The title suggests some sly reference to Renoir's biting film about French society right before the Second World War. Any connection?

I can't comment concerning the possibility that the title is a sly reference to Renoir's film, but I can say that Gordon's book is the finest exposition of a service culture I have ever read.

The details of the battle of Jutland and the accompanying narrative are a wonderful bonus to the real story of how Nelson's fighting navy, a fleet unified by both a profound understanding of the Commander's intent on the part of every level of leadership and the Commander's corresponding deep commitment to allowing his subordinate leaders the freedom to act boldly in support of his intent, became Jellicoe's highly regulated navy, a fleet where subordinates routinely hesitated to act decisively at critical junctures in the absence of specific signals directing such action.

In a world characterized by virtually instantaneous global communication with deployed forces in the field and at sea and the accompanying (and deeply flawed) belief that this level of communications can convey a knowledge of the battlespace almost equal to that of the commander on the scene, Gordon's book serves extraordinarily well as a cautionary tale on both the immediate (tactical failure) and long-term (enervating a service's culture) dangers that come from attempting long range, real-time command and control of complex, fast-moving and hazardous operations.

A truly important story, extremely well-told. We are deeply in Gordon's debt for this work. JCHjr