The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir's 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of French society to depict one man's Sisyphean efforts to escape captivity in a German POW camp.
Jean-Pierre Cassel
as Caporal
Claude Brasseur
as Papa
Claude Rich
as Ballochet
Jacques Jouanneau
as Émile, aka 'Penche-à-gauche', waiter
Mario David
as 'Caruso', amateur athlete, insurance agent
Jean Carmet
as Guillaume aka 'Le Fermier'
Philippe Castelli
as 'L'électricien'
Guy Bedos
as The stuttering prisoner
O.E. Hasse
as Drunk traveler on the train
Cornelia Froboess
as Erika Schmidt
Sacha Briquet
as Escapee disguised as an old woman
Raymond Jourdan
as Hippolyte Dupieu
