This is the movie that proves that Elizabeth Bergner can deliver just as mediocre a performance under Edwin L. Marin's direction as she can when her husband, Paul Czinner, is holding the directorial reins. Admittedly, in this instance the screenwriters have come up with what must be one of the silliest scripts of all time. Sample dialogue: "It's a long chance, and dangerous!" "Oh, Marion, please! I can't bear it when you cry!" This sort of stuff even manages to daunt Basil Rathbone. And Lee J. Cobb is ridiculously miscast as a Gestapo leader. At first, I thought Lee J. was actually clowning around for laughs, but this turned out to be not the case at all. At least Charles Arnt is wide awake and wisely plays his ridiculous lines for comedy. There's a lot of misused talent behind the camera too, including superb photography by Milton Krasner, and even a sequence credited to Jean Negulesco.
Review of Paris Calling
