Description

Jean Renoir's 1939 classic is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and Criterion is very proud to present the film in a special two-disc edition. Cloaked in a comedy of manners, this scathing critique of corrupt French society is about a weekend hunting party at which amorous escapades abound among the aristocratic guests-which are also mirrored by the activities of the servants downstairs. The refusal of one of the guests to play by society's rules sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

The Game Rules
"The Rules of the Game" directed by Jean Renoir is now ranked #1 on many film critic lists. Renior built a comedy of manners around old stories. When this film was viewed in Paris in 1939 there was a near riot. The critics hated it for political reasons, but also because characters were walking about the Chateau at amazing speed and angles. If you don't understand the history of the beginnings of WW2, then all will be lost on your Philistine soul. Somehow in an upstairs-downstairs comedy, Renior has described the failed French society. I'll describe the plot concept using English names. Randy, the aviator loves the rich lady, Christine. She's not French; she's Viennese (the only outsider). He's a romantic fool, she's an innocent compared to the Parisian women like Clair, the sophisticated lover of Christine's husband, the Count. Renior plays Alph, a court jester character and friend of Christine from the old days. He's a failed musician. He's also Randy's best friend. The French Count is played by a Jewish actor (which was a scandal in itself considering the anti-Semitism in Europe) So they all leave Paris and go to the country estate of the Count where we meet the servants of the Chateau. Christine's maid, Crystal is playing around with Alph and the newly hired rabbit poacher Jimmy. The gamekeeper, the cuckold Paul chases the amorous Jimmy around the Chateau with a gun for the next forty minutes. All the lovers and friends switch partners amidst declarations of love, slaughter of animals, and fist fights. In the end, noone is in love with anyone and all of society is concerned with the game, which is where he or she were in the first place. Truth is not a concern and the masterpiece is complete.

The DVD of the Year.
On its surface, "The Rules of the Game" is a light farce involving the couplings - and decouplings - of an assortment of weekend guests staying at the chateau of the Comte de la Cheyniest (Marcel Dalio). Without knowing any other context, the film can be enjoyed on this level: Renoir's writing (he co-scripted) is witty and his direction is elegant and sublime. His fluid long-shots make you feel like you're gliding along in this rarified - though topsy-turvy - world; and his open approach to the actors is suffused with generosity. He never allows us to focus on one particular person, or couple, because, in this social world, "everyone has their reasons" and everyone's actions bounce and intertwine with everyone else's.

As a homage and updating of a classic French farce, "Rules" is flawless; it is, however, as a commentary on the decline of a social order that makes this more than a cinematic souffle. Shot in 1939, "between Munich and the War" as Renoir says, the film is portrait of the European aristocracy where ethical codes (conjugal fidelity above all) are not only violated, but are even dismissed as irrelevant. Human relationships collapse and reform with sudden ease (witness the gameskeeper and the poacher) and those who cling to outmoded notions of love and faithfulness set themselves up for disaster (such as the aviator). This is the domestic complement to Renoir's war drama, "La Grande Illusion", where the mournful French and German artistocratic officers, having more in common amongst themselves than with the common soldiers of their respective nationalities, lament that mechanized warfare has rendered their class irrelevant.

Both "Illusion" and "Rules" may seem irrelevant themselves in the US, which did not have a traditional feudal aristocracy. Yet both films fascinate by showing individuals attempting to survive, and thrive, in worlds where the old, comfortable standards no longer apply. If the aristocrats in "Rules" openly, and rather disinterestedly, conduct affairs with each others' spouses, why shouldn't a humble poacher poach a gameskeeper's wife too? If "everyone has their reasons", the famous quote from the film, then, who's to decide which "reasons" are justified or unjust, legitimate or scandalous?

The Criterion double-disc sets its own standards. The extras are plentiful and fascinating, including interviews from the few remaining cast and crew members, the essay booklet intelligent and penetrating, and the transfer quality of the film is superb considering the film's history (having been cut at its premiere, banned, its original negative destroyed in WWII, and finally reassembled in the late 1950's). This disc was clearly a labor of love and the effort shows throughout: this disc is worth Criterion's asking price.

One of the greatest movie ever. Hardly.
Let's see. We have an aldulterer, a cheat, a liar, a slut & a guy with anger management issues. They all exist in this ultra chic, super rich sub-culture. If such a time (the 30's) & place ever existed it is easy to see why the French lost to the Germans, one year after this movie was actually made.
It is of course a satire & a pretty good one at that. The host, of a weekend hunting party has a mistress. He is afraid his wife is going have an affair with the another guest a hero flyer a la Charles Lindberg. But she has other admirers as well. My favorite character is the slut, the maid whose new husband take exception to her behavior. The whole mess is overseen by Jean Renoir, the director, who is also a major player in the movie itself. Eventually there is a murder. I won't tell who is murdered or who the murderer is here. On the dvd there is an alternate ending. A shorter version of the last scenes came out in 1959. This imparts a totally different context from the original which was banned in 1939. It is well done & gives different meanings to the motives of all involved. The major drawback is it is in French with English subtitles. But you'd want to pay strict attention to this one in any case.

