The Elusive Corporal

Overview

An upper-class corporal is captured by the Germans during their 1940 invasion of France. Assisted and accompanied by characters as diverse as a morose dairy farmer, a waiter, a myopic intellectual, a working-class Parisian, and a German dental assistant, the corporal tries to escape from prison camps, sometimes making it a few yards, sometimes reaching the border.

Directed by Jean Renoir

Top cast

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Caporal

Claude Brasseur

Papa

Claude Rich

Ballochet

Jacques Jouanneau

Émile, aka 'Penche-à-gauche', waiter

Mario David

'Caruso', amateur athlete, insurance agent

Jean Carmet

Guillaume aka 'Le Fermier'

Philippe Castelli

'L'électricien'

Guy Bedos

The stuttering prisoner

O.E. Hasse

Drunk traveler on the train

Cornelia Froboess

Erika Schmidt

Sacha Briquet

Escapee disguised as an old woman

Raymond Jourdan

Hippolyte Dupieu

Gérard Darrieu

Cross-eyed man

Lucien Raimbourg

Station employee

François Darbon

Peasant

H

Helmut Janatsch

Otto, Commander of the Stalag

Details