The Imposter

After criminal Gabin is saved from the guillotine by a Nazi air raid, he assumes the identity of a dead French soldier and enlists in the French army in WW II. He starts life anew, bravely launching an attack on an Italian desert base. He receives a medal, but under his assumed name. When he finally confesses, he returns to the ranks, later saving his battalion from defeat. Duvivier, even while directing in Hollywood, was able to make Gabin into the same sort of heroic figure that so wonderfully colored his earlier PEPE LE MOKO. A slow-mover, but effective, which reminds one of UNCERTAIN GLORY.