The Rules of the Game - Criterion Collection
When affluent Marquis Robert de la Chesnaye (Marcel Dalio) hosts a party at his sprawling property, emotions run high. Guests include Robert's mistress Genevieve (Mila Parely) and pilot Andre Jurieu (Roland Toutain), who fancies Robert's wife, Christine (Nora Gregor). Meanwhile, Schumacher (Gaston Modot) is trying to keep Marceau (Julien Carette) from hitting on his wife (Paulette Dubost). All the while, the servants watch with great interest.

I again can not think of a title
Corruption of the French aristocracy and their "Rules of the game" that they abide by in order to remain where they are, it revolves around a central plot of this pilot who flies to France for the woman he loved but she is marries and the husband is trying to end the affair and they are all with a bunch of members of the aristocracy, it is truly a great film. Criterion collection is growing to my liking quite a lot, the picture and sound are great for a movie made in 1939. Good movie, watch it you fiend. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

When speaking of Jean Renoir's timeless masterpiece The River, one can easily exhaust their supply of superlatives. Frequently listed among the greatest films ever made, it was Renoir's first English-language film and his first in color…and what rich, astonishing Technicolor it is! Shot by Renoir's nephew Claude, the film is a love letter to India, seen through the eyes (and narrated as memories) of an adolescent British girl living with her family near the banks of the Ganges, a location which allowed Renoir to indulge his burgeoning affection for the region, it's people, and the exotic allure of the Orient. Under challenging conditions, Renoir and author Rumer Godden adapted Godden's autobiographical novel into an elegant, loosely plotted reflection on the romance of India, and on coming of age in a culture that, until then, few Western filmgoers had ever seen on screen. (To enhance this journey to a new world, Renoir used Indian music recorded live in Calcutta instead of a traditional score; the effect is hypnotically inviting.) Blessed with eternal lessons of life, death, and love, The River offers a transcendent film experience, guaranteed to touch the heart of anyone who sees it. The film was meticulously restored to its original glory in 2004; Criterion's DVD release preserves that restoration with a pristine digital transfer. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (14)

on a technical side: great film, needs better reproduction.
DVD technical details: marvelous as this film is, and replete as this DVD disc is with such extras as might allegedly fit without marring the alleged needed disc space for the film itself, I question the reproduction. For the average viewer, the VHS print might be preferable. in short, this connoisseur DVD disc of 'The River' seems more for such DVD players as may be useable with 'RGB' (three-plug, Red-Green-Blue) cables, as opposed to a single video cable. By comparison, the VHS tape previously available looked rich even on a two head vcr, in my experience: ditto
on a four head vcr.

'The River' DVD from Conoisseur, apparently the only edition currently available on VHS or otherwise, is visually vague as to general reproduction. While the picture is sharp, the colors seem washed out a bit. Without proper equipment, the technicolor as reproduced and 'cleaned up' for this disc release may disappoint as compared to any previously available VHS tape. On a cheap DVD player, reproduction may be filled with more detail than any currently available non-digital VHS tape of this film. However, as far as many viewers will be concerned, this DVD will be less filled with the marvelous technicolor this Jean Renoir film is noted for.

(however, if it werent for Connoisseur, we might not have this DVD version of 'The River' at all.)

The problem of including a lengthy documentary that challenges the quality of the film itself, is discussed in the picturesque and informative booklet that comes with this DVD.

I would venture a guess, that the inclusion of this rather overlong and padded, though very inclusive and excellent documentary of Rumer Godden's life, featuring the author herself, did, in fact, have alot to do with reducing the quality of reproduction of the film itself onto this DVD. Desirable as this documentary may be, one wishes it to have been placed on a separate disc. It would then have removed the problem of any kind of crowding of the film itself, more to allow for optimal
video reproduction.

( Musicians have been know to complain about having to cope with sound men, perhaps particularly in live performances, who simply didnt know their music well enough to monitor the sdound equipment and reproduce it properly. Perhaps this sort of issue is pertinent to the problems of the video on this disc.

A future 'collectors edition' would be no doubt desirable. Most extras foisted onto a separate 'Disc Two' in such a set, with video of the film itself faithfully reproduced on ' Disc One,'assuming all technical factors equal for the film itself, would be worth paying the small premium for.

