Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Tonight I watched Cross of Lorraine and I thought the film was a well done and a fine example of a "message movie" during wartime. The plot was predictable, but engaging. The characterizations were well drawn and believable. I thought it was fascinating to have such flawed characters among the "good guys" in a war-time message movie. The cast was excellent. Jean-Pierre Aumont and Hume Cronyn gave captivating performances. Gene Kelly played Victor, the brash hothead always looking for a fight who is tortured into submission. He reminded me of a young John Garfield in this role. It was a a truly heart-wrenching performance. Gene Kelly really has been so very underrated as a dramatic actor.

Basically the story of the French resistance during the early '40s when the Nazis overtook France, THE CROSS OF LORRAINE is a forerunner of films like STALAG 17, but without the humor. Instead, it's a straightforward dramatic tale of the harsh treatment meted out to the French POWs in a German prison camp.There are no real surprises in the plot--you know from the beginning that there will be an escape plan being hatched by JEAN PIERRE AUMONT, who takes over when the former translator/informer HUME CRONYN meets his fate at the hands of prisoners. Aumont and GENE KELLY have the leading male roles and both give earnest performances in this gritty drama directed by Tay Garnett.Although it appears to be a low-budget film, there's a splendid supporting cast including SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE, RICHARD WHORF, PETER LORRE (as a despicable German sergeant), WALLACE FORD and Joseph CALLEIA.Film is engrossing all the way through but suffers from an ending that pushes the propaganda envelope too far as the French resistance overcomes the Nazi recruiters while Aumont and Kelly take aim with machine guns to help destroy a bunch of bad Nazis.Summing up: A flag waving tribute to the French resistance, it's well done for most of the way but that ending is too over-the-top to be taken seriously.

This movie does provide a good and realistic view of French POW's in a German camp. The story and its characters are gritty and those are the main reasons why this movie is quite a good one.It however is too bad that it's too obvious that this movie was a piece of allied WW II propaganda. This movie was made in the middle of WW II and it's quite ridicules to see how incredibly black and white the story and its characters are at times. The Nazi's are made to look incredibly ruthless and without an heart and conscience while all the French prisoners want to do is practice their religion, be kind to each other and make the best out of it. The story and its characters are so incredibly black and white at times that the movie becomes quite ridicules and not a credible one to watch at times.The movie also obviously tries to send out a message. To POW to keep fighting and resisting against the Nazi's, to French citizens to revolt against the oppressors (according to the movie, they should even burn their houses down, just like the Russians used to do, so the Germans will find nothing but ashes along their way) and to help the resistance in any way they can. The whole message and propaganda elements in the movie are all way too obvious. It makes this movie really a ridicules one to watch at times.There are some good actors in the movie but due to the simple way of directing and storytelling, none of them really shines. The talents of Gene Kelly (in one of his first movie roles) and Peter Lorre are wasted in this movie.Still I can't rate this movie any lower than a 6 out of 10, since the story and atmosphere are quite good and also have some nice elements in it. I guess it's a pretty good though rushed, early, low budget WW II movie that intends well but is too obvious with its propaganda. Not much interesting is really happening in the movie and the action toward the ending comes too late to makes this movie a better paced- and in general a better and more interesting movie to watchA watchable movie that however by no means is a must-see or a really recommendable one.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The Cross of Lorraine is yet another poor propaganda piece, goose stepping stereotype nazis, ordinary peasants turned to overly patriotic resistance fighters, it's all there..Straight from the beginning you can guess how it all ends, I've read better comic books about the WW2 and the resistance than this ridiculous propaganda stunt.