The Last Lesson

This MGM short is rarely seen. A scene very much like it was included in the feature THIS LAND IS MINE and this was allowed to fall into desuetude.

Although it nominally refers to the events following the Franco-Prussian War, when most of Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to Germany, this well-made propaganda short clearly refers to the conquest of France during the Second World War and ends with a quote from Victor Hugo and a rendition of the Marseillaise. The performances are simple and telling and must have brought a tear to the eye of its American audience -- even though Alsace and Lorraine were, contrary to what is implied in this short, German-speaking places with the French language pushed by legal dictate on the population.