Le chemin du paradis

Three impoverished young men open a filling station and fall in love with the same lady customer. After she alienates all three from each other and herself, she must devise a way to reunite the three friends and win back the one of them whose love means the most to her.

This is the french version of "Three from the Filling Station" that was made simultaneously with the german version also starring Lilian Harvey. It was Harvey's first french-language film and she recalled being unsure of her "school" french. She does just fine and the character is referred to as having been raised in America to explain her slight accent.

The film isn't quite as charming without Willy Fritsch, Oskar Karlweis and Heinz Ruehmann, but is served nicely by Henri Garat doing Fritsch's duty for France. The Karlweis/Harvey song has been transposed to her first meeting with Garat and it actually may be an improvement for it to be done as an introduction between the two leading roles.

Olga Tschechowa retains her role from the german version and manages to seem as self-posessed and lovely as before. It is interesting to watch her and Harvey reenact the story using the same sets and songs but with a different feel and spirit. Some of the bit players from the german version can be seen as prominent extras here.

In the first half of the thirties ,some movies were made in both languages ,German and French at the same time ;not only Wilhelm Thiele ,but also French Julien Duvivier and German Robert Siodmak; "die drei von der Tankstelle " (whose title became :"le chemin du paradis " =the way to paradise )was such a success in France that a color remake was made in 1956 starring Georges Guétary.

Lilian Harvey starred in both versions (with a slight accent in French) ,and René Lefèvre and Jacques Maury served as foils to chanteur Henri Garat who was the French star of the operettas ;the film includes many popular tunes ("avoir un bon copain " "fauchés comme les blés" ) and the plot is entertaining :three pals ,without a penny to their name ,sell their car and buy a gas station (hence the German title) ;the three of them date the same girl ,without knowing it .Towards the ending ,both principals directly address the audience who's supposed to expect a grand finale.

Hergé , who created Tintin ,was reportedly a big Lilian Harvey fan and I'm almost sure he borrows the cigarette lighter gag in " Tintin au pays de l'or noir" from this movie.