La Grande Illusion
In 1937, he made "La Grande Illusion", one of his better-known films, starring Erich von Stroheim and Jean Gabin. A film on the theme of brotherhood, relating a series of escape attempts by French POWs during World War I, it was enormously successful. It was banned in Germany, and later in Italy, after having won the Best Artistic Ensemble award at the Venice Film Festival. It was the first foreign language film to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture.