User Reviews

Although Michele Morgan detested this, her first Hollywood film, and found leading man Paul Henreid cold, it was the only one of several films she made in Hollywood that scored at the box office. This was, in part, due to the timing, released early in 1942 shortly after Pearl Harbour, when America was beginning to realize the full impact of World War 2. It was also Henreid's first foray into Hollywood although in that same year he would also appear in Now, Voyager and, of course, Casablanca. Morgan had arrived in Hollywood in 1940 with a contract from RKO but they felt her English, though reasonable, was not good enough for the cameras so she marked time until Joan Of Paris. Already known in France for her beautiful eyes director Robert Stevenson ensures they get their share of close-ups in this melodrama about the Resistance in Paris - then unknown outside France. Henreid is a pilot flying for the RAF who is shot down with his crew of four, including Alad Ladd in a fairly substantial role pre-dating This Gun For Hire. Indeed the supporting cast is more than interesting for film buffs of the period; Thomas Mitchell as a priest, May Robson as a school teacher active in the Resistance, John Abbott, Laird Cregar, who almost steals the film, and even Bernard Gorcy in a cameo in the church. I'd never seen it before I found the DVD in a Paris remainder store and as a great Michele Morgan fan I'm glad I finally saw it.

During WWII, Hollywood made something like 3791354912 war-time propaganda films (give or take three). And, since I have seen an awful lot of them, this would seem to fall into the 'average' category. The acting and production values are quite nice and the script is decent and does a good job of making Americans love their comrades, the French. But, I must admit, that it didn't particularly stand out for me either among all these other films.

The film begins with some Allied fliers getting stuck in Nazi-controlled France. Among these are their leader (Paul Henreid--who has yet another strong acting performance) and one miserable guy who is injured--Alan Ladd in a role just before he hit stardom with films like "This Gun for Hire", "The Glass Key" and "Lucky Jordan". Remarkably, all four of these films came out in 1942 and it was indeed a banner year for the young actor. Back to the story. The men are stuck and need help from the locals. Some are not patriots and refuse, some (such as the one annoying little boy) talked about how great the Vichy government (the pro-Nazi one in the South) was and some decided to risk anything to help (and this included Michele Morgan--who actually was French).

This is an odd propaganda film, as I actually think the film didn't go far enough in demonizing the Nazis. After all, they were Nazis!! Now I am not saying they were nice here, but the film did a good job of not overdoing it like many propaganda films. Overall, a very good story with an interesting parallel to the life of Joan of Arc--which, from the title, was obviously intended. Worth seeing---just don't rush to do so.

Alan Ladd--and with RKO

If someone were to ask me what I thought were the four greatest romantic films from 1942, I would say, without hesitation, CASABLANCA, RANDOM HARVEST, NOW, VOYAGER and JOAN OF Paris. The first three are acknowledged classics with large fan bases and a DVD release. Yet JOAN OF Paris is just as romantic and touching as the rest of them, and deserves to be better known and more widely seen. This little RKO gem is wonderful!

Paul Henreid, who had quite the romantic year in 1942 starring in two of the films above- the smooth, seductive, gentle and irresistible Henreid made a perfect romantic leading man), stars as Paul Lavellier, a flyer for the Free French who is holed up in Paris after his RAF squadron plane is brought down. Henreid manages to stay one step ahead of the Nazis (led by Laird Cregar, oozing villainy),thanks to the help of a determined Priest (Thomas Mitchell, playing a Frenchman-and it didn't bother me at all)and a beautiful young woman, Joan (Michele Morgan, divinely beautiful and all of 22).

It's a marvellously romantic film, with Henreid and Morgan hitting all the right notes as the lovers. Morgan in particular is amazing- her scenes where she speaks to her beloved Saint Joan are on a par with Jennifer Jones' simple, beautiful acting when she sees visions of the Virgin Mary in THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, filmed a year later. Director Stevenson and photographer Metty seem to worship Morgan's heavenly face, shown to best advantage in many close-ups. Given it's low shooting budget, this is a remarkably well-made film. The lighting and shadow-making is terrific, and the night scenes late in the picture where Morgan rushes to save her lover Henreid feel very atmospheric. Morgan's final scene (I won't spoil it to you), with the ominous shadows across her face, is breathtaking.