A DVD reproduction of 'The River' could be produced entirely by a staff of people specifically chosen, who are totally enthusiastic about the film, and richly appreciative of its true vibrant technicolor. Such people are more likely to make no compromises, cut no corners, and overlook no problems, overcome all barriers, and ensure excellent reproduction for this worthy film.)

On a pricier TV set with triple comb filter (preferably flat screen,) viewing problems may be resolved to an appreciable extent. ( the serious viewer may consider the excellent cables marketed by LAT International.)

DVDs being generally somewhat more expensive than their VHS
counterparts, one might expect to have paid for fewer viewing
problems.Generally speaking, the higher priced the reproduction medium, the more expensive equipment one probably has to play it on, for overall best results.

One should mention, that one's existing menu alternatives accessible on their respective remotes for tv or DVD player may offer many options to explore for best viewing of this DVD, even on less expensive, or simply less carefully-chosen, 'home theatre' arrangements.

DVD audio: curiously enough, the audio on this disc is less afflicted by filtration and other attempts to reduce sound 'hiss,' noise, etc. This is to be congratulated. In short, this DVD sounds as accurate and excellent and realistic as the VHS tape I used to rent and view !

Assessments of sound on allegedly 'new and improved' DVD technolgy may seem heretical to some. However, many VHS tapes of older films simply have better sound than their newer DVD counterparts, at least on average equipment. This is because attempts to remove sound 'problems' often hurt other aspects of reproduction. The sound on VHS often seems 'fuller' and 'richer' by comparison. The only possible way around this,
would be to have stereo speakers hooked up to the tv or DVD playerafter some fashion ( tv set speakers being notoriously bad, even on many more expensive models.)

Again, however, the sound on this Conoisseur DVD is one of the better results I have ever heard for such a DVD effort, and is about as pleasing as the sound on the VHS tape, if not better.

Certainly the sheer fact of this DVDs marketing and availability will help make this film better known thru various venues. The booklet included is informative: I now know more about Renoir and the making of this film in particular, than I ever knew before. Scorseses' segment on the disc is also helpful.

However, to really be able to demonstrate the great beauty of this film to friends, we shall have to wait for another, more faithful and enthusiastic reproduction of this film onto DVD.

I rather imagine that Scorsese himself may emerge from his schedule at some point, on the subject of this DVD. His request that it be re-released more faithfully to the original could be a great help.

Faithful customers in the past have graduated from foggier analog VHS prints to new and improved digital reproductions of their favorite films. I imagine the same idea will apply to a new, more faithful reproduction of this film, minus some of its features like the Godden documentary ( which in my opinion, is overindulgent, overlong, and somewhat overly poetic to no real consequence.)

In any event, should you actually buy this DVD? Yes! One is occassionally requested by a friend to recommend an intelligent yet charming color film. With its color beauty, overall simplicity and emotional/psychological depth, there are few better choices than 'The River.'

Worth having also, for convenient repeated viewings. For certain
reasons (partly to do with editing matters mentioned in the
accompanying booklet, and no doubt essential matters of the story itself,) repeated viewings enrich this film's appreciation and understanding.

a great film
This review is for the Criterion Colection DVD edition of the film.

The River is film based on a novel by Rumer Godden, who alsowrote the novel, Black Narcissus which was also made into a film and released by Criterion.

It is the story of a British family living in colonial India. The older daughter becomes friends with several other people.

The film has some great acting and was the first color movie filmed in India. It was also director Jean Renoir's first color film.

The DVD has some excellent special features also.

There is an introduction by director Jean Renoir, an interview with Martin Scorsese, an audio interview with Ken McEldowney, There is also a 1995 BBC documentary about Rumer Godden, a stills gallery of production photos, and a theatrical trailer.

This is a must see film

India Captured in Vivid Nostalgic Detail
This is not quite the rediscovered masterpiece some have asserted, but there are pleasures to be had with the river-as-life metaphor, which frames and drives master filmmaker Jean Renoir's 1951 film about the waning years of British colonial life in India. As experienced by Harriet, a young, impressionable British girl, the story is essentially one long flashback whose unseen narrator is really the grown-up version of Harriet. Based on a novel by Rumer Godden, her nostalgic descriptions of her early childhood in Bengal conjure up the images presented here of a time long past, when her family lived along a tributary river bank of the sacred Ganges.

