Stars: Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Julien Carette, Jean Renoir, Erich Von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay, Marcel Dalio, Dito Parlo, Rene Lefevre, Jules Berry, Florelle, Jean Daste

Director: Jean Renoir

Summary: In 'La Bete Humaine' a mad train driver falls in love with a married woman and they plot to kill the wife's husband. 'La Grande Illusion' is set in World War I where three French Army prisoners of war from widely differing backgrounds, share a common interest in an escape. 'Le Crime De Monsieur Lange' is told in flashback, and the story revolves around the author Lange who is exploited by his ruthless boss who eventually causes the downfall of his publishing house.

Three of Jean Renoir's films. LA GRANDE ILLUSION, LA BETE HUMAINE and LE CRIME DE MONSIEUR LANGE.
LE GRANDE ILLUSION (1937):
Jean Renoir's brilliant farewell to Europe's ancient regime, LA GRANDE ILLUSION, set during WWI, stars Jean Gabin as Marechal and Marcel Dalio as Rosenthal, French prisoners of war who constantly escape from prison only to be recaptured. Along with the gracious aristocrat de Boldieu (Pierre Fresnay), they're moved to the fortresslike Wintersborn prison, from which no one has escaped. The commandant of the prison is the ace German pilot von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), now grounded by injury. Despite humane treatment, the Frenchmen plan to escape once again.
LA BETE HUMAINE (1938):
Starring Jean Gabin as railway engineer Jacques Lantier, LA BETE HUMAINE is an adaptation of the Emile Zola classic whose characters are driven by rage and lust. Lantier is obssessed with Severine, the beautiful wife of stationmaster Robaud. When Robaud's hatred for Grandmorin, the wealthy and powerful man who had deflowered his wife as a young girl, leads to murder, Lantier is a witness. At this point Severine asks him to kill her husband so they can be together. But Lantier, overwhelmed by revulsion toward all that has come before, refuses to comply with her wishes. Gabin is utterly convincing as the tormented lover in this magnificently atmospheric tale of crime and passion.
LE CRIME DE MONSIEUR LANGE (1936):
A wry comedy on the nature of capitalism, starring Rene Lefevre as Amedee Lange. When Batala (Jules Berry), the owner of the faltering publishing company that employs Lange, absconds with the firm's assets, the workers form a collective to run the company. They publish the stories that Lange has written, the adventures of fictional cowboy Arizona Jim, which become hugely successful. But when Batala returns in clerical disguise to take over his now thriving company extreme measures are called for...

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A film which regularly charts high in critics' polls of the best films of all time, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert's masterpiece Les Enfants du Paradisis as solid a landmark in French film history as the Eiffel Tower is on the Parisian landscape. And at 187 minutes running time, it's a massy edifice indeed, built from a rambunctious cast of characters--ranging from pickpockets and prostitutes to aristocrats and actors--whose lives intersect around the Theatre des Funambules, a popular Parisian theatre on the Boulevard du Crime, during the 1840s. (The title refers to the poor who can only afford seats in the upper galleries of the theatre.)

The heart of the plot is a love story between mime artiste Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and streetwalker Garance (the magnificent, sand-paper-voiced Arletty). When Garance is falsely accused of pickpocketing, Baptiste provides a mimed alibi for her to the police (one of the film's most famous set pieces). The rose she later throws him in gratitude sets off a romantic obsession, one of several that structure the film, as do love triangles, duels, and tortured confessions of feeling.

Thematically, Les Enfant du Paradisgnaws over typically French cinematic preoccupations: illusion and reality, the nature of performance, the indomitable spirit of the proletariat and so on, all made the more charged and poignant when you know the film was shot during the Nazi occupation. (One actor, Robert Le Vigan, was reportedly a Nazi collaborator and disappeared during the filming under mysterious circumstances and so had to be replaced by Pierre Renoir.) --Leslie Felperin

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1938
Release Date:	September 6, 2004
Runtime:	286 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 096617
Keywords:	Collection, Jean, Box, General, Crime, Illusion, Three, Set, Monsieur, Grande, Bete, Drama, Humaine, Discs, Renoir, Lange
Genre:	Drama