Episode 318: La Grande Illusion (1937)

Special Guest: Nick Macdonald
Guest Co-Hosts: Tom Jennings, Ken Stanley


Set during World War One, Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion (1937) stars Jean Gabin as Lt. Marechal, an airman who, along with Captain Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), are shot down by Captain Rauffenstein, who’s played by Erich von Stroheim. The two Frenchmen then spend most of the rest of the film in POW camps, primarily Hallbach and Wintersborn where they meet an array of fellow prisoners.

Tom Jennings and Ken Stanley join Mike to discuss this seminal humanist film.