''This Man in Paris'' is a 1939 British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

directed by David MacDonald and starring Barry K. Barnes,

Valerie Hobson Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was John Profumo, a British government minister who became the subject of the Pro ...

and

Alastair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his d ...

. It was a sequel to the 1938 film '' This Man Is News''. It was made at

Denham Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

Premise

A British

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and his wife travel to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

to investigate a

counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

ring involving a British aristocrat.

Cast

* Barry K. Barnes as Simon Drake *

as Pat Drake *

as Lochlan Macgregor *

Edward Lexy Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little. Career He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...

as Holly *

Garry Marsh Garry Marsh (21 June 1902 – 6 March 1981) was an English stage and film actor. Born Leslie Marsh Gerahty in St Margarets, Surrey, his parents were George and Laura. His elder brothers were the author Digby George Gerahty and the journalist ...

as Sergeant Bright * Max Michel as Emile Beranger * Mona Goya as Torch Bernal * Anthony Shaw as General Craysham *

Cyril Chamberlain Cyril Chamberlain (8 March 1909 – 5 December 1974) was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early '' Carry On'', ''Doctor'' and '' St. Trinian's'' films. Chamberlain was born on 8 March 1909 in London and die ...

as Swindon * Charles Oliver as Gaston * Paul Sheridan as reception clerk

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program TV listings, listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Mag ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars, and wrote, "this well-done, clever comedy was a follow-up film to ''This Man is News'', a British attempt to duplicate America's '' THIN MAN''. However, this second film proved to be the last effort along those lines. Hobson is excellent in her role, though Barnes isn't quite the character he tries to be. Sim provides good comic support in another one of his eccentric specialties. Director MacDonald wins huzzahs for another entertaining middle-bracket crime story."

References

External links

1939 films British comedy mystery films 1930s comedy mystery films Films produced by Anthony Havelock-Allan Films set in Paris Films shot at Denham Film Studios British black-and-white films 1939 comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub