JOAN OF PARIS (1942)

What R.K.O. exec approved the concept for this film’s opening credits?  A war story from  Occupied France, it was something of ‘downer’ for January 1942 when things looked pretty grim Stateside and rah-rah recruitment or comic-tinged adventure were being rushed into production.*  Obviously this was being filmed months before Pearl Harbor so maybe those credits were an attempt to lighten the mood using the blank label of a champagne bottle to run the title & names on, sequentially washing them off for the next listing by having the bottle spill over on itself, erupting again & again like a never-ending orgasm.  Yuck!  The film never quite recovers from this faux pas as a motley group of RAF flyers bail out in the French countryside then plan to reconnoiter in Paris to make connections and arrange a flight back to London.  Their leader ('Free French' so most at risk) synchs up with a priest (for resistence contacts) and a waitress (for l’amour tragique) as he attempts to outwit Nazi occupiers and get everyone safely back before a wounded RAF man succumbs.  Director Robert Stevenson & lenser Russell Metty prove adept handling backlot studio atmosphere, but the script keeps dropping the ball.  The love story all meet-cute all-the-time; the sewers of Paris underused as an escape route; a sauna steamroom giving unconvincing cover; a tiny tagalong Gestapo agent none too threatening.  Yet, the film something of a 'must see' because of its cast.  Top Nazi in Paris Headquarters hammed up by Laird Cregar in a rare outing away from home studio 20th/Fox.   He spends most of his time outrageously flirting with wanted French RAF flyer Paul Henreid making his Hollywood debut.  He’s the guy having the extended meet-cute with barmaid Michele Morgan in her Hollywood debut.  Morgan wouldn’t leave much of a local mark, but Henreid’s next two films of ‘42 were classics: NOW, VOYAGER and CASABLANCA.  Also of note, May Robson in her last film; Thomas Mitchell (an Irish French priest?) getting the best scene in the pic counseling John Abbott before his execution; and Alan Ladd seen here as that wounded fighter immediately before moving over from R.K.O. to Paramount and bigtime movie stardom with THIS GUN FOR HIRE/’42.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  *Stranded fighters behind enemy lines common fare in early WWII films from Brits & Hollywood.  From the U.K., try Powell & Pressburger’s ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING/’42; or out of Hollywood, Raoul Walsh/Errol Flynn with DESPERATE JOURNEY/‘42.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/11/one-of-our-aircraft-is-missing-1942.html  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/02/desperate-journey-1942.html