A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
Jean Gabin
Pierre Fresnay
Erich von Stroheim
Marcel Dalio
Dita Parlo
Julien Carette
Gaston Modot
Georges Péclet
Werner Florian
Jean Dasté
Sylvain Itkine
Jacques Becker
Habib Benglia
Pierre Blondy
Albert Brouett
Georges Fronval
Karl Heil
Carl Koch
Little Peters
Claude Sainval
Michel Salina
Claude Vernier
Géo Forster