"I rediscovered this recently, one of my favourites, it must be in my top five favourite albums. That was another one I got into when I was a teenager in Colchester and it’s reared its ugly face again. It’s just a bloody masterpiece, absolutely"

"Renoir’s antiwar masterpiece . . . on everyone’s ten-best list. It’s a war movie filled with humanity, with paradox, with love, and with humor—and has great performances from Jean Gabin, Erich von Stroheim, Marcel Dalio, and many wonderful actors from Renoir’s stock company. Moving and uplifting."

"There’s a lot to admire in this but I’d really like to single out the makeup effects crew. Mother Markos was maybe the most horrifying and hilarious thing I’ve seen all year… She’s an oozing, globby masterpiece, and hey, let’s throw in a baby arm."

"An early Fellini masterpiece and a deeply engaging story about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and betrayal. You will fall in love with Giulietta Masina. Her last scene is one of the most emotionally moving film sequences I have ever watched."

"Renoir’s satirical masterpiece, controversial upon its release, was his third collaboration with Gabrielle Chanel after La Marseillaise and La Bête humaine. She designed all the female costumes, bringing her signature modernity to the evening gowns, nightwear and hunting outfits of the film’s sophisticated high society milieu."