve d'une élégance et d'un respect notables. Emprisonnés dans un camp, ils collaborent avec d'autres prisonniers pour creuser un passage souterrain clandestin. Néanmoins, juste avant leur tentative de fuite, un transfert imprévu les emporte loin du camp. Leur destin les conduit dans une forteresse impénétrable, sous l'autorité de von Rauffenstein. Ce dernier offre un traitement empreint de dignité aux captifs, nouant une relation particulière avec Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay). Malgré cela, les prisonniers français ne renoncent pas à leur désir de liberté et concoctent un nouveau plan d'évasion.

[loveinstreams]

That fucked up little gay geranium

[davidhudson]

Marcel Dalio, November 23, 1899 – November 18, 1983.

With Jean Gabin in Jean Renoir’s La grande illusion (1937).

[kvetchlandia]

Jean Gabin as “Maréchal,” Screenshot from Jean Renoir’s "La Grande Illusion" 1937

Lieutenant Maréchal : The theater's too deep for me. I prefer bicycling.