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Paris Underground

"SENSATIONAL! REVEALING! Amazing story that tears the veil of secrecy from terrors of occupied Paris!"

Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period.

Top Cast

  • Constance Bennett

    Constance Bennett

    Kitty de Mornay

  • Gracie Fields

    Gracie Fields

    Emmeline Quayle

  • George Rigaud

    George Rigaud

    Andre de Mornay

  • Kurt Kreuger

    Kurt Kreuger

    Capt. Kurt von Weber

  • Eily Malyon

    Eily Malyon

    Madame Martin

  • Vladimir Sokoloff

    Vladimir Sokoloff

    Undertaker

  • Gregory Gaye

    Gregory Gaye

    Tissier

  • Leslie Vincent

    Leslie Vincent

    Lt. William Gray

  • Charles Andre

    Charles Andre

    Father Dominique

Overview

Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period.

Rating

6.2 / 10
6 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Jul 1, 2022

    This is quite a quirky and entertaining story of two unlikely ladies who decide to help smuggle allied airmen out of France during WWII. "Kitty de Mornay" (Constance Bennett) a determined American and her British friend "Emmy Quayle" (Gracie Fields) devise some quite enterprising methods to enable their charges to avoid the pursuing Nazis - a cunning wheeze involving funeral cortèges being a successful example. The frustrated Bosch are not going to give up, though, and soon the net tightens around the courageous pair as "Capt. von Weber" (Kurt Kreuger) begins to smell a rat. The dialogue is a bit relentless at times, to be honest - especially at the start, but once the film gets up an head of steam, it is an enjoyable tale of wartime fortitude that does not end as you might expect. The production standards are fine, the two at the top of the bill hold this together well, and director Gregory Ratoff manages quite successfully to include some light-heartedness as the story treads it's perilous line. Well worth a watch.

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