Armand de la Verne, a lieutenant in the French cavalry and a notorious seducer, undertakes a bet that he will "obtain the favours" of a woman selected secretly by lot, before his company departs for its summer manoeuvres in a month's time.

In René Clair's own words, "Love is the only concern of Les Grandes Manœuvres", and he added that the film was one of the countless variations to be made on the inexhaustible theme of Don Juan.

[6][7] Les Grandes Manœuvres was Clair's first film in colour, a medium he had wanted to use since his time in England in the late 1930s, because, he stated, "it would enable him to keep reality at a distance"[8] The production designer, Léon Barsacq, created sets in which muted colours were dominant, with furniture and accessories in black or white, and costumes mainly in beige or brown; they even sprayed the leaves of trees with yellow so that their shade of green would not be too bright.

[15] André Bazin observed that the film was "like those classics which do not claim originality in their material, only in the manner in which they move the pieces on the chess-board.... Les Grandes Manœuvres begins as vaudeville, continues as comedy, reaches drama, and culminates in tragedy.

Among English-language reviewers, there was consistency in their appreciation of Clair's wit and the visual elegance of his use of colour on the one hand, but on the other a disappointment at his perceived failure to bring sufficient emotional engagement to the film's later scenes.

In the words of one British review, Les Grandes Manœuvres was "an exceptionally finished and civilised entertainment [and] not the least of its assets is the impeccable taste with which Clair, for the first time, manipulates colour"; but, "in negotiating the change to a serious ending, the film is less than wholly satisfactory".

The gently stylised movements, the light and even rhythm, set [Clair's] own personal tone of comedy.... Later developments, however, demand more than he seems prepared to give... it fails to convey human passions suddenly taking over.

"[19] This was echoed by an American reviewer: "[Clair] has shown true artistry in his use of pastel and vivid hues to capture even the nuances of dress, décor and elegance of a pre-World War I garrison town.... [The film] is a fragile and compassionate but rarely moving delineation of the grand passion.