The young and patriotic student Demachy joins the French army in 1914 to defend his country. But he and his comrades soon experience the terrifying, endless trench war in Champagne, where more and more wooden crosses have to be erected for this cannon fodder.
Direction
Bernard's tracking shots through no-man's-land are still unmatched.
Cinematography
Smoke and shadow become characters in the trenches.
Sound
Artillery as dialogue—conversation drowned by war's roar.
Director
Raymond Bernard
Pierre Blanchar
Adjudant Gilbert Demachy
Gabriel Gabrio
Sulphart
Charles Vanel
Caporal Breval
Antonin Artaud
Soldat Vieublé
Paul Azaïs
Soldat Broucke
René Bergeron
Soldat Hamel
Raymond Cordy
Soldat Vairon
Marcel Delaître
Soldat Berthier
Jean Galland
Capitaine Cruchet
Pierre Labry
Soldat Bouffioux, le cuistot
Geo Laby
Soldat Belin
Jean-François Martial
Soldat Lemoine
Raymond Aimos
Soldat Fouillard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Antonin Artaud—yes, THAT Artaud, father of Theatre of the Cruel—plays a soldier here, his own mental health soon mirroring his character's shell shock.
Released between two world wars, this was France trying to warn itself; audiences wept, then mobilized again anyway.
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