The Cross of Lorraine

The Cross of Lorraine is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer war film about French prisoners of war escaping a German prison camp and joining the French Resistance. Directed by Tay Garnett, starring Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gene Kelly, was partly based on Hans Habe's 1941 novel A Thousand Shall Fall. The title refers to the French Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of the Résistance and the Free French Forces chosen by Charles de Gaulle in 1942. Plot At the start of World War II, Frenchmen from all walks of life enlist or are drafted. Defeated by the invading Germans in 1940, Marshal Philippe Pétain signs a peace agreement and the troops surrender. However, instead of being repatriated to their homes, a group of soldiers find themselves in a brutal prison camp. The men receive solace from Father Sebastian (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), a priest who was also in the army and who counsels them wisely, but he is eventually killed. Most of the men resist as best they can. Duval (Hume Cronyn), collaborates with their jailers to get an easier life, and tries to recruit Paul (Jean-Pierre Aumont).. One night, the prisoners shove Duval into the yard and trigger the alarm. The guards shoot him. The Commandant has every fourth prisoner executed. He has Paul watch it in his office, and explains the Nazi plan for indoctrinating the next generations. He shows him Victor, in his cell, and observes “There is no man we cannot break.” Victor (Gene Kelly) has indeed been broken by the vicious treatment he has received in solitary. Paul takes Duval's old job with an eye to aiding his fellow prisoners. Part of his work entails helping Sergeant Berger smuggle perfume, silk garments and other luxuries for Lieutenant Schmidt from the hospital over the border into Occupied France. The goods are hidden under a soldier pretending to be an actual patient. Eventually Paul helps the 15 men in his barracks to escape, hidden among 150 Alsatians who are being repatriated. Camp roll call will soon reveal the deception. The doctor chooses to stay behind, Victor is incapacitated by fear, and Paul won't leave without him. He feels guilty because Victor and the others like him had wanted to fight, and he had not seen that they were right.