RKO. Director Robert Stevenson; Producer David Hempstead; Screenplay Charles Bennett, Ellis St Joseph; Camera Russell Metty; Editor Sherman Todd; Music Roy Webb; Art Director Albert S. D'Agostino, Carroll Clark
Michele Morgan
Paul Henreid
Thomas Mitchell
Laird Cregar
May Robson
Alan Ladd
Most important factors of Joan of Paris are the American screen debuts of Michele Morgan and Paul Henreid, RKO importations, with each of the pair getting away to fine start. Story [from an original by Jacques Thery and Georges Kessel] is one of those counter-espionage tales of escaping British flyers, Gestapo shadowing, and French underground. Although intriguing in first half it gets repetitious in second section to taper off with too mild a climax without the generation of tragic note intended.
Director Robert Stevenson does well to maintain suspense in the first part, but cannot hold up the script deficiencies later. Joan of Paris details adventures of five flyers in British bombing forces parachuted in France. The gang scatter and rejoin in a Paris church. Paul Henreid enlists the aid of a priest (Thomas Mitchell), is tailed by Gestapo, and finally makes contact with British Intelligence.
(B&W) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1942. Running time: 93 MIN.
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