Arch of Triumph

This is certainly not Ingrid Bergman's best movie, though her performance as Joan, and Boyer's as Ravic, are terrific. But you will never see a more beautiful Ingrid than in the magnificent black and white =chiaroscuro= of Russell Metty's photography, and Ingrid is very touching as the "lost woman" hinted at but never fully realized in "Casablanca" and "Notorious." Even considering that Bergman was gorgeous on screen for almost forty years, her stunning image in this somewhat confused thriller-soap opera, is worth the price of admission; plus the dialogue is pretty good, and you get to see Charles Laughton as an evil Nazi colonel!

Pay no attention to high-brow detractors; if you want to see a luminous Ingrid Bergman and a world-weary Charles Boyer at their film noir best, run--do not walk--to your nearest store and buy this film (VHS only, unfortunately).

Do not expect sparks to fly between these war-time lovers--Bergman as a kept woman carried along willy-nilly by forces beyond her control, and Boyer as a physician and resistance member on the run in occupied Paris--their encounters are brief and ill-starred, save only for the deep tenderness that occasionally surfaces, especially at the film's end.

Casablanca it's not, but it will disappoint no lover of this genre.

Director Lewis Milestone tries - and succeeds, to some extent - to make ARCH OF TRIUMPH an interesting film. To that end, he is greatly helped by the cinematography, with beautiful chiaroscuros that heighten the oppressive atmosphere, but he is let down by a meandering script, a far cry from Remarque's original novel.

Boyer, normally a middle of the road actor, does well enough here to overshadow even the great Ingrid Bergman (they had been paired together in GASLIGHT, 1944, and she had won an Oscar for that performance). I think that happened because by this point Bergman had already met, and fallen in love with, Roberto Rosselini, and that must have distracted her no end (her character even claims to be Italian, and she speaks Italian toward the end of the film). That emotional upheaval, which was about to have serious consequences for her career, pushing her out of Hollywood for about 8 years, definitely impacted on her acting in this film, and on the latter's quality.

In the end, it is the film's dark atmosphere that stays with you - and that's not much. Still, I am glad I watched it, it is better than many supposedly politically correct movies done today.

The film tells about Dr. Ravic(Charles Boyer),he's an exiled living in Paris before the Nazis penetrate into the city.Under false name and with no papers,aware always that the Surete(French gendarmes)could be sent away or jailed.One day he sees to Haake(Charles Laughton) a Gestapo official who tortured his anterior love and he's looking for revenge.One night in a bridge over river Sena,the refugee doctor finds to Jean Madou(Ingrid Bergman),a beauty and mysterious gal and he rescues her from a suicide attempt.The 2ªWW isn't the best environment for romanticism and a love affair but he falls is love with her.

The film is a romantic melodrama with magnificent actors.However is slow moving and little bit bored .The casting is frankly magnificent.Charles Boyer as sad refugee and gorgeous Ingrid Bergman as unfortunate damsel in disgrace are excellent.The secondary cast is awesome, impressive Charles Laughton as Nazi official, one of the his usual roles as villain and the lion's share of the acting meat deservedly goes to Louis Calhern as an exiled Russian colonel of the Czar who's a doorman in a show-coffee. Atmospheric black and white cinematography by Russell Metty who later made colorful super-productions.The film was restored with longtime but going on tedious,sluggish and dull.The motion picture is regularly directed by Lewis Milestone who directed various classic warlike movies.The flick is based on Erich Maria Remarque novel and was posteriorly rendered for TV(1985)by Waris Hussein with Anthony Hopkins and Lesley Anne Down.The picture will like to Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer enthusiastic.

This could have been a much better movie. Boyer's disenchanted, vengeful refugee doctor is excellent and Bergman's Joan, unable to commit or disengage, could have been a fascinating characterisation. But while individual scenes are very fine, the film, as a whole, is oddly disconnected, suggesting ruthless cutting. The sub-plot involving Laughton's porcine Gestapo bully is perfunctory and we get far too much of Calhern's emigre. Still, the black and white photography is impressive, and I rather went for the doom and gloom!