There is little in the way of a plot as the movie drifts at a leisurely pace from one episode to the next with the insertion of National Geographic-style documentary scenes, in particular, focusing on the traditional Diwali festival of lights and ceremonies praising thegoddess Kali. The main storyline involves Captain John, a dashing American war veteran who has lost his leg and a sense of purpose, as he shows up and becomes the center of attention for not only Harriet but her flighty friend Valerie and a half-caste friend named Melanie. Along the way, Harriet creates a Hindu-based story to get the captain's attention away from the alluring Valerie, Melanie is on a search for her own identity, and Harriet's mischievous brother becomes drawn to a deadly cobra in the woods. It's fair to say that the plot strands sort themselves out in predictable fashion with death followed by birth to emphasize the continuity of the river that sustains them and the villagers. With the exception of a few British veterans like Nora Swinburne as the mother, the cast is comprised mostly of children and amateurs (including an affecting Patricia Walters as Harriet), which further feeds into the documentary feel of the film. Thomas E. Breen, a real-life amputee, plays Captain John admirably after appearing in only minor roles in a couple of Hollywood movies. Neither Walters nor Breen made another film after this one. Fortunately the lack of experienced actors does not detract from the film's innate exoticism, brightly-hued scenery, and authentic regional music, which provide the idyllic setting for Renoir's exploration of the fragility of human existence. Renoir's nephew Claude produced the luminous Technicolor cinematography, which is captured well though not exceptionally in the Criterion DVD package.

Extras with the Criterion package include a 13-minute 2004 interview with Martin Scorsese, who was instrumental in pushing forward the restoration effort. As a champion for film restoration, Scorsese talks about the film's impact on him as a child and explores in some detail the techniques Renoir deployed in his quest for authenticity. Renoir himself is captured in a brief video introduction for the film, as he discusses the circumstances which brought him together with florist-turned-fledgling producer Ken McEldowney to make the movie. An intriguing, uncompromising man, McEldowney himself is interviewed in just audio format as he discusses his mission to make the movie against seemingly insurmountable odds. The best feature of the package, however, is the hour-long documentary, "Rumer Godden: An Indian Affair", produced in 1995, which traces in visually stunning detail the life of the novelist as she returns to the India of her childhood and revisits remembered sites and memories long past.

A Bit Disappointed
The movie itself is wonderful but I have to say I am a bit disappointed in the transfer and cleaning of the film for DVD.

In several shots the colour varies from frame to frame and as the background moved from a muted blue to brown and back again I found it disquieting. Although colour was touted as another character in the film I found it overall dull.

My expectations of Criterion may be too high and perhaps digital enhancement of the colour was beyond its capability or its intent. I just imagine the original film in Technicolor popping off the screen and was disappointed that the DVD didn't as well.

Brilliantly Colorful and Culturally Insightful Cinema
The River offers a riveting cinematic experience presented in Technicolor, which projected the strong colors of the environment around the one of many Indian rivers.These strong colors reveal the symbolic contrast for the cultural differences between Western and Indian culture, which is an essential part of the film.Selflessly, Jean Renoir directs this film, as he brings the audience on a cultural journey into the foreign traditions through the daily life of an English family and a young teenager.Through the family, Renoir offers a visual presentation of the ethnic differences that stand out even more in relation to the British family who have adapted to the culture in which they coexist.This is elevated through camerawork that provides a feeling of non-fiction, and a depiction of the truth.

In its presentation, the River does not seem like much, but it is here the magic rests.Renoir uses a simplistic approach to the story that reveals the mundane of everyday life and how it would be to live in India.Through this routine, the audience gets to see and hear how things are along the exotic and sacred river next to which they live.The audience will learn about the origin to the people's beliefs, morals, and values that color the life for those who live along the river.Harriet (Patricia Walters), a young teenage girl, provides thorough illustrations of the Indian society and culture, as she writes poetry and is on the verge of becoming a woman.

The story focuses on Harriet who also is the story's narrator, as she discloses this story from her youthful years growing up along a river in India.Besides Harriet, the audience gets to meet her confident friend Valerie (Adrienne Corri) who is the only daughter of a rich family.Together these two teens fall in love with Captain John (Thomas E. Breen), an American World War II veteran.Harriet and Valerie begin to secretively compete for Captain John and Valerie decides to take no prisoners, as her approach brings the notion of Western attitude that expresses that everything is allowed in love and war.Harriet on the other hand brings forth a mixed approach of both Western and Indian culture in her attempt to gain Captain John's attention through providing a detailed description of herself through the Hindu society in which she lives.

A third girl, Melanie (Radha) has recently finished school and returned home to find herself outside in a cultural and social predicament.Melanie is the daughter of the Western man, Mr. John (Arthur Shields), and her late Hindu mother.Her birth into two different cultures has left her in a social no man's land, as the Indian society's caste system leaves her without a caste and the Western society does not welcome her.Even her father, Mr. John, thinks that it was cruel to bring her into the world.Nonetheless, she also has feelings like the other girls, as it seems that she has feelings for Captain John.However, she does not overtly express her feelings, as she continues to yearn for him at a distance.

