Grand Illusion - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Grand Illusion or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Grand Illusion

[jessica]

Erich von Stroheim gave Von Rauffenstein his physical dimensions, creating a backstory in which, between the character's first and second appearances, he has been shot down and now exists in a painful and rigid orthopedic apparatus due to a broken back and constantly wears white gloves to conceal burns. An orthopedist had to be found in Colmar, a city near where they were shooting, to create the device in just a few days.

[melinda]

The battles in which Elsa's brothers died - Charleroi, Tannenberg and Liege - were all battles from 1914, the first year of the war. The Battle of Liège was the opening battle of the German invasion into Belgium, and the first battle of World War I. The Battle of Charleroi was fought on 21 August 1914 between the French and the Germans. The Battle of Tannenberg was in August 1914 and was fought between the Russians and the Germans.

[elmer]

Before the producers agreed to finance the film, they questioned every expense including a stipulation in the script for the use of genuine silver dinner service. Renoir had to agree to make do with silver plate.

[russell]

The little girl who played "Lotte" never saw the film, having died of the flu some weeks before the film was released.

[kristina]

President Roosevelt was shown a private screening at the White House during November 1937.

[duane]

Jean Renoir's assistant director on this film, Jacques Becker, has a very brief role early in the film as a temperamental British officer who destroys his pocket watch rather than allow the Germans to confiscate it. Becker would himself later become a great director (e.g., Casque d'Or (1952)).

[mathew]

Erich von Stroheim clashed with Jean Renoir in the early days of shooting, and the director later said the actor "behaved intolerably." They had one argument over whether or not there should be prostitutes in the German quarters, a detail Von Stroheim thought would lend greater authenticity but which Renoir rejected as a childish cliche. The dispute so distressed Renoir he burst into tears, which caused Von Stroheim to do the same. They fell into each other's arms, and Renoir said that rather than quarrel with an artist he so greatly admired, he would give up directing the film altogether. Von Stroheim promised from that point on to follow Renoir's instructions to the letter, and he kept his word. Looking back on the production, the actor said, "I have never found a more sympathetic, understanding and artistic director and friend than Jean Renoir."

[duane]

Being an actor himself, Jean Renoir also knew how to get the best performances from his cast. When Boeldieu creates a diversion to allow his fellow inmates to escape, Renoir told Erich von Stroheim to shout to him in English, "I beg you, man to man, come back," in a way that would sound like a man pleading with his mistress.

[chad]

When Orson Welles was asked what two films he would take with him on an ark, he responded "La Grande Illusion (1937) and something else".

[ray]

Jean Renoir had no problems at all with Jean Gabin. "There you have a true film actor - with a capital F," he later said. "I've filmed many people in my life, and I have never met such a cinematic power; he's a cinematic force, it's fantastic, it's incredible. It must come from his great honesty. He's certainly the most honest man I've ever met in my life."

[ruby]

This is the first film in the prestigious Criterion Collection (spine #1).