This past week, one of the new releases on DVD was a set of restored French films from director Raymond Bernard. Bernard’s 1934 version of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is now available in a three disc set with the 1932 anti-war film Wooden Crosses. The set is available from Eclipse, the new subsidiary of Criterion, which is offering no-frills DVDs of rare, older films.

Those who have seen the original film version of All Quiet on the Western Front may be especially interested in comparing Bernard’s film which was made shortly afterwards. The film follows a group of soldier in the front lines during World War I. They are all relatively young men who have left their respective lives to fight for France. Among the soldiers is a former law student and a pastry chef. Unlike his contemporary, Jean Renoir, Bernard shows the military as obliterating class distinctions.

One of the more intense scenes is of the soldiers in their underground bunker. Beneath them, they can hear German soldiers digging a tunnel. The soldiers are concerned about the possibllity of explosives planted beneath them. In the claustrophobic setting, not only are these soldiers concerned about fighting the Germans but keeping their wits about them.

Among the actors is Charles Vanel, who is noted as having one of the longest careers of any film actor, from the silent era in 1908 through 1988, one year before his death at age 96. Actor and theater theorist Antonin Artaud has a supporting role as one of the soldiers. Raymond Bernard’s career as a filmmaker spanned from 1917 through 1958.

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