Life and death are crucial portions of the culture where Harriet lives, as she narrates "Kali the goddess of eternal destruction and creation - creation impossible without destruction."This suggests a cyclical existence where once something is created it will eventually be destroyed and once destroyed it will be created again.Harriet's youngest sister Victoria even embraced this notion, as she pretends her rabbit Hoppity is a newborn--an idea that seems to go against Harriet's logic to which she points out that Hoppity was a new born last week too.However, Victoria simply states, "Babies can be born again and again, can't they?"

The river becomes an analogy for fundamental existential ideas of cyclical existence, as it continues to flow as it has done for millennia.The river starts its flow in the Himalayas, as it is continuously replenished by new melted snow and it runs down to the Bay of Bengal.The water returns to the hills and mountains in the north through monsoons to once again flow down streams to the Bay of Bengal.Amidst the water of the river wildlife, fish and people coexist in life and death, which is brought to all by the water of the river.This image is provided in the opening of the film, which offers an honest depiction of the culture in which the story takes place.

The River is a much smaller film compared to Renoir's previous accomplishments, but it does not lack artistic skillfulness and thoughtful design.On the contrary, the River is much more personal as it slowly embeds itself in the cerebral cortex where it provides much contemplation for those who seek it.Renoir does not seem to care whether the film has an exciting story or pleases hordes of moviegoers.Instead he simply lets the characters seem to exist in an environment where the river destroys life and over again offers birth.This film brings the audience a brilliant cinematic experience, which displays that Renoir truly is elevating his personal visual storytelling through his own visions. ... Read more

Description

One of the very first prison escape movies, Grand Illusion is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Jean Renoir's antiwar masterpiece stars Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay, as French soldiers held in a World War I German prison camp, and Erich von Stroheim as the unforgettable Captain von Rauffenstein. Following a smash theatrical re-release, Criterion is proud to present Grand Illusion in a new special edition, with a beautifully restored digital transfer. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

The strangely gentle vision of Jean Renoir
I was absolutely floored when I first saw this movie about a year ago, at the house of a friend. I adore old war films (think "The Great Escape," "Stalag 17," and "Bridge on the River Kwai"), and thought I had the genre just about memorized until I saw this. It is an intense film, a grand one, but ultimately gentle. It takes place during World War I, which, the director once said, was "almost a war of gentlmen." The Nazis were two decades from gaining power, the nations of Europe enjoyed relative prosperity, and the upper classes ruled over all. In this setting, the necessary brutality of such films as I've previously mentioned seems out of place. Indeed, in the first few scenes, a German pilot who has shot down two French fliers invites them for lunch with his officers (!). This kind of respect, this illusion that war abides by certain rules and expectations, seems anachronostic and dated at first, in a post-Vietnam, post-9/11 world. But there is such hope, such desire for a world where the classes between nations are united, that the movie never seems jingoistic or naïve, just optimistic.

The performances are exceptional; Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay--all seem to really live in their characters, not simply portray them. Von Stroheim, in particular, brings intense poignancy to the tragic figure of the German commandant von Rauffenstein, with his neck brace, stilted walk, and desperate yearning for companionship (which makes him turn to, of all people, his own enemy, Captain de Boeldieu, whom he shot down 18 months previous). Indeed, a lot of the film's message can be summed up in this character: his friendship with an enemy soldier, expressing Renoir's hope for a more peaceful, less divided world; his accoutrements of wealth and station, which hold him firmly in place, unable to change his views of the structure of the world, even as it shifts around him; and his belief in the eponymous "grand illusion" of the continued supremacy of the aristocrats over the working classes in a world scarred by war.

As a bit of a side note, this film, considering its age, is in startlingly pristine condition. The story of the film negative is told on the DVD, as part of the many supplements, so I won't bore you with it here. Suffice it to say that this version of this seminal film was lost for over 60 years before its discovery in the 1990s, resulting in its near-perfect condition today. The picture is as sharp as that of any contemporary film, crystal clear, and refreshingly free of dirt and tears that usually mar most older prints by virtue of constant use. This version is about the best you will find, as it has gone through a tedious, time-consuming restoration process that has given it this impressive sheen. My recommendation: Buy this DVD post haste.

