Paris Underground

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

Oct 19 1945 Approved 1h 37m
Drama, War

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.

Plot

Among the terrified refugees jamming the roads out of Paris in 1940 are Kitty de Mornay, a rich American divorced from her French husband, and her companion Emmyline (Emmy) Quayle. A German patrol orders their car back to Paris and, en-route, they stop at an inn where they find a wounded RAF flyer, Lieutenant Gray. They hide him in the luggage compartment of their car. While attempting to repair a flat tire, they are accosted by Gestapo Captain Kurt von Webber. He drives them to Emmy's apartment. Later, with the help of Kitty's estranged husband, Andre de Mornay, a member of the French underground movement, Kitty and Emmy smuggle Lt. Gray out of Paris to safety. Since they now have means of getting to unoccupied France they contact a priest who is harboring many RAF fliers. Funeral processions are allowed across the border unchallenged by the German sentries, and Kitty and Emmy stage one in which their RAF men pose as mourners. Von Weber suspects the women, and he plants a spy in Emmy's flat.

Written by

Etta Shiber, Boris Ingster, Gertrude Purcell

Directed by

Gregory Ratoff

Cast

Constance Bennett, Gracie Fields, Jorge Rigaud

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Constance Bennett Productions, United Artists

Languages

English

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 1 nomination total

Scores
# of Votes
335
Average Rating
6.6 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA