Dreadfully Boring

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

'Les grandes manoeuvres' (= French for 'the great army exercises') is located in a small provincial garrison town, somewhere in France. The year is around 1900.This film's plot adapts well to this setting. More entertaining than spectacular, providing insight in the local military as well in the town's upper class civilians. And, making its core, how they interact with each other. Director Rene Clair takes his time, but cleverly avoids any boredom or dullness.This avoiding is also very much due to the magnificent acting of the two leads, Michele Morgan and Philippe Gerard. Well supported by the likes of Yves Robert and young Brigitte Bardot. This cast left us a good & enjoyable 'Les grandes manoeuvres'.The only criticism may be found in this film's slightly cold way of proceeding. It leaves you with the impression that 'Les grandes manoeuvres' plot is run by some well-oiled mechanism.

I'd seen only the great films from the 30's by this director, before enjoying this first color film from 1955. It is a light work with some sombre undertones from the military setting: we are after all in the summer of 1914, and the gallant young officers will soon be facing the terrors of the Great War. Clair reminds us that this world has vanished into the mists of time by the careful use of pastels--lavender, gray, pink--and by the camera receding into the distance: you hardly ever see a close up, most shots are long or medium. Leon Barsacq did a wonderful job as production designer; this is one of the best designed films I can remember seeing from this period.Gerard Philipe is the best Armand you could wish for--he's brave and skilled as a soldier and incredibly immature as a man. The idea that you can carry on affairs with five women at a time is no more than a logistical problem for him. Michele Morgan plays her part so well; she's got to be mature and responsible (she's a divorcée, and hasn't been long in this town). Her heart is pulling her in a direction her mind doesn't want to go. Jean Desailly reminds me once again that he's one of the finest French actors: his Victor isn't a stuffy bourgeois, his heart is with Marie-Louise and he knows what a formidable opponent Armand is. Also he's got to combat the closed minds around him, notably his sisters.Les Grandes manoevres can be compared to Rules of the Game, and if the Renoir classic is greater, it's because Renoir was dealing with more profound themes. I was engrossed in the story of this garrison town just the same.

This is one of the most finely crafted films of cinema's short history. Period atmosphere, costumes, sets, indoor and outdoor photography, pacing and editing are all superb. The music by Georges Van Parys is poignantly nostalgic and at the same time entertaining and light. The biggest attraction of this film, though, is the wit of its script, which could rival any comedy of Shaw or Wilde or Colette, and top them all for sheer virtuosity in the art of depicting the many faces of love, and its delivery by one of film history's most finely cast troupe of comedians. `Les Grandes Manoeuvres' is ostensibly a Gérard Philipe vehicle, full of his inimitable monologues, which lets Michèle Morgan do what she does best: suffer coldly, remotely, nobly, silently and elegantly. It is peopled by actors the likes of which this planet has rarely seen brought together, namely Jacqueline Maillan and Lise Delamare as Jean Desailly's wicked, two-faced, possessive sisters who marry the feline elegance of beasts of prey with the evil but colourful personality of Walt Disney's Cinderella's wicked stepmother. It features some of the most beautiful women of the planet: Morgan, Bardot, Dany Carrel, Magali Noël. The men are also physically and mentally highly idealized. This film is rarely shown and therefore largely unappreciated. It is only available on DVD in a pristine transfer in French only on a Brigitte Bardot boxset from Quebec (imavision.com) comprising seven films of various worth ranging from this unqualified masterpiece to more lowly efforts to Fellini-Malle-Vadim's `Histoires extraordinaires'. This film is so good it is probably worth learning French to understand all its subtleties and absorb its unique charm. It makes all of René Clair's preceding efforts, even the most poetically imaginative like `Beauties of the Night', look like immature doodles or preliminary sketches.

A womanizing soldier (circa WWI) makes a wager with his fellow soldiers that he will be able to seduce any woman chosen at random. The woman is chosen, he goes for it. You can probably guess most of the rest: he falls in love with her unexpectedly, she finds out about the wager, there is a question of whether they will ever truly get together, yada yada yada. Yes, it's that old plot. Perhaps Clair invented it, but I doubt it. It would later be used in every fourth movie ever made in the 1980s. I hoped that Clair could make it work. My favorite films of his are so effortlessly romantic that I expected him to be able to do it. Alas, he can't. This film lacks everything that made films like Le million charming and romantic. This one is cold and dull. I didn't like either of the leads. The man was completely despicable and the woman was frigid. Scenes move too quickly, and there is no feeling in them. The only bright spots are some nice cinematography (it was Clair's first film in color, and it looks as if the whole thing has been painted with watercolors) and a nice little supporting role by the enormously darling young Brigitte Bardot. 5/10.