Paris Calling (1941) DVD-R

Starring Elisabeth Bergner, Randolph Scott, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Lee J. Cobb
Directed by Edwin L. Marin

Print: black/white
Runtime: 108 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

Made just before America's entry into World War II, Paris Calling is one of the earliest
French Underground adventures. When the German march into Paris, a polyglot of French
patriots organize to undermine the Nazi occupation troops (represented by Lee J. Cobb,
who plays his character with a surprising amount of depth). Elizabeth Bergner plays a
French aristocrat who learns that her ex-fiance (Basil Rathbone) is a collaborator; she
agrees to help the Underground, even unto killing her former lover. Gale Sondergaard,
normally a villain, is sympathetically cast as a blowsy waterfront entertainer whose
waterfront dive serves as Resistance headquarters. And how do the neutral Americans
figure into all of this? Yankee-doodle-dandy Randolph Scott parachutes into view as a pilot
for the RAF.