Paris After Dark 1943
This 20th Century Fox production, is another one of the myriad of mid WW2 films about the French Resistance against the German occupiers. This one stars George Sanders, Brenda Marshall, Philip Dorn, Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau.
George Sanders is a doctor working at a Paris plant that is making tanks for the German Army. He is also the leader of the local French Resistance group. His number 2 is Brenda Marshall, who is also his nurse at the plant hospital. The group mainly just posts leaflets and such calling for sabotage of products and materials for Germany.
Philip Dorn, Marshall's husband, returns to the family after several years in a German P.O.W. camp. The Germans have released prisoners that are too sick to work for their cause. Dorn is a broken man, both is body and spirit. He wants nothing to do with the resistance movement etc.
The anti-Nazi group work out of a hidden room in the local café. They hold their planning meetings there with the odd get together at the home of Sanders. (The radio to London is hidden there) The local barber, Dalio, is a collaborator in the employ of the Gestapo. He makes a tidy bit of cash reporting on any funny behaviour in the area.
The Germans decide they are going to round up 500 able-bodied men and send them to Germany to work. Several of the younger lads, including, Marshall's younger brother, Raymond Roe, decide to head for Spain. They are however rounded up by the Gestapo types on a tip from Dalio.
This of course goes nowhere good for young Roe. He is shot by the German officer in charge of the area. The Nazi swine, Robert Lewis, is then shot by Marshall from an upstairs window. Marshall is not seen doing the deed. Lewis is badly wounded and Sanders is forced by the German's to save Lewis. If he fails, the Gestapo will shoot 50 hostages. Marshall is also drafted in to help save the man you had killed her brother.
Sanders and Marshall manage to save the Nazi officer's life, thus saving the 50 hostages from death. The Germans however go back on their word, and order the hostages shot unless the person who shot Lewis comes forward.
All this has convinced Dorn that he can no longer stay out of the fight. He tells Sanders that he will confess to the attack on Lewis. But he wants Sanders to make sure that he gets his wife, Marshall to safety. Sanders, agrees, and promises to get the woman to England.
While not the best of the "resistance" type films, it does keep the viewer entertained. Sanders is always worth watching. Dorn, Miss LeBeau and Dalio had all escaped Europe just ahead of the Nazi's and ended up in Hollywood. Dalio and his ex-wife LeBeau would have parts in the best example of the genre, CASABLANCA.
The director, Léonide Moguy was also an escapee from the German invasion of France. His Hollywood films include, WHISTLE STOP and ACTION IN ARABIA (also with George Sanders)
This 20th Century Fox production, is another one of the myriad of mid WW2 films about the French Resistance against the German occupiers. This one stars George Sanders, Brenda Marshall, Philip Dorn, Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau.
George Sanders is a doctor working at a Paris plant that is making tanks for the German Army. He is also the leader of the local French Resistance group. His number 2 is Brenda Marshall, who is also his nurse at the plant hospital. The group mainly just posts leaflets and such calling for sabotage of products and materials for Germany.
Philip Dorn, Marshall's husband, returns to the family after several years in a German P.O.W. camp. The Germans have released prisoners that are too sick to work for their cause. Dorn is a broken man, both is body and spirit. He wants nothing to do with the resistance movement etc.
The anti-Nazi group work out of a hidden room in the local café. They hold their planning meetings there with the odd get together at the home of Sanders. (The radio to London is hidden there) The local barber, Dalio, is a collaborator in the employ of the Gestapo. He makes a tidy bit of cash reporting on any funny behaviour in the area.
The Germans decide they are going to round up 500 able-bodied men and send them to Germany to work. Several of the younger lads, including, Marshall's younger brother, Raymond Roe, decide to head for Spain. They are however rounded up by the Gestapo types on a tip from Dalio.
This of course goes nowhere good for young Roe. He is shot by the German officer in charge of the area. The Nazi swine, Robert Lewis, is then shot by Marshall from an upstairs window. Marshall is not seen doing the deed. Lewis is badly wounded and Sanders is forced by the German's to save Lewis. If he fails, the Gestapo will shoot 50 hostages. Marshall is also drafted in to help save the man you had killed her brother.
Sanders and Marshall manage to save the Nazi officer's life, thus saving the 50 hostages from death. The Germans however go back on their word, and order the hostages shot unless the person who shot Lewis comes forward.
All this has convinced Dorn that he can no longer stay out of the fight. He tells Sanders that he will confess to the attack on Lewis. But he wants Sanders to make sure that he gets his wife, Marshall to safety. Sanders, agrees, and promises to get the woman to England.
While not the best of the "resistance" type films, it does keep the viewer entertained. Sanders is always worth watching. Dorn, Miss LeBeau and Dalio had all escaped Europe just ahead of the Nazi's and ended up in Hollywood. Dalio and his ex-wife LeBeau would have parts in the best example of the genre, CASABLANCA.
The director, Léonide Moguy was also an escapee from the German invasion of France. His Hollywood films include, WHISTLE STOP and ACTION IN ARABIA (also with George Sanders)