Just before WW2 , Leonide Moguy peaked with his extraordinary " je t'attendrai/le déserteur" ,the first movie with a real-time structure in the history of the seventh art ;I urge the users to try and watch this unsung materpiece.
Like Jean Renoir ,he spent the Occupation years in the US ,and like him and his "this land is mine" ,his movie dealing with French resistance suffered accordingly .
Moguy's depiction of the dark days of an occupied Paris cannot be taken seriously : where are the housewives standing in line to get some rutabagas? And these resistance fighters talking in daylight?-it was a very secret network- (the title is a misnomer , most of the action occurs during the day ); the German officer ,waiting for the young man to deliver his subversive speech ,before shooting him down ? These released POW?
Forget historical accuracy and you may enjoy some elements of this fiction: the most moving character is played by former child actor Raymond Roe as Georges: the young man refuses the STO (forced labor instituted in France by the Nazis during WW2),after the medical exam -one of the rare scenes which are historically plausible- and decides to join the general de Gaulle in England ;when he's captured , his words are so convincing that he makes us forget the implausibility of the situation (the Parisians applausing in front of the German soldiers ) ; though supporting , Roe steals the show from seasoned George Sanders ,cast as a doctor. French actors are featured ,notably Marcel Dalio as Marcel Dalio ,namely the usual villain, the suave collaborator.
Philip Dorn is cast as Jean , a former POW ,tired of the war, but who eventually sacrifices his life( one learns he' terminally-ill though) to save the hostages (it's doubtful that the nazis would have accepted the deal) ;it's a pure propaganda movie,and from that point of view, can be considered a successful movie.
Like Jean Renoir ,he spent the Occupation years in the US ,and like him and his "this land is mine" ,his movie dealing with French resistance suffered accordingly .
Moguy's depiction of the dark days of an occupied Paris cannot be taken seriously : where are the housewives standing in line to get some rutabagas? And these resistance fighters talking in daylight?-it was a very secret network- (the title is a misnomer , most of the action occurs during the day ); the German officer ,waiting for the young man to deliver his subversive speech ,before shooting him down ? These released POW?
Forget historical accuracy and you may enjoy some elements of this fiction: the most moving character is played by former child actor Raymond Roe as Georges: the young man refuses the STO (forced labor instituted in France by the Nazis during WW2),after the medical exam -one of the rare scenes which are historically plausible- and decides to join the general de Gaulle in England ;when he's captured , his words are so convincing that he makes us forget the implausibility of the situation (the Parisians applausing in front of the German soldiers ) ; though supporting , Roe steals the show from seasoned George Sanders ,cast as a doctor. French actors are featured ,notably Marcel Dalio as Marcel Dalio ,namely the usual villain, the suave collaborator.
Philip Dorn is cast as Jean , a former POW ,tired of the war, but who eventually sacrifices his life( one learns he' terminally-ill though) to save the hostages (it's doubtful that the nazis would have accepted the deal) ;it's a pure propaganda movie,and from that point of view, can be considered a successful movie.