Touches You

Good movie but grossly overrated

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Set during the "False War" between the declaration of war in September 1939 and the invasion of Belgium in the Spring of 1940, THIS IS Paris is one of the Warner Brothers Teddington Studio productions, meant to get around blocked funds and film quota restrictions. Ann Dvorak is an American dress designer who is suspected of being a Nazi Fifth columnist; Ben Lyon is an American journalist who thinks he has a line on Dutch industrialist Robert Morley, who he thinks is a Nazi; and Griffith Jones is a British Intelligence officer cooling his heels, in love with Dvorak, who is told that he has to spy on her because she is suspected. Then the Blitzkrieg begins and All is Revealed.The movie is a mix of good scenes, clichés and some sloppy editing -- the Teddington stuff survive in poor condition. The leads are all good and there are the usual faces familiar to lovers of old movies in small roles: Miles Malleson as a put-upon newspaper librarian and Hay Petrie as a carnival owner are their usual delightful selves. Elisabeth Welch sings Rogers & Hart's "There's a Boy in Harlem" in a welcome appearance. Over all though, it's a cheap quota quicky with a propaganda message.

Paris, the city of lights, had been paid tribute to by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in the recent Oscar-winning song "The Last Time I Saw Paris" in the MGM film "Lady Be Good", and other Hollywood studios climbed aboard the propaganda train to salute the city fallen to the Nazi's. Unfortunately, Warner Brothers' promising tribute to Paris proved to be a dud, a boring war drama with little plot in spite of tons of exposition. What could have been an interesting art film ends up being an extended short calling for attention to what had been going on in Western Europe prior to the United States entrance just before this came out. American stars Ben Lyon and Ann Dvorak lead the pack of a mostly British cast which fails to give the proper French flavor, although a musical number with a black performer, a la Josephine Baker, adds a bit of interest. The film credits, too, are interesting, and there are a few moments which capture what "might have been". But as far as propaganda films go, the film does do what it sets out to do, especially in a very ironic ending. Otherwise, a major disappointment. Stick with Bogart's description of the fall of Paris in "Casablanca" and even Joan Crawford's adventures with John Wayne in "Reunion in France".

Fashion designer Ann Morgan (Ann Dvorak, looking divine as always in her dresses and hats) crashes into Bill Hamilton's car (Hamilton is played by Griffith Jones) in 'This was Paris" during WWII. Hamilton, a member of MI - 5, meets up with Butch, a reporter, in a bar. Butch is played by Ben Lyons, in one of his last films, investigating fifth columnists in France. His girlfriend "Blossom" played by Mary McGuire, turns out to be roommates with Blossom. Lots of humor and jokes coming from Butch, among the intrigue and the foreboding wartime sentiment, since the war was in full swing as this was being made. And according to IMDb, that's Elisabeth Welch singing a great number "There's a Boy in Harlem", backed up by a full orchestra, when they go to a club. In spite of the war, there is a sense of fun; after Butch comes out of the elevator, we cut to the bar crowd singing 'What goes up, must come Down". Note Robert Morley, as Van Der Stuyl, taking a swipe at Americans as he remarks how they stand out so easily when they come to Europe, which I guess was true even back then. Strong script, as we watch Hamilton and Butch try to figure out who is on which side. Dvorak, Jones and Lyons had served in the military, so they brought a touch of reality to this film, with Dvorak actually driving an ambulance in this film, just as in real life. A good way to spend 77 minutes, and a bit of French history on the side.

Paris, 1940. The Germans are closing in around France. Many French have confidence that the Maginot Line will keep the Germans out. But they are unaware that the Fifth Column spies are already infiltrating the country and are busy undermining its politics, business, and citizens by using agitation, sabotage, propaganda, and any other means available. Captain Bill Hamilton, an intelligence officer for MI5, is assigned to find out if Ann Morgan, an American fashion designer for Florien in Paris, is part of the Fifth Column.