Les Croix de bois is one of the most underrated films in French cinema from the Thirties which should nevertheless be included in the history of cinema among the most terrifying portrayals of the World War I. The structure and direction are surprisingly rigorous, almost documentary-like, in describing the relentless disintegration and the death of a squadron of French soldiers. Whilst Milestone and Pabst highlight their pacifism, Bernard avoids rhetoric, entrusting himself completely to the impact of Jules Krüger’s cinematography. Its simplicity was criticised by some at the time but now shows its modernity, together with the rejection of pathos and military melodrama. The film was an immediate success, and yet international recognition was thwarted, first of all, by the Nazis (who banned it immediately) and then Hollywood, where it had a strange fate: it was bought by Fox as early as 1932, it would never be distributed but parts of it would be used for stock-shots by Darryl F. Zanuck’s production. Yes, it really is Pierre Blanchar that you can see hurling grenades between two studio frames of Fredric March and Werner Baxter in The Road to Glory (1936) by Howard Hawks!

Lenny Borger, Les Croix de bois, “Cinématographe”, no. 91, July 1983