[Le Caporal Epinglé] is not one of [Renoir's] best, and I was unable to work up any interest in his mishmash about French prisoners of the Germans during the last war. The prisoners themselves are dull dogs, and the things Renoir put them through often make no sense, and are a bore when they do.

In addition to directing, Renoir collaborated, with Guy Le Franc, on the script and dialogue. I am afraid Renoir is no longer capable of saying anything that isn't "safe." And "safe" remarks in the jumble-jungle that is French intellectual life today are even more platitudinous than "safe" remarks were in the days of the Third Republic. (pp. 114-15)

The stalag incidents in which Renoir involves them are old-hat, and it is saddening to notice how often Renoir resorts to excretory humor, and to the French equivalent of 4-letter Anglo-Saxon words, to "liven things...