''Reunion in France'' is a 1942 American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that wa ...

distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

starring

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pic ...

, John Wayne, and Philip Dorn in a story about a woman in occupied France who, learning her well-heeled lover has German connections, aids a downed American flyer.

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...

appears in a small uncredited role as a Parisian shopgirl. The movie was directed by

Jules Dassin Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, wher ...

Plot

It is 1940 in Paris. Michele de la Becque (

) is a career woman in love with industrial designer Robert Cortot ( Philip Dorn). They enjoy a luxurious lifestyle unfazed by the approach of World War II. The two become engaged. After the Battle of France and subsequent German occupation, Michele discovers her fiancé is socializing with Nazi officers, including General Schroeder, the military commandant of Paris; and the SS Gruppenfuehrer in charge of the Gestapo in the Greater Paris region. Cortot's factories are manufacturing heavy duty trucks and weapons for the Germans. She confronts him, and he does not deny her evidence. She is outraged by his collaboration. People in the streets curse them, wish them ill, and spit at them, promising there will be a reckoning one day. She aids a downed American in the Eagle Squadron of the Royal Air Force, pilot Pat Talbot ( John Wayne) from Pennsylvania. She finds herself falling in love with him. Michele makes contact with the Resistance and with their aid, arranges for the escape of Talbot. The Germans are becoming suspicious of both her and Cortot, but do not impede Cortot's obtaining travel papers to Lisbon, "toward the freedom of the Americas ... the great embarkation point." Under the cover of a weekend trip to Fontainebleau, with Talbot disguised as her

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to specia ...

, Michele brings him to a field in the country where a

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and pr ...

patrol bomber will take him and two members of the British

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

back to England. Along the way, she learns that Cortot is a major leader, perhaps ''the'' leader, of the French Resistance. As the Hudson approaches the field, Pat urges Michele to get on the airplane and escape to England with them. Back in Paris, General Schroeder and the Gruppenfuehrer have become suspicious of Cortot. Too many of his trucks are suffering transmission failures after running a couple of thousand miles. The Gruppenfuehrer accuses him of sabotage; he replies that his responsibility ends after the design is approved - and acidly comments he cannot be held responsible for the failures when the Germans are providing him with substandard materials and locking up his engineers in concentration camps. The SS officer them questions him about Michele's activities, pointing out she had never arrived at Fontainebleau, and requires Cortot to accompany him to Gestapo headquarters for further questioning. As Cortot, General Schroeder, and the Gruppenfuehrer are leaving Cortot's house, Michele walks through the front door, apparently delighted to see them all. When asked, she explains she felt lonely because her fiancé Robert was not with her, turned around, and returned to Paris to be with him. This explanation satisfied the general, and he orders the Gruppenfuehrer to release Cortot's butler, being held in the Gruppenfuehrer's car as an accomplice. The Germans drive away, Schroeder feeling vindicated that his friend is loyal to Germany, the SS officer disgusted because he has been made to look foolish. Cortot, Michele, and the butler wave goodbye as the Boche leave. As they stand in the doorway, some children across the street spit in their direction and curse them. Cortot comments that one day, they will understand resistance to the enemy takes many forms. A British airplane is flying over the city, and Robert comments that the Germans do not even shoot at it any more, that they think it is harmless; but in fact if the Germans knew the French, they would see it is deadly dangerous to them. Robert and Michele watch as the airplane, flying at the altitude of the con level, uses his contrail to write the word "COURAGE" in the sky over Paris for all to see.

Cast

as Michele de la Becque * John Wayne as Pat Talbot * Philip Dorn as Robert Cortot *

Reginald Owen John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs. Career The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...

as Gestapo agent *

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

as Head of the Paris Gestapo *

Moroni Olsen Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889November 22, 1954) was an American actor. Life and career Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Latter-day Saint parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha ( Hoverholst) Olsen, who named him after the Moroni found in the ...

as Gerbeau * Natalie Schafer as Amy Schröder *

Albert Bassermann Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Sch ...

as General Hugo Schroeder * Ann Ayars as Juliette * J. Edward Bromberg as Durand *

Henry Daniell Charles Henry Pywell Daniell (5 March 1894 – 31 October 1963) was an English actor who had a long career in the United States on stage and in cinema. He came to prominence for his portrayal of villainous roles in films such as '' Camille'' (1 ...

as Emile Fleuron *

Howard Da Silva Howard Da Silva (born Howard Silverblatt, May 4, 1909 – February 16, 1986) was an American actor, director and musical performer on stage, film, television and radio. He was cast in dozens of productions on the New York stage, appeared in mo ...

as Anton Stregel (as Howard da Silva) * Charles Arnt as Honoré * Morris Ankrum as Martin * Edith Evanson as Genevieve *

Ernst Deutsch Ernst Deutsch, also known as Ernest Dorian (16 September 1890 – 22 March 1969), was a Jewish Austrian actor. In 1916, his performance as the protagonist in the world première of Walter Hasenclever's Expressionist play '' The Son'' in Dres ...

as Captain (as Ernest Dorian) *

as shopgirl Marie (uncredited)

Reception

The movie made $1,046,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $817,000 in other markets, earning MGM a profit of $222,000. '' Film Daily'' noted "The film, directed capably by Jules Dassin, has been given a first-rate production by Joseph L. Mankiewicz." T.S. in ''The New York Times'' observed: "If ''Reunion in France'' is the best tribute that Hollywood can muster to the French underground forces of liberation, then let us try another time. he film issimply a stale melodramatic exercise for a very popular star. In the role of a spoiled rich woman who finds her 'soul' in the defeat of France, Joan Crawford is adequate to the story provided her, but that is hardly adequate to the theme." Years after making the movie, Joan Crawford was quoted as saying: "Oh God. If there is an afterlife and I am to be punished for my sins, this is one of the pictures they'll make me see over and over again. John Wayne and I both went down for the count, not just because of a silly script but because we were so mismatched. Get John out of the saddle, and you've got trouble."Bona, Damien. ''Starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan: Hollywood's All-Time Worst Casting Blunders''. Citadel Press, 1996.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion In France 1942 films American aviation films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about the French Resistance American black-and-white films 1942 romantic drama films Films scored by Franz Waxman Films directed by Jules Dassin Films about shot-down aviators American romantic drama films Films produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz World War II films made in wartime 1940s English-language films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links