I discovered streaming old classic movies from YouTube. Halleluyah!
Back in the day, I mean far back in the 1960s, I got hooked on old black and white movies from the 1930s and ’40s shown on television. Each day I hurried home from school to watch ‘The Afternoon Movie’ on our old Motorola television, with my mother. She sat on one end of the sofa with her cigarette, ashtray, and Coca-Cola (Mama always said Coca-Cola, never Coke.) and I sat in a big chair with my Coke and maybe a bowl of popcorn. My mother had always loved films, and she knew all the actors. She passed on to me this love, as if passing on family history.
A funny note is that after some thirty years of marriage to me, my husband came to love old movies and enjoy identifying them and all the old actors, too. We’d start watching a movie, and I’d say something like, “Oh, look, that’s Walter Pigeon,” and because the movie was so old that Mr. Pigeon was very young, my husband would say, “I don’t think so…no, that’s not him.” “Yes, it is.” “No it isn’t.” “Then look it up.” So we’d look it up, and sure enough, I’d be right.
Last night I came upon the 1945 movie Paris Underground starring Constance Bennett, one of my favorite actresses. This movie was also known as Madame Pimpernel in Britain. The movie deals with two women caught in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion of the city during WWII. It is billed as a spy movie and has it’s tense moments, but mostly I find it an entertaining comedy-drama that takes me away from the real world. Ms. Bennett and co-star Gracie Fields, a British star at the time, are a delight to watch.
Movie reviewers in 1945 criticized the movie as being of little interest and having a weak script and not being credible. I’m glad I didn’t read reviews to decide to watch the film.
My take is that it is the type of story considered a ‘light beach read’ today. And no less valuable that any major work. I think the dialogue is snappy, and the story hits both lightheartedness and drama likely intended at the time. Life is made up of both humor and struggle. Constance Bennett’s character is frivolous and refuses to pay attention to what is going on with the war. Rather than implausible, her behavior is reality for some. Many people who refused to leave Germany until it was too late were of the same mind–head stuck in the sand. We humans behave in such a manner about many things we can’t face.
In 1945, I think it possible movie critics–those cited were all men–judged the movie based on the fact it was made by Constance Bennett Productions, and Constance Bennett listed as the producer. She was making history for women in film. Add to that the two main characters of the story are strong women, the men only secondary characters. The main character is a woman confident in herself, not at all dependent on her husband, quite unusual for the time and for movies. These are not fainting females but women standing up with courage.
Modern reviews of the film are mixed opinions. Some people agree with the early unfavorable reviews, while others rave over the movie. A number of the positive reviews mention Constance Bennett being a good business woman. Such a thing enters positively into today’s opinions, while in 1945 might not have been the case.
In case you’re interested, I heartily recommend the movie. It is here on YouTube.
Blessings,
Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel. An Apple Books audiobook narrated by a digital voice based on a human narrator.
If you have listened to Sweet Dreams at the Goodnight Motel in audio from Apple Books, I would be interested in your opinion. Or your opinion of any of the audio books done by AI audio. Kindle Books has offered the opportunity to participate in their AI audio beta program, but I hesitate to do so with another book until I know the quality. Thanks!
Curtiss Ann Matlock 
One response to “Opinions Are– Mine on Paris Underground 1945 Movie”
Big fan of noir movies like Maltese Falcon!
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