Assignment: Paris (1952)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

William Bowers (writer)
Pauline Gallico (story)

Release Date:

4 September 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Espionage | Newspaper Editor | Intrigue | False Accusation | Paris

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Jimmy Race
Märta Torén	...	Jeanne Moray
George Sanders	...	Nicholas Strang
Audrey Totter	...	Sandy Tate
Sandro Giglio	...	Gabor Czeki, alias Grisha
Donald Randolph	...	Anton Borvitch
Herbert Berghof	...	Prime Minister Andreas Ordy
Ben Astar	...	Minister of Justice Vajos
Willis Bouchey	...	Biddle, an editor
Earl Lee	...	Dad Pelham
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mari Blanchard	...	Wanda Marlowe (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

European Edition (USA)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:(Banned) (1952) | USA:Unrated | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Leon Askin's first film.

Cold War Noir

Assignment: Paris is another of those films with a faraway location that never got past the Columbia back lot. Still it's a decent enough Cold War noir thriller.

Dana Andrews is a hotshot reporter for the New York Herald Tribune assigned to its prestige international division in Paris which is headed by editor George Sanders. Andrews is covering the capture and trial of an American for espionage by the Hungarian hardline regime. Of course when he's sent to Budapest in pursuit of the story, Andrews becomes the story himself and Sanders works like a demon to get him free.

Sanders is aided and abetted by the lovely Marta Toren who gets in a bit of hot water herself in the effort. Audrey Totter, the fashion editor, provides moral support all around.

Hard to believe that in five years Toren would be gone, dying of leukemia at a young age. That was one extraordinarily beautiful woman, what a career she should have had.

Though Andrews is first billed, the film is really carried by Sanders in one of his few roles as a good guy. The man with the built in sneer carries the part off well.

The Cold War atmosphere was just right for these shadowy noir films of intrigue. Assignment: Paris is a good representation of the times.