Paris Underground

I happen to be a fan of Constance Bennett's, and also an admirer - she was not only a fine actress and a beautiful, glamorous woman, but a crackerjack businesswoman and someone who worked hard for the war effort.

Having hit 40, Bennett was no longer in demand for leads; in fact, in Two-Faced Woman, she'd had a supporting role. "Paris Underground" is a film she produced herself in England, and it's very good. It's the story of the American wife, Kitty de Mornay (Bennett) of a Frenchman (George Rigaud) who is swept into the Resistance when she's asked to help get an English flier back to London. The work excites and intrigues her so much, she decides not to leave France and instead, continues helping fliers escape. She is assisted in this by a nervous friend (Gracie Fields).

I found this a suspenseful and interesting film, and although it wasn't shot in France, some of the sets, like the baker's, were quite good. The performances are excellent. Rigaud as Kitty's husband is suave and likable; Kurt Krueger is excellent as a German officer who takes an interest in Kitty, and Gracie Fields, in her last role, though she lived until 1979, is wonderful as Kitty's friend.

This is a little known gem, and I thought it was well done.

The film has what would later come to be regarded as the workmanlike but sometimes 'cheap' characteristics of TV films, in that its 'look' (tight camera shots for supposedly outdoor scenes etc) is often borne of budgetary necessity. In other ways it reflects the two leading ladies very different professional personas, and because of this it hovers between the styles of American and British films of the time. That said, the leading ladies both bring their specific charms to their roles and there is an awkward but believable fondness between their characters.

Before too long the true stories of many real heroines would emerge and be filmed ('Odette', 'Carve her name with Pride' etc) and this film would be forgotten. It's tone is at odds with those very reverential films, it has the feel of fiction often, because it uses so many existing film conventions (scene setting etc) which were eschewed by the filmakers who later transferred the true stories to celluloid (creating new cliches along the way).

All that aside, it has some charm, pathos, tension, shock and genuine feeling in it, and I enjoyed it. Both ladies worked very hard for the war effort in real life, though Gracie had to prove it at home in the UK being married to an Italian at the outbreak of hostilities. And you can still feel their star power for all the 'fish out of Hollywood comedy' feel that Bennett sometimes has, or the humdrumness of Fields' character. Worth viewing. Note especially Fields in the last scenes, who really does a lovely job in a very difficult scene.

Constance Bennett tells her old governess that the Germans will never take Paris, but Gracie Fields bundles her into her saloon car and they try to get out, along with an English flyer who winds up with them. However, the German infantry blocks their route and escorts them back to Bennett's home. Fortunately, her husband George Rigaud has connection with the burgeoning Underground, so it's back to the coast.... where through a mishap, the flier winds up getting away, but the women don't. Another effort to get out with another captured flier goes well.... so they decide to stay and go into the business of smuggling out fallen British fliers.

It's a beautifully written script for star Constance Bennett, as she gradually goes from a self-centered playgirl in a failing marriage to someone who actually cares and does something about it. Gracie also gives a fine performance, but it's a supporting one. She had spent five years trying to parlay her stardom in Britain into one in Hollywood. The result was four roles, good ones, but after playing love interest for Monty Woolly, and now governess to Constance Bennett (in reality six years her junior), she and husband Monty Banks decided to pack it up and return to the music halls where she was a welcome sight until the end of her days.

Miss Bennett had also reached the end of her career as a glamorous movie star. Over the next twenty years, she would appear in only seven more movies; the less revealing gaze of the television camera and stage footlights would be her professional home.

This is much better than it seems. It appears to be a rather flimsy female travesty on "Pied Piper", two ladies in Paris getting stuck in the war and unvoluntarily becoming involved in smuggling British pilots and spies out of the country, an enterprise they carry on successfully, until they are caught and taken under treatment by the Gestapo; but the story is actually quite good, one of the ladies, the American one (Constance Bennett) being married to a Frenchman, the film starting with their quarrelling, but he plays an important part throughout the film and adds to the dramatic thriller of the finale. It is well made with a great score by Alexander Tanzman, and although much of it may seem rather petty and over-wrought with female concerns, it is worth waiting for the development of the drama.

In a late example of a fading Hollywood star going to England for a career boost, delectable Constance Bennett plays a madcap, irresponsible Yankee stuck in occupied France. She's uses her glam appeal to aid the resistance & help Allied troops escape with the help of co-hort Gracie Fields, the Brit Music Hall star in her final screen perf. The whole unlikely enterprise is done with reasonable flair under surprisingly lively direction from Gregory Ratoff and stellar lighting from lenser Lee Garmes. Too bad no one was able to turn the corner for the last act when the film tries for a darker, more serious tone, but it's well worth a gander. As is the still jolie Mme Bennett.