Number 1 DVD transfer for the Number 1 movie !
Grand Illusion is sometimes considered as one of the greatest movies ever shot. It was Orson Welles' favorite. Even though many consider that "Rules of the Game" is more important and brillant. The two movies are very different, both incredible. Grand Illusion is easier to catch immediatly while Rules let you think endlessly. In regard of the DVD : BUY IT EYES CLOSED ! The picture is incredible, looks like it was shot yesterday because coming from the original re-found negative film. It has not even one small spot or crack. It is PURE. And it is the original 114 minutes version, not the well-known 105 minutes. The DVD is full of bonus, the best being the filmed introduction by Jean Renoir, and also the audio archive of Von Stroheim. I cannot express how much I love Renoir and this movie and I hope that Rules of the Game will come up in DVD soon in Zone 1 (it exists in France in Zone 2 with a beautiful master, but has no english subtitles). Then the world can contemplate this masterpiece again and again. Buy Grand Illusion and you'll never think of war and humanity the same way again.

So....you like war movies?
grand illusion is so well known that is almost not worthy to comment on it other than it is the best war/antiwar film of all time bar none, and is also very funny. it has been copied by the great escape, stalag 17, paths of glory, just to name a few. so if you haven' t seen this; it is essential. if you have, you know exactly what i am talking about.

"quite frankly, i find the theatre is much to deep for me....i prefer bicycling"

A timeless film
The bitter and wonderful dialogues about the decadence and the primary and secondaries effects about the war support the structure of this brilliant movie.
*The miseries of the war brought the richness in my brain*, this sentenece is pronounced by Stroheim to the men in the remarkable sequence at the dinner.
Jean Renoir made his masterpiece around the hope and the enjoy of living, despite the horrors of the war. The message is clear : you must to follow your bliss even in the worst circunstances : no matter how awful be the world that surrounds you. The great men are not prisoners of the fate : they follow his principles and the powerful will struggles the fate and so it becomes a consequence of their acts , the point is that they are just a few .
Andrei Tarkovski wrote once this wisdom statement:
*The art is possible in the world due its no perfection : if the world was perfect the art would have no sense*.
Thta powerful statement is the meaning force that feeds the behavior of these men . May be they are not conscious about the spirit of the statement of Tarkovsky , but they are doing precisely that.
The great illusion is a big slap in the face about the WW1 : but beware this is not an anti belic flim : it goes beyond this simple aspect : we should expect fifteen years after for Jeux Interdits , another supreme film of Rene Clement , which reflects with greatness the slap about the WW2.
This film is not only an extraordinary work. It's a thousand carats jewel.
So it's timeless movie.

A good movie great start for Criterion Collection
This movie shows a compassionate side to World War I This movie was made before WWII started so don't be surprised if the Germans seem a lot nicer. In it we have 2 men, a Catholic and a Jew escaping from a German POW camp during WWI. It is an excellent film and statred the popularity of prison escape movies.

One theme is the respect the German General had for his French counterpart in spite of the fact they were sworn enemies. It can also show that in war, that your enemies are people too.

The film is also viewed by some as a (failed) last cry to Germany (where it was banned) to avoid the destruction and senselessness of yet another war.

I am beginning to watch the Criterion Collection DVD's in order of the spine number and will review them when I have the chance. ... Read more

Amazon.com

During World War II, Jean Renoir fled Nazi-occupied France forAmerica and tried his hand at making Hollywood films. This period is generally (and unfairly) dismissed as fallow ground in Renoir's career, but even most of his critics agree that The Southerner is not just the best of his five American films, but a fine example of Renoir's humanistic vision. Transplanting the poetic realism of his French masterpieces of the 1930s to the rural American South, Renoir presents a year in the life of a family of migrant workers who decide to follow their dream of farming their own land. Hawk-eyed Zachary Scott gives the performance of his career as the easygoing but determined father who risks everything to give his family something to call their own, with J. Carroll Naish as his bitter, hostile neighbor. The seasonal structure and episodic nature of the film focuses on the hardships the family faces, finding the rhythm of life between setbacks and victories and the soul of his lovingly created characters through their bent but unbowed spirit. Renoir adapted George Perry Sessions's novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand with uncredited help from William Faulkner. This was Renoir's personal favorite of his American films and the only one to enjoy commercial success. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Mystery Train
Although the identifying phrase "Film Noir" was yet to be used for another few decades, Jean Renoir's "La Bete Humaine" could arguably be considered one of the genre's blueprints. In fact, aside from the over-melodramatic music score, this naturalistic 1938 thriller looks and feels very contemporary. Jean Gabin is quite effective as the brooding train engineer plagued by "blackouts" in which he commits acts of uncontrollable violence, usually precipitated by moments of passion (Freudians will have a field day with all the point-of-view camerawork showing Gabin chugging his big, powerful locomotive through long dark tunnels). The beautiful Simone Simon sets the mold for all future Femme Fatales with an earthy, Sophia Loren-type sexuality not usually found in movies from the 1930's. In fact, it would be another 30 years or so before American crime films like "In Cold Blood" and "Bonnie And Clyde" would adapt a similar blend of adult language, sexuality and unflinching violence (in 1938, Hollywood was too busy pumping out Shirley Temple movies). Moody cinematography and a general existential malaise certainly doesn't make this a "feel good" popcorn movie, but fans of classic Noir will be fascinated. (Note: this film was remade in 1954 as "Human Desire").

