Review of The Cross of Lorraine

Despite its title, this film is not exactly a homage to the French resistance. It is mostly concerned with a military prison in Germany in which members of the French army were interned during World War 2. Good performances (Peter Lorre is delightfully sinister) keep us glued to the screen. Gene Kelly also turns in a fine portrayal, even though he doesn't sing so much as a note or dance even a step! Also on hand is Jean Pierre Aumont. (Until I looked him up on IMDb, I didn't realize what a truly amazing career Aumont enjoyed in both France and the USA, and in both territories, both on stage and in movies. This remarkable doubling up seems also to be reflected in his married life. According to IMDb, Aumont married Marisa Pavan in 1956, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1963. Yet according to IMDb – which admittedly makes no big thing of this episode – Aumont re-married Marisa Pavan in 1969 and this re-marriage lasted until Aumont died at the age of ninety (or maybe ninety-three) on 30 January, 2001). Anyway, getting back to "The Cross of Lorraine", Tay Garnett's very capable direction highlights and really brings home the violence and sadism of the times. It's certainly a most unusual film for M.G.M. It's most definitely not escapist entertainment. Anything but! And the movie is also expensively mounted, although art director Daniel B. Cathcart does make use of some very poor and very obvious backdrops at times.