The Cross of Lorraine is a 1943 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer war film about French prisoners of war escaping a German prison camp and joining the French Resistance. Directed by Tay Garnett, starring Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gene Kelly, the film was partly based on Hans Habe's 1941 novel A Thousand Shall Fall. The title refers to the French Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of the French Resistance and the Free French Forces chosen by Charles de Gaulle in 1942.

Plot

At the start of World War II, Frenchmen from all walks of life enlist or are drafted. Defeated by the invading Germans in 1940, Marshal Philippe Pétain signs a peace agreement and the troops surrender. However, instead of being repatriated to their homes, a group of soldiers are transported to a brutal prison camp. The men receive solace from Father Sebastian (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), a priest who was also in the army and who counsels them wisely, but he is eventually killed. Most of the men resist as best they can. Duval (Hume Cronyn), collaborates with their jailers to get an easier life, and tries to recruit Paul (Jean-Pierre Aumont). One night, the prisoners shove Duval into the yard and trigger the alarm. The guards shoot him by mistake. In response, the Commandant has every fourth prisoner executed. He has Paul watch it in his office, and explains the Nazi plan for indoctrinating the next generations. He shows him Victor (Gene Kelly), in his cell, and observes, "There is no man we cannot break." Victor has indeed been broken by the vicious treatment he has received in solitary.