Sound and fury
An extremely gritty adaptation of one of Zola's most intense novels. The sequences down the Paris - Le Havre track are superbly evocative of the main characters' inability to escape their destiny. Character-wise, though, the film takes a while to get going, and the scene of Lantier's (Gabin's) first blackout and possession by "the beast within" is contrived, poorly acted and not at all convincing. Things improve, thankfully. Updating the plot to the 1930s doesn't quite work in the sense that the protagonists' difficult living conditions in the novel are an important cause of their actions. With one noteable exception, the score is 1930s over-intrusive. And why oh why did Renoir change Zola's ending, which is far more powerful than the film's ho-hum-is-it-over? final scene.

Renoir's best
No film is as perfect as this one. Especially the first fourty minutes. Renoir uses a minimum of words to set up passionate, deeply flawed characters against a noisy (and silent) locomotive atmosphere. A masterpiece.

Interesting foray into Zola's naturalism classic, good cast.
Jean Gabin wanted to make a movie about trains. The result was the Bete Humaine. It is a good production which suffers, mainly, from a poor score (it is hard to imagine a poor Renoir film with Gabin). The cast is excellent but the plot suffers from Zola's naturalist bent. Railfans will love the beginning which takes place in the cab of a French State Railway locomotive on a run from Paris to La Havre. The actress Simon plays the female lead well (she is best rememberd in the U.S. for Cat People). Not in the same league as The Rules of the Game but well worth watching. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Little known stateside but long esteemed in Europe, The Crime of Monsieur Lange is simply one of the very greatest films directed by Jean Renoir (it was made a few years before Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game). René Lefèvre (Le Million) takes the title role of a nebbish who clerks for a penny-press publisher by day, and by night writes feverish potboilers about a Western hero named "Arizona Jim." Lange's encyclopedically venal boss (Jules Berry) discovers his secret and immediately starts exploiting it, as he exploits everybody and everything within range. Life sublimely imitates pulp fiction and vice versa in the brilliant screenplay by Jacques Prévert (who would later write Children of Paradise). The movie blends sociopolitical protest, tender satire, and astonishing poetry without breaking a sweat, and its climax--an amazing synthesis of theme, dramatic emotion, and inspired camerawork--is one of the transcendent moments in screen history. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A jewel movie of a golden genius!
Monsieur Lange is a simple story. It deals with an execrable human being who maintains a negative tension state around an office, until the walls of the human patience finally fall down with the expected consequences.

Fiction and reality will be narrowly bounded in this original script which concerns with the honor and self steem of all human being under determined conditions. Exquisite and ravishing movie that deserves to be considered among the most representative isues of this overwhelming French director.

Go for this , you will enjoy the whole script and besides the admirable technique of Renoir style.

Besides, (if any shadow of doubt it could exist about the grandness of Jean Renoir and his huge influence over so many major and minor future directors) you must always remember and not forget that Toni, a lost film from 1934 is the first issue of this movement named Neo Realism, mistakenly applied to Roselini and De Sica. This film was the first one and somehow the real Godafther of the later movement!

Hiram Gomez.

Poignant, funny, clever
Although much less known than his masterpieces Regle du Jeu and Grande Illusion, Renoir's Crime de M. Lange is truly a great movie.Lange, a young publishing clerk with too much imagination, pens laughably awfulAmerican Westerns in his spare time.His friends at the firm include abeautiful set of quirky and diverse characters.Together, they opposetheir corrupt and lecherous boss in a none too subtle political messagefrom Renoir.With an appropriately tender style, he paints light humor andpoignant emotions as the workers struggle together. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

The strangely gentle vision of Jean Renoir
I was absolutely floored when I first saw this movie about a year ago, at the house of a friend. I adore old war films (think "The Great Escape," "Stalag 17," and "Bridge on the River Kwai"), and thought I had the genre just about memorized until I saw this. It is an intense film, a grand one, but ultimately gentle. It takes place during World War I, which, the director once said, was "almost a war of gentlmen." The Nazis were two decades from gaining power, the nations of Europe enjoyed relative prosperity, and the upper classes ruled over all. In this setting, the necessary brutality of such films as I've previously mentioned seems out of place. Indeed, in the first few scenes, a German pilot who has shot down two French fliers invites them for lunch with his officers (!). This kind of respect, this illusion that war abides by certain rules and expectations, seems anachronostic and dated at first, in a post-Vietnam, post-9/11 world. But there is such hope, such desire for a world where the classes between nations are united, that the movie never seems jingoistic or naïve, just optimistic.

The performances are exceptional; Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay--all seem to really live in their characters, not simply portray them. Von Stroheim, in particular, brings intense poignancy to the tragic figure of the German commandant von Rauffenstein, with his neck brace, stilted walk, and desperate yearning for companionship (which makes him turn to, of all people, his own enemy, Captain de Boeldieu, whom he shot down 18 months previous). Indeed, a lot of the film's message can be summed up in this character: his friendship with an enemy soldier, expressing Renoir's hope for a more peaceful, less divided world; his accoutrements of wealth and station, which hold him firmly in place, unable to change his views of the structure of the world, even as it shifts around him; and his belief in the eponymous "grand illusion" of the continued supremacy of the aristocrats over the working classes in a world scarred by war.

As a bit of a side note, this film, considering its age, is in startlingly pristine condition. The story of the film negative is told on the DVD, as part of the many supplements, so I won't bore you with it here. Suffice it to say that this version of this seminal film was lost for over 60 years before its discovery in the 1990s, resulting in its near-perfect condition today. The picture is as sharp as that of any contemporary film, crystal clear, and refreshingly free of dirt and tears that usually mar most older prints by virtue of constant use. This version is about the best you will find, as it has gone through a tedious, time-consuming restoration process that has given it this impressive sheen. My recommendation: Buy this DVD post haste.

Number 1 DVD transfer for the Number 1 movie !
Grand Illusion is sometimes considered as one of the greatest movies ever shot. It was Orson Welles' favorite. Even though many consider that "Rules of the Game" is more important and brillant. The two movies are very different, both incredible. Grand Illusion is easier to catch immediatly while Rules let you think endlessly. In regard of the DVD : BUY IT EYES CLOSED ! The picture is incredible, looks like it was shot yesterday because coming from the original re-found negative film. It has not even one small spot or crack. It is PURE. And it is the original 114 minutes version, not the well-known 105 minutes. The DVD is full of bonus, the best being the filmed introduction by Jean Renoir, and also the audio archive of Von Stroheim. I cannot express how much I love Renoir and this movie and I hope that Rules of the Game will come up in DVD soon in Zone 1 (it exists in France in Zone 2 with a beautiful master, but has no english subtitles). Then the world can contemplate this masterpiece again and again. Buy Grand Illusion and you'll never think of war and humanity the same way again.

So....you like war movies?
grand illusion is so well known that is almost not worthy to comment on it other than it is the best war/antiwar film of all time bar none, and is also very funny. it has been copied by the great escape, stalag 17, paths of glory, just to name a few. so if you haven' t seen this; it is essential. if you have, you know exactly what i am talking about.

"quite frankly, i find the theatre is much to deep for me....i prefer bicycling"

A timeless film
The bitter and wonderful dialogues about the decadence and the primary and secondaries effects about the war support the structure of this brilliant movie.
*The miseries of the war brought the richness in my brain*, this sentenece is pronounced by Stroheim to the men in the remarkable sequence at the dinner.
Jean Renoir made his masterpiece around the hope and the enjoy of living, despite the horrors of the war. The message is clear : you must to follow your bliss even in the worst circunstances : no matter how awful be the world that surrounds you. The great men are not prisoners of the fate : they follow his principles and the powerful will struggles the fate and so it becomes a consequence of their acts , the point is that they are just a few .
Andrei Tarkovski wrote once this wisdom statement:
*The art is possible in the world due its no perfection : if the world was perfect the art would have no sense*.
Thta powerful statement is the meaning force that feeds the behavior of these men . May be they are not conscious about the spirit of the statement of Tarkovsky , but they are doing precisely that.
The great illusion is a big slap in the face about the WW1 : but beware this is not an anti belic flim : it goes beyond this simple aspect : we should expect fifteen years after for Jeux Interdits , another supreme film of Rene Clement , which reflects with greatness the slap about the WW2.
This film is not only an extraordinary work. It's a thousand carats jewel.
So it's timeless movie.

A good movie great start for Criterion Collection
This movie shows a compassionate side to World War I This movie was made before WWII started so don't be surprised if the Germans seem a lot nicer. In it we have 2 men, a Catholic and a Jew escaping from a German POW camp during WWI. It is an excellent film and statred the popularity of prison escape movies.

One theme is the respect the German General had for his French counterpart in spite of the fact they were sworn enemies. It can also show that in war, that your enemies are people too.

The film is also viewed by some as a (failed) last cry to Germany (where it was banned) to avoid the destruction and senselessness of yet another war.

I am beginning to watch the Criterion Collection DVD's in order of the spine number and will review them when I have the chance. ... Read more