Our film this time is the 1942 anti-Nazi film Reunion in France. Released in January of 1942, this would have been produced before the United States entered World War II, but while our hero Pat Talbot is flying for the RAF, he is clearly an American - played by John Wayne! Here, Ms. Crawford plays Michele
de la Becque, a spoiled aristocrat whose world turns upside down when
the Nazis invade France. Her family dispersed (we learn her parents
have escaped to Lisbon), Michele struggles back to Paris, only to find
that her fiance, Robert Cortot (Philip
Dorn) is a Quisling. Thus, Michele begins her own form of resistance,
first by walking out on the promised easy life that Cortot would
provide; then by helping downed flyer Talbot get back to his unit in
England.
This is the only film in
which Wayne and Crawford ever appeared. They are actually quite good
together. Their unique acting styles come together nicely; but is it
surprising that Crawford looks good next to a strong male co-star?
Billing-wise, Crawford came first in list, with Wayne and Dorn listed
side-by-side under Ms. Crawford. And while we might expect Wayne to be
the romantic interest, he is, in fact, only a trigger to the action. We
won't say more than that, because this movie is more than just an
anti-Nazi propaganda film, and more than a romance. It is an espionage
film as well. Who is working with the Nazis? Who is working for the
Resistance? Watch the film - you will be pleasantly surprised by the way
director Jules Dassin makes the action unfold.
Some
nice supporting work here as well - we were especially pleased to see
Natalie Schafer as the snooty wife of a German officer, and John
Carradine as a Gestapo official. We very much enjoyed the scene in the
dress shop, where Michele and the dress shop staff try to keep Frau Schroeder (Schafer) from discovering money hidden in a coat that Frau Schroeder covets.
This
is an interesting movie, like some of the others we've viewed, rather
underrated. We think you might find this a good selection. Here's a trailer:
As we near the end of our Olivia de Havilland Festival, we have saved
the best for next to the last (we have one more to go after this one).
It's The Snake Pit - Olivia's Academy Award nominated performance as the tortured Virginia
Stuart Cunningham, whose mental collapse lands her in a mental
institution. This is truly a tour-d-force performance. What Ms. de
Havilland does with a brief glance, other actors could not do with their
entire bag of tricks. Watch her reactions change from ignorance to
disbelief to suspicion to anger in the briefest second - it is truly
magnificent. That Ms. de Havilland did not win the Oscar for 1948 is
due perhaps to the fact that her competition was fierce - she lost to
Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.
This
film is full of wonderful performances, and features some of the
premiere actresses of the day. Let's start with Celeste Holm and Betsy
Blair as Grace and Hester, the bookends to Virginia's confinement.
Holm's Grace cares for Virginia as she begins her confinement; as
Virginia heals, she becomes mentor to the disturbed Hester (Blair).
Other patients in the hospital are portrayed by Beulah Bondi, Ruth
Donnelly, Lee Patrick, and Isabel Jewell. Though their parts are small,
each adds to the atmosphere of the hospital in their own unique way.
Another interesting performance is that of Natalie Schafer as Virginia's
mother, certainly high on the list of dysfunctional parents! On
the distaff side, we have Leo Genn as Dr. Kik, Virginia's psychiatrist,
Mark Stevens as her husband Robert, and Leif Erickson as her one-time
boyfriend, Gordon. The men however, merely serve as window-dressing.
It is the women who rule this picture. It is their performances you will
remember.
