Joan of Paris

An under-rated but excellent film is 1942's "Joan of Paris."

While it is still another World War 11 story of allied soldiers, trying to get back to their homeland from an occupied France, it is certainly worth seeing.

The acting by Michele Morgan, Paul Henried and Thomas Mitchell is first rate.

Cornered by the Gestapo, Morgan acts like the true Joan of Arc.

May Robson, who was so good in "Lady for A Day," shines this time in a supporting role, as an elderly teacher who is also a member of the French resistance. Look for a young Alan Ladd is a brief but pivotal role as one of the group of soldiers.

Just as we saw in Casablanca, the year after this film, there is a memorable scene; this time children are singing the Marseilles at a time of adversity.

Obviously, the film is timely as it was made during the war when the free French fought alongside the British to combat the Nazi menace.

Paul Henried and Michele Morgan star in "Joan of Paris," a 1942 film also starring Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell and May Robson. Henried is a Frenchman wanted by the Gestapo who escapes to England and joins some British pilots. Flying into France, they are all shot down and separate. Henried, who plays Paul Lavallier, ends up hiding in the rooms of a café waitress Joan (Morgan), whose patron saint is Jeanne d'Arc. Joan and Paul fall in love, and she, with the help of a priest (Mitchell) get messages to the other pilots about plans for escape. All the while, a man trails Paul, and the Gestapo, headed up by Funk (Cregar) watches in hopes that he will lead him to the other men.

"Joan of Paris" marked the U.S. debut of Paul Henried and Michele Morgan, a lovely French actress. Henried is photographed very well and is excellent as Paul Lavallier, and Morgan plays the sweet, courageous and devoted Joan beautifully. The movie is very atmospheric; the black and white photography employs great use of shadows and darkness.

This is one of those films the studios cranked out that one doesn't hear much about, right up there with one of my personal World War II favorites, Escape - though this isn't quite as good. "Joan of Paris" has the advantage of attractive leads, great atmosphere and some marvelous performances, a standout being Laird Cregar as the suave but evil Funk. Unfortunately, Cregar would die at the age of 28, two years after this film. A huge man, a fine actor, and an out of the closet gay who wasn't afraid to bring gay overtones into a role, he was the chief villain at Twentieth Century Fox, actually scheduled to play Waldo Lydecker in "Laura." What a loss, as is obvious from this film. May Robson, in a small role, is also a standout. Alan Ladd plays one of the fighters, and instead of being a stalwart, hardboiled detective, he's allowed to act. Though his role is a small one, he makes an impression.

All in all, a wonderful film that TCM showed on Paul Henried's 100th birthday. Hopefully they will show it again.

The only way I was able to obtain a DVD of this film directed by Robert Stevenson, a particular favourite of mine, was to order it from French Amazon. Because the subject is Paris under the Nazis, it appeals to our Gallic friends, and they are the only ones who sell it (Editions Montparnasse, as part of their RKO classics series). Stevenson directed this the year before JANE EYRE (1943). It is not one of his most inspired films, but it is robust and impressive, and good viewing. The film works because of the sheer professionalism of Paul Henreid as the lead and the amazing screen presence of the 22 year-old French actress, Michele Morgan. They click as a couple. As the film was made in wartime, Paris obviously could not be used as a location, so a great deal of trouble was taken to try to show Paris without showing Paris. A huge effort by the plasterers went into producing a replica of the west door of Notre Dame Cathedral, even though we glimpse it only for a few seconds as Paul Henreid flits by it, glancing nervously about him to see if he is being followed, since Gestapo agents are everywhere, and they are after him, as he is a Free French flyer who has been shot down on a flight from London. He encounters Michele Morgan by accident, and she falls for him. She is a simple shop girl who has never had a relationship before. Rarely was there a young actress who could look up lovingly into the eyes of a male lead in a film with as wide-eyed and innocent a look at Michele Morgan. From being a sweet and gentle little thing who couldn't harm a fly, she ends up a heroine who joins the Resistance, hence she is called 'Jeanne de Paris', giving the film its title. It was a good wartime yarn to boost morale and remind people outside France that not everyone in Paris was a collaborator, though God knows there were enough of those. Laird Cregar (who died tragically two years later, aged only 31) does a sinister job of playing 'Herr Funck', the head of the Paris Gestapo, a chess player and oily schemer. He locates Henreid but decides to let him continue his contacts before 'wheeling him in on his string when the time is right'. This tactic may sound far-fetched but it was precisely the tactic used in the 1930s by Heydrich and Himmler when they were running the Special Security Department of the Reichs Fuehrer SS (Himmler) but were unsatisfied with that and wished to seize control of the Gestapo, which had been founded by their rival Goering. They identified and located two communist agents who were well advanced in a serious plot to assassinate Goering. Instead of informing Goering or his Gestapo, they risked Goering's life (which frankly did not bother them) to score the coup of becoming the ones to save his life under the uninformed nose of his own deputy, Diels. They just pulled this off, which humiliated and disgraced Diels, so that he lost his job, and they ended up taking over the Gestapo because they had proved their superior brilliance and competence. This story was already well known by 'those in the know' amongst the Allies by the time the script for this film was written, and that plot element was probably inspired by the earlier real event in Germany. The scenes set in the Paris sewers were done in the studio with great care, and I was amazed that a great pool of swirling sewage was lovingly created so that we could glimpse it in the background. Perhaps it was meant as a portrait of the mentality of the Nazi occupiers. Or would that be flattering them? Ultimately, this film derives its charm from Henreid and Morgan, and that is the reason for searching it out and seeing it.

Celebrated French pilot Paul Lavallier (Paul Henreid) is one of the survivors after their bomber gets shot down. He is hunted by the Nazis and has been convicted in absentia by the Vichy government. He arrives in Paris and finds help from his former teacher Father Antoine (Thomas Mitchell). Cafe waitress Joan (Michèle Morgan) helps him to escape back to Britain.

This was released a couple of months after Pearl Harbor. One could see how this propaganda of heroism and self-sacrifice nails the zeitgeist of the times. By the title, the ending could be easily assumed. There are moments of thrills although I want more of them. Of course, there is a scene with La Marseillaise although Casablanca is a more emotional rendering. This is fine but there are better classics of its kind.

I have no problem with the casting of Mitchell or Henreid as Frenchmen, or Hans Conreid as a Gestapo agent. This was a generally engaging story of Allied flyers hiding out in German-occupied Paris in World War Two and their attempts to escape aided by Joan, played by the lovely and charming Michele Morgan. Watch for a young Alan Ladd in a small role. Stealing the show is the great Laird Cregar as the chief Gestapo agent. Cregar was a superb actor, but he must have tired of all the evil people he was forced to play owing to his weight; Henreid would get the girl and he'd get slapped. Cregar, a young man, went on a crash diet that apparently lacked needed nutrients - he died suddenly. And it was a shock and great loss to Hollywood, and to us all.