Wooden Crosses

Filming

The film is set some time after the Great Retreat, where the British Expeditionary Force and the French 5th Army fought a fighting retreat to the Marne. The events follow Gilbert Demachy, a young French law student, who enlisted in the French army some time after 2 August 1914, and the infantry squad he joins.

The producer, Bernard Natan, himself a veteran of the First World War and a Croix de Guerre recipient, wished to make those watching the film "hate and despise war". He was given free rein to use Pathé's new sound department to create recordings of explosions and gunshots, something he referred to as "the reconstitution of the sonic ambience of the battles".

A large amount of the film was filmed in Mont Cornillet on the outskirts of Reims in Champagne, where Raymond Bernard said they "simply had to redig the trenches, traces of which were still in evidence." He used detectors from the army to search for and remove unexploded munitions due to the risk of the fake shells used in filming setting them off. They were then detonated in specially dug pits behind the cameras while lines were being delivered. Whether accidental or on purpose, detonating these shells would often expose militaria and corpses. The battles were described as "vibrant and convincing", with Bernard insisting that every actor have some form of combat experience. One such example is Pierre Blanchar, who was a victim of a gas attack in Verdun in 1916.

Cast (in credits order)

Pierre Blanchar as Gilbert Demachy

Gabriel Gabrio as Sulphart

Charles Vanel as Caporal Breval

Raymond Aimos as Soldat Fouillard

Antonin Artaud as Vieublé

Paul Azaïs as Broucke

René Bergeron as Hamel

Raymond Cordy as Vairon

Marcel Delaitre as Sergent Berthier

Jean Galland as Capitaine Cruchet

Pierre Labry as Bouffioux

Geo Laby as Belin

Jean-François Martial as Lemoine

René Montis as Lieutenant Morache

Marc Valbel as Maroux

Plot

When Demachy joins his unit, 5th Squad, 3rd Company, 39th Infantry Regiment, they are resting in the rear and he is introduced to the rest of the squad by Caporal Breval. After getting settled in by Sulphart, who is described as the "company loudmouth" by Breval, Demachy discusses his life before enlisting with Breval while the rest of the squad drinks and dances. Soon after, they notice another group of soldiers solemnly passing by, two carrying a stretcher with a body on it, one carrying a large wooden cross and another four following them. They fall silent, turning to salute as they pass.

The squad is sent to a front line trench and, when they reach it that night, Sulphart and Lemoine are sent on first watch while the rest of the squad takes shelter in a large dugout. Another soldier comes into the dugout to find volunteers for a patrol, which Demachy and Vairon volunteer for. They join three others who are sent to crawl over no man's land and reconnoitre a German position. As they move towards the position, Vairon tells the others to stop while he and Demachy move further; they find that the position is manned by a group of German soldiers around a fire, one of which is singing. Gunfire soon disturbs them as artillery begins to fall on the German trench, causing the pair to quickly return to the other three soldiers and retreat. Believing the returning patrol is an attacking force, the men in the dugout rush to defend, although they are informed that it is the returning patrol. As the patrol retreats, Vairon is shot in the chest, killing him instantly.

When the patrol returns, the squad mourns him, returning to the dugout. All but Demachy try to sleep, who hears the Germans mining underneath them. Alerting the rest of the dugout, he runs to tell Sergent Berthier and Lieutenant Morache, who come to the dugout with an engineering officer. Confirming the mining, they try to leave to inform their command, but are stopped by a soldier who asks whether they should remain in the dugout; the squad is told to remain in the dugout and not to worry, saying "They're far from done. There's no danger." Although this distresses them, the squad attempts to cheer each-other up. Three days later, the squad expects to be relieved by another unit, though the Germans were still digging and were, unbeknownst to them, setting explosives. They were relieved some time after 9:07 PM and inform the relieving unit of the Germans beneath the dugout. As 5th Squad leaves the trench network, the explosives are detonated.

Now resting in the rear, the squad uses their downtime to celebrate and maintain their equipment. Bouffioux delivers mail to them, handing out letters and parcels to the squad before finding a letter that was addressed to Vairon. Demachy takes his letter and the one addressed to Vairon and walks away, finding some flowers as he walks to where a cross was placed for Vairon. He places the flowers next to the cross and tears up Vairon's letter, leaving the pieces there.

Reception

When filming was finished, Bernard went with Dorgelès to visit President Paul Doumer to ask whether he would attend the premiere at Moulin Rouge. He not only accepted, he also invited Bernard and Dorgelès to watch the screening in his personal box. They sat behind Doumer, with Bernard saying "I was incredibly moved and all the more so because you could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. It was utterly silent. No one uttered a sound. Suddenly Roland Dorgelès nudged me with his elbow and pointed to the bowed head of President Paul Doumer, who was wiping away a tear. I must admit, I was deeply moved by that. I felt rewarded for all my efforts by that tear." Doumer died a few days later.

Although Wooden Crosses was well received in France, it did not receive much attention outside of Europe aside from an American film named The Road to Glory, which was a loose remake of Wooden Crosses released in 1936. There were reports that Wooden Crosses caused veterans to commit suicide due to its accuracy, with one such report occurring as late as 1962 after its first TV screening.

Speaking in 2015, Philip French, a writer for The Guardian, said of the film "with an all-male cast speaking military slang, and a soundtrack of natural sound, spine-chilling ordnance and incidental music, Wooden Crosses is an intense experience of pain, stoic endurance and survival."