Word: granded
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Mate, Virginia go-getters set out to bag them. Last week, after negotiations with the State Department and the armed forces, Virginia was rewarded. The Russian airmen, blond, 32-year-old Anatoly Barsov, and black-haired, 29-year-old Piotr Pirogov, were delivered to the U.S. for a grand tour of the Old Dominion...
...this age of Hollywood blood-and-thunder war movies, all of which preach some sort of a hackneyed message, there is nothing more refreshing than to see a brilliant war film like the twelve year-old "Grand Illusion." Starring Erich von Stroheim and Jean Gabin, this old-French epic concerns the fate of a group of French prisoners in Germany during the first World...
...extraordinary depth and quality of this film render a coldly anylitical review impossible. Although it also has a masterful plot, perhaps the finest parts of "Grand Illusion" are a few individual scenes. For instance, on the eve of a German victory celebration, the prisoners give a revue and invite the German officers who are guarding them. In the middle of the show, Gabin hears the news the Allies have finally won this battle. He rushes on the stage, roars out the good news, and all the prisoners rise and sing the "Marsaillaise." The German officers stomp out, and Gabin...
Perhaps the finest point of "Grand Illusion" is the way in which it captures that nebulous quality called "atmosphere." The Frenchmen speak French, the Germans speak German, and the Englishmen speak English; the landscape and the dismal PW camps couldn't be more authentic, and the snatches of old songs ring absolutely true. There are no heroes and no villains-only individuals caught in the hopeless drama of their generation and accepting their roles quite philosophically...
...When "Grand Illusion" first appeared in 1937, the general opinion was that no finer war film had been made. This reviewer feels very strongly that this verdict holds true...