Review of Reunion in France (1942) by Lee Anne W — 15 Jun 2009

Director Jules Dassin's contribution to the war effort, like most propaganda films - comes across as heavy handed drama. Not one moment do you believe that Joan Crawford is a frenchwoman. Nor does John Carradine IMO look and talk anything like a Gestapo agent.

John Wayne gets second billing but he doesn't have much to do here as a downed pilot (a yank, of course) flying for the RAF. He spends most of his time hiding out from the nazis in Crawford's apartment.

I thought the only reasonably interesting character might be Crawford's industrialist boyfriend (Philip Dorn) who turns into a nazi sympathizer. I do think there is possibly a germ of a good story here - the second half, at least, took an interesting turn.

With maybe a little bit more rewriting and a LOT more believeable cast - this could have been a pretty good B movie at the very least.