Surrender (1931 film)
Encyclopedia
Surrender is a 1931
film directed by William K. Howard
, written by S.N. Behrman, and starring Warner Baxter
, Leila Hyams
, Ralph Bellamy
, C. Aubrey Smith
and Alexander Kirkland
. It is based on Axelle, a novel by Pierre Benoit
.
Ebbing soon puts Dumaine and the other prisoners to work at the unpleasant task of burial detail. When Dumaine, Fichet and other prisoners escape by overpowering the guards, they break into the Reichendorf castle and take refuge there, but are soon discovered by Axelle and taken back to the prison. One day, after noticing billows of smoke coming from the castle, Dumaine heroically rushes into the castle and puts out a kitchen fire. In gratitude for his valor, Ebbing commissions Dumaine, an electrical engineer by profession, to wire the castle. Dumaine's new assignment puts him in close contact with Axelle, and they soon become friends. After one month, Axelle begins to trust Dumaine and suggests that he remove his prison number from his uniform.
When news reaches Germany that Dietrich has led his regiment in victorious battle against the French, an end to the war is predicted. Axelle is overjoyed at the news, but Dumaine, whose loyalties still remain with France, is upset. Back at the prison, Dumaine's fellow inmates resent Dumaine's privileged status at the castle, and plan a breakout without him. Soon after Dietrich returns from the battlefront, he discovers his fiancée in the arms of Dumaine, and learns that Ebbing, too, is trying to woo Axelle, so he decides to return to the front. When the jealous Ebbing learns of Dumaine's affair with Axelle, he sends the Frenchman to be executed despite Axelle's pleas to spare him. Ebbing later has a change of heart, however, and decides to call off the execution. News of the Armistice and the end of the war brings with it orders to suspend all disciplinary action against prisoners of war, and Ebbing, who sees no further use for himself as a military leader, commits suicide. With the battlelines suddenly erased, Dumaine and Axelle resume their romance with a kiss.
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
film directed by William K. Howard
William K. Howard
William K. Howard was a film director, writer and producer.Howard began his work in Hollywood as an assistant director on the 1920 release The Adorable Savage. The following year, he received his first directing credits, for Get Your Man, Play Square and What Love Will Do...
, written by S.N. Behrman, and starring Warner Baxter
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter was an American actor, known for his role as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona , for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1928–1929 Academy Awards. Warner Baxter started his movie career in silent movies...
, Leila Hyams
Leila Hyams
Leila Hyams was an American film actress. Her relatively short film career began in silent films, and ended in the mid 1930s.-Early life:...
, Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
, C. Aubrey Smith
Aubrey Smith
Sir Charles Aubrey Smith CBE , known to film-goers as C. Aubrey Smith, was an English cricketer and actor.-Early life:...
and Alexander Kirkland
Alexander Kirkland
Alexander Kirkland was a leading man in Hollywood during the early sound era, as well as a notable actor in Pittsburgh theatre. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He was recognized more for being the husband of Gypsy Rose Lee from 1942 to 1944...
. It is based on Axelle, a novel by Pierre Benoit
Pierre Benoit (novelist)
Pierre Benoît was a French novelist and member of the Académie française.Pierre Benoit, born in Albi was the son of a French soldier. Benoit spent his early years and military service in Northern Africa, before becoming a civil servant...
.
Plot
During World War I, the wily and attractive French POW Sergeant Dumaine is sequestered in a prison camp near the castle of a prideful Prussian nobleman and military general, Count Reichendorf, who lives for the day that his four sons will march triumphantly into Paris. Having lost three sons to the French and English armies, and left with only one son, Dietrich, Reichendorf laments the days when his family made Prussia "the might of land." He is forced to recruit military men from the prison camp. Axelle, the daughter of one of the sons, who became his ward when her parents died, lives in the Reichendorf castle and makes periodic goodwill visits to the prison compound, where she first encounters Dumaine. Captain Ebbing, the martinet and disfigured prison commandant, develops an interest in Axtelle. He courts her, but Axelle shows little interest in him, and when he reminds her how he dazzled her before he went into battle, she rejects his affections and tells him that she is engaged to Dietrich. Ebbing pleads with her, insisting that his love for her is more intense and enduring than that of any other man, but she is not swayed.Ebbing soon puts Dumaine and the other prisoners to work at the unpleasant task of burial detail. When Dumaine, Fichet and other prisoners escape by overpowering the guards, they break into the Reichendorf castle and take refuge there, but are soon discovered by Axelle and taken back to the prison. One day, after noticing billows of smoke coming from the castle, Dumaine heroically rushes into the castle and puts out a kitchen fire. In gratitude for his valor, Ebbing commissions Dumaine, an electrical engineer by profession, to wire the castle. Dumaine's new assignment puts him in close contact with Axelle, and they soon become friends. After one month, Axelle begins to trust Dumaine and suggests that he remove his prison number from his uniform.
When news reaches Germany that Dietrich has led his regiment in victorious battle against the French, an end to the war is predicted. Axelle is overjoyed at the news, but Dumaine, whose loyalties still remain with France, is upset. Back at the prison, Dumaine's fellow inmates resent Dumaine's privileged status at the castle, and plan a breakout without him. Soon after Dietrich returns from the battlefront, he discovers his fiancée in the arms of Dumaine, and learns that Ebbing, too, is trying to woo Axelle, so he decides to return to the front. When the jealous Ebbing learns of Dumaine's affair with Axelle, he sends the Frenchman to be executed despite Axelle's pleas to spare him. Ebbing later has a change of heart, however, and decides to call off the execution. News of the Armistice and the end of the war brings with it orders to suspend all disciplinary action against prisoners of war, and Ebbing, who sees no further use for himself as a military leader, commits suicide. With the battlelines suddenly erased, Dumaine and Axelle resume their romance with a kiss.