Hoomo_Deluxe says > I relly don't know why Joan hated this.
I have no idea why Joan Crawford disliked this movie, if she did. But, if I were to guess I'd say it was because of the character. Michele is not a very sympathetic person; not until the very end of the movie.
Early on she selfishly thinks about her own needs even when war is looming. She wants her fiancé to focus on her even though he's expressed several times his commitment to the things he has to get done. She is inconsiderate of the people who work for her or on her behalf. She keeps the dressmaker and her staff waiting so long they miss their plans and are exhausted. She doesn't seem to care as she frivolously talks about clothes when they're worried about the coming war.
Before parting company Cortot tells her specifically no matter what happens she cannot believe everything or she has to believe in him. I don't remember the exact words but it's a foretelling of what was to come. When she found out Cortot was working with the German's she never gave him the benefit of the doubt. This is a man she loved and was going to marry. He had been deeply patriotic, loved what he was doing for his country yet she easily believed he was some horrible person who would put finances above all else; innocent lives, his country, his self-respect; everything.
Her disbelief and lack of faith in him almost got him in trouble many times like with the coat incident and refusing to dine at his home. He could have been caught when she asked for his help with Pat and later he would have been killed for helping her escape. She disavowed him, broke their engagement, and seemed ready to move on to someone else yet he never gave up on her. He risked his own life to protect her but it took other people telling her what he was doing; how heroic he's been in order for her to finally get it.
I think it is a great movie.
I agree that this is a great movie. I loved the way it showed those of us who were not around at the time or who have not been in a war or in a country that's occupied what everyday life was probably like for the French during this time.
Usually in war movies we see the expected things; bombed out buildings, bombs being dropped, black outs, bomb shelters, etc. but this movie showed how there was a semblance of life as usual yet nothing was as usual. Some of the French sold their country out and benefited from their association with the Germans. Some did the same but as a cover; really they were risking their lives for their country. Unable to let others know, former friends and family hated them thinking they were greedy cowards. Some people lost everything they had as the Germans plundered and pillaged the country.
...she look's totally FAB.
I have to give Joan a lot of credit. I think she always transforms herself to look exactly how the character she's playing is supposed to look. She's had a wide range of looks and always seems to pull it off. In this movie she's supposed to be a rich glamorous socialite with a lot of leisure time on her hands. Later she becomes a struggling working girl with sore feet. She looks good throughout the movie but always appropriate to her station in life.
I don't however care much of John Wayne
I've never been a big fan of John Wayne but I think he's good in this movie. If he was supposed to be playing the smooth, polished leading man, I'd say it wasn't the right fit but he's not. He's portraying a young American RAF volunteer who was shot down and is trying to get out of France. Who personifies brash American tough guy better than John Wayne? A British RAF flyer would have been more reserved; a French flyer would have been more suave; but he just goes for it. He doesn't care who she is he tries to make a move on her like any bold, over-confident American guy would do.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
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