The supporting cast is also very note-worthy, with Mitchell giving his usual excellent performance. I've never seen Laird Cregar in a film before, and what a find! Truly a charismatic screen presence if there ever was one. Veteran May Robson does some memorable work, as does a young-looking Alan Ladd as flyer in Henreid's crew.

There is a wonderful scene two-thirds of the way into the picture, when a group of school children break out into a version of La Marseille. And it's release date pre-figures CASABLANCA by approximately a year! I wonder who was inspired by whom......

Seek this one out. It's worth it!

Copyright 23 January 1942 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rivoli: 24 January 1942. U.S. release: 9 January 1942. Australian release: 27 August 1942. 8,400 feet. 93 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Stranded in Paris, five Allied flyers - one of them badly wounded - attempt to escape the Nazis.

NOTES: Hollywood debut (note that word "Hollywood", not "English language", not "American film") of Paul Henreid. English language debut of Michele Morgan. Alan Ladd's last film before This Gun For Hire catapulted him to major stardom.

COMMENT: After a dramatically inventive opening (utilizing stock footage and the finger-doll chorus from The Gay Divorcee singing "Don't Let It Bother You" by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon), the film starts in fine thriller style with a brilliant series of fast-action, silhouettes-in-the mist tableaux from cinematographer Russell Metty. Nor does the pace let up when the scene shifts to Paris and Michele Morgan is finally introduced. Although not over-flatteringly photographed, she gives a poignant performance which rivals both in intensity and power Laird Cregar's elegantly vicious Gestapo chief.

A pity Paul Henried (yes, he does occasionally spell his name that way) cannot match either of these players in charismatic fascination. True he acts fairly convincingly, even with sincerity, but young Alan Ladd (admittedly in a showy role) runs rings around him. Alexander Granach (of Warning Shadows and Nosferatu fame) also has one of the best roles of his career here - as a postage stamp! Doubtless the scriptwriters thought up his wonderful piece of business with the handkerchief, the gun and the little girl, but he plays it admirably, like a sort of latter-day Louis Wolheim. We must also commend John Abbott who has an effective cameo as an about-to-be-executed spy.

It's correct as some critics have commented that quite a few of the script's details don't quite ring true. We could even add to the list, for example the Bible that Mitchell brings to the cell looks remarkably thin for a Catholic Bible. And it's 99.9% unlikely that any priest - or even a bishop or cardinal - would recognize the obscure verses from Proverbs and Job that Abbott asks for (even though these do allow the writers to get in the obligatory Old Testament quotes that Hollywood films are famous for). I also marvel at Henreid's proficiency in Latin. Even a priest would be hard pressed to put words to paper with such celerity.

Pay no mind to me. What if the script is full of holes? Stevenson's driving direction of the fast-paced plot leaves little time for reflection on these matters. And when Morgan, Ladd, Cregar, Abbott and company are on screen, and when that screen is flooded or shadowed with Metty's lights, and when the sets are so artistically atmospheric, there's simply no time, no inclination whatever, to dissect trivialities. I'm inclined to agree with Bennett (below).

OTHER VIEWS: I love Joan of Paris. It's my favorite of all the pictures I've ever been connected with. - Charles Bennett.

