Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW000979 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1943 |
Original Title |
The Cross of Lorraine |
Directed by |
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Produced by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) (Loew's, Inc.), Culver City, CA (New York, NY) |
Staff |
Producer: Edwin H. Knopf; Script: Michael Kanin, Ring Lardner, Jr., Alexandre Esway, Robert D. Andrews; Based on: Lilo Damert, Robert Aisner, Hans Habe ("A Thousand Shall Fall"); Editing: Dan Milner; Art direction: Cedric Gibbons; Music: Bronislaw Kaper |
Cast |
Jean-Pierre Aumont (Paul); Gene Kelly (Victor); Cedric Hardwicke (Father Sebastian); Richard Whorf (Francois); Joseph Calleia (Rodriguez); Peter Lorre (Sgt. Berger); Hume Cronyn (Hume); Billy Roy (Louis); Tonio Selwart (Maj. Bruhl); Jack Lambert (Jacques); Wallace Ford (Pierre); Donald Curtis (Marcel); Jack Edwards (Rene); Dick Ryan (Lt. Schmidt); Fred Giermann (Corp. Daxer) |
Length |
89' |
Format |
35mm/sw/1:1,37 |
Abstract |
French soldiers Victor and Paul are among those who surrender to the Germans at the fall of France in 1940. They are herded into boxcars and shipped to a concentration camp where they are subjected to sadistic treatment and brutal conditions. Later, Father Sebastian, a priest interned with the soldiers, offers a mass. Sgt. Berger attends, listens briefly, then shoots the priest, killing him. Victor goes berserk and attacks Sgt. Berger, which only leads to even more savage treatment for the defiant prisoner. He is eventually sent to the infirmary where Paul works. Paul plans an escape, taking the injured Victor along and, with the help of underground workers, they reach a small village. A German detachment arrives a short time later to take all males into a labor battalion. Paul pretends to volunteer but, once in front of the villagers, excitedly denounces the Germans and encourages everyone to resist. He is shot by a German officer, and Victor, who up to this time has been in a semicomatose state, suddenly leads the villagers in a wholesale attack on the Germans, wiping out the Nazis in a wild battle. The villagers then burn their town to the ground in a "scorched earth" tactic, similar to that being practiced against the Germans in Russia, and the entire town migrates into unoccupied territory to continue the fight against the Nazi regime. |
Subject Terms |
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Holdings |
- Kinemathek Hamburg, Hamburg |
Bibliography |
- Nash, Ray R. / Ross, Stanley R. / Conelly, Robert B. (Ed.): Motion Picture Guide. Chicago, IL: Cinebooks, 1987 |