Lee Eisenberg Gregory Ratoff's Academy Award-nominated "Paris Underground" is one of the movies released immediately after WWII that took an almost absurdly heroic view of things. In this case, two women - one from the US, the other from England - are in France when the Nazis invade, and they start coming up with ways to smuggle British troops out. In this day and age it'll probably remind us of "Dunkirk", but obviously lacks the brutal realism. It's not any sort of masterpiece, but it still manages to be intense enough to hold the viewer's attention (especially the apartment scenes).Worth seeing, if only once.

MartinHafer The timing of this film is unfortunate. It came out in October, 1945--several months after the war in Europe had ended. Had it come out during the war, it would have been an excellent propaganda film for the folks at home. Instead, it just seems a bit odd to come out when it did.As far as the casting goes, it IS unusual. Constance Bennett plays the lead and over the years she tended to play a variety of rich society ladies. Co-starring is Gracie Fields, a British music hall singer and comedienne. It's a strange pairing but it worked..particularly since they de-glamorized Bennett for the part.The story begins just as France is falling to the Nazis in 1940. An American woman (Bennett) and her companion (Fields) are trapped in Paris. They also accidentally come upon a pilot of a downed British plane...and through this help to create an underground organization which repatriates pilots through the course of the war. Naturally, the Germans are more than a bit anxious to catch them. The film's biggest strength might just be because it came out when it did. Instead of snarly, over-the-top Nazis, the Germans in this one are more believable than ones you would have seen in films just a short time earlier. Plus, a restrained performance by Bennett (one of her better ones actually) help to make this an enjoyable and well made film.

mark.waltz Three years after Joan Crawford walked through an approaching crowd as the Nazis entered Paris (with her hair unmussed), veteran actress Constance Bennett took on the invading fifth columnists in order to help stranded English soldiers get out of the country safely. Aiding her in this is veteran English actress/music hall performer Gracie Fields who doesn't get to be comical here as she was in earlier films. The film really gets exciting during one moment when Bennett hides a soldier in the trunk of her car and deals with Nazi soldiers who help her change her tires. With suspicious landlady Eily Maylon supposedly reporting her activities to the Nazi's, Bennett is soon being watched, and this leads to an exciting confrontation where everybody in the complex is threatened with torture and death unless the members of the underground give themselves up. Unfortunately, the film doesn't represent reality well in the conclusion which goes for the traditional Hollywood happy ending rather than what probably would have happened in a real life situation.Made towards the end of the war, this pretty much seems to have lost its impact simply out of a "been there, done that" sort of feeling. Of course, there's the typical propaganda and a few moments of grave tension which are hand-gripping moments of true fear. Ms. Bennett was the film's producer which gives a good indication of why in her 40's she looks totally glamorous throughout. It's still entertaining, but one of those films on a much made topic that seems standard when compared to such classics as "The Mortal Storm", "Underground" and "Edge of Darkness".

maksquibs In a late example of a fading Hollywood star going to England for a career boost, delectable Constance Bennett plays a madcap, irresponsible Yankee stuck in occupied France. She's uses her glam appeal to aid the resistance & help Allied troops escape with the help of co-hort Gracie Fields, the Brit Music Hall star in her final screen perf. The whole unlikely enterprise is done with reasonable flair under surprisingly lively direction from Gregory Ratoff and stellar lighting from lenser Lee Garmes. Too bad no one was able to turn the corner for the last act when the film tries for a darker, more serious tone, but it's well worth a gander. As is the still jolie Mme Bennett.