Michele Morgan's first American (and indeed English-language) film starts off rather inventively with a musical clip from Gay Divorcee cut into a blank screen with narration off-camera and some strikingly composed and lit images with Nazi soldiers shrouded by fog and a superbly lit sequence in a church with shadows and silhouettes atmospherically built up by a background of choral music. In fact the directorial and photographic imaginativeness does not fade until, oddly enough, the entrance of Miss Morgan herself. It's as if the director thought that once the stage was set for her and she was actually on-camera she would take the whole weight of the film on her shoulders, save for some assistance from the delightfully and suavely evil presence of Laird Cregar as the Gestapo chief and the late entrance of May Robson giving a rather exaggerated portrayal of a schoolteacher/spy (but they are neither in the film all that much). Miss Morgan is rather poorly and unattractively photographed too and it seems as if the scriptwriter has really had to scratch his head to provide her with enough dialogue to justify her star billing. She has a ridiculous little monologue to her patron saint (incidentally she speaks English perfectly with hardly the slightest trace of an accent) and shares a lot of unconvincing and highly implausible romantic dialogue with Paul Henried who has a sort of precursor (in two senses) of his role in Casablanca. Presumably Alan Ladd had already been picked for stardom in This Gun For Hire when this film was being made or edited which explains the large number of close-ups he enjoys for so small a part (and not very convincingly enacted either!). There is a nice study by Alex Granach who plays an almost comic Gestapo agent with the talents of a leech (the extended series of sequences in which Henried tries to lose him is almost comic and seems to have been treated in a somewhat ambivalent fashion by Stevenson). Art direction, music scoring as well as photography, are plus factors and the film has been realized on a sizable budget. - John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.

Copyright 23 January 1942 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rivoli: 24 January 1942. U.S. release: 9 January 1942. Australian release: 27 August 1942. 8,400 feet. 93 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Stranded in Paris, five Allied flyers - one of them badly wounded - attempt to escape the Nazis.

NOTES: Hollywood debut (note that word "Hollywood", not "English language", not "American film") of Paul Henreid. English language debut of Michele Morgan. Alan Ladd's last film before This Gun For Hire catapulted him to major stardom.

COMMENT: After a dramatically inventive opening (utilizing stock footage and the finger-doll chorus from The Gay Divorcee singing "Don't Let It Bother You" by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon), the film starts in fine thriller style with a brilliant series of fast-action, silhouettes-in-the mist tableaux from cinematographer Russell Metty. Nor does the pace let up when the scene shifts to Paris and Michele Morgan is finally introduced. Although not over-flatteringly photographed, she gives a poignant performance which rivals both in intensity and power Laird Cregar's elegantly vicious Gestapo chief. A pity Paul Henried (yes, he does occasionally spell his name that way) cannot match either of these players in charismatic fascination. True he acts fairly convincingly, even with sincerity, but young Alan Ladd (admittedly in a showy role) runs rings around him.

Alexander Granach (of Warning Shadows and Nosferatu fame) also has one of the best roles of his career here - as a postage stamp! Doubtless the scriptwriters thought up his wonderful piece of business with the handkerchief, the gun and the little girl, but he plays it admirably, like a sort of latter-day Louis Wolheim. We must also commend John Abbott who has an effective cameo as an about-to-be-executed spy.

It's correct as some critics have commented that quite a few of the script's details don't quite ring true. We could even add to the list, for example the Bible that Mitchell brings to the cell looks remarkably thin for a Catholic Bible. And it's 99.9% unlikely that any priest - or even a bishop or cardinal - would recognize the obscure verses from Proverbs and Job that Abbott asks for (even though these do allow the writers to get in the obligatory Old Testament quotes that Hollywood films are famous for). I also marvel at Henreid's proficiency in Latin. Even a priest would be hard pressed to put words to paper with such celerity.

Pay no mind to me. What if the script is full of holes? Stevenson's driving direction of the fast-paced plot leaves little time for reflection on these matters. And when Morgan, Ladd, Cregar, Abbott and company are on screen, and when that screen is flooded or shadowed with Metty's lights, and when the sets are so artistically atmospheric, there's simply no time, no inclination whatever, to dissect trivialities. I'm inclined to agree with Bennett (below).

OTHER VIEWS: I love Joan of Paris. It's my favorite of all the pictures I've ever been connected with. - Charles Bennett.