Alfred Greven, the honcho of the German-run Continental Films during the Occupation, was a man of parts. He thought nothing of employing blackmail to 'perusade' both Edwige Feuillere and Danielle Darrieux to work for his outfit and when Darrieux called a halt after three films he saw to it that she didn't work again until well after the war. With this one he seems to take a delight in pointing out to the French public that Germans didn't have a monopoly on ruthlessness and that the protagonist of Au Bonheur des dames, Mouret (Albert Prejean) would make a pretty good Nazi himself. Of course Greven was only putting on celluloid what Emile Zola had put on paper in the previous century - and which Julien Duvivier had already filmed at the dawn of the Sound Era with the exquisite Dita Parlo - but nevertheless he probably derived great satisfaction from chronicling the rise of one shopkeeper (Prejean) at the expense of another Baudu (Michel Simon). Zola is thought to have based his emporium Au Bonheur des dames on Bon Marche, the oldest and still one of the most elegant of Parisienne Department Stores and just as Bonheur swallows up its neighbour La Viel Elbeuf so Bon Marche was eventually eclipsed by Galleries Lafeyette and Printemps. Michel Simon dominates every scene in which he appears as does Suzy Prim whilst Albert Prejean who SHOULD dominate does so only in terms of the storyline. Ultimately this falls into the top half of the Continental output and is well worth seeking out.
Review of Shop Girls of Paris
