***SPOILERS*** Typical WWII Hollywood propaganda flick that makes the enemy Germans occupiers of the just defeated French nation-It was France that declared war on Germany not the other way around-look far better then the members of the French underground movement that's fighting them. We see the Frenchmen and women living in this little French town not at all abused by the German troops as long as they don't try to attack kill and sabotage them. In here we have former French POW Jean Blanchard played by, Dutch actor Philip Dorn, released from a German prison camp because he, suffering from acute tuberculosis, doesn't have long to live. Not wanting to get involved with the French underground movement Jean slowly joins it when he feels that it will exonerate him for being in the view of many fellow Frenchmen, because of his pacifist ideas, a coward and traitor to his country.It's also Jean's wife Yvonne, Brenda Marshall, who gets him to see the light but not for the reasons that you would think. That in trying to win her over since she's involved with Dr. Andre Marbel, George Sanders, not romantically like Jean suspects but in that Dr. Marbel is a major leader in the French Underground movement by running an anti-German underground newspaper! There's also the hot headed young but a bit overconfident French teenager Georges Benoit played by Raymond Roe who despite his prominent role in the movie is not even mentioned in the films credits! It's Georges who acts and looks so American instead of French that he both looks and acts like he just stepped out of an "Andy Hardy" movie. Trying to join up with the French underground Georges and those yo-yo's with him screw themselves up even before they get a chance to shoot off their guns getting caught red-handed by the German gestapo and later executed for their failed efforts.***SPOILERS*** It was in fact Yvonne who came out blasting by gunning down from her hospital window Nazi Colonel Pirosh,Robert Lewis, who order and did it himself young Georges to be executed! even though the person who shot Pirosh was right in front of them the deft and blind German Gestapo had no idea who his attacker was, the dirty rat did in fact survive, and thus ordered 50 innocent Frenchmen to be executed in retaliation. With the just recovered Col. Pirosh, who claimed that his death would be a great loss to humanity, going back on his word in not having them shot if he in fact survived and still ordering the French hostages to be gunned down our hero Jean who despite looking as strong as an ox decided to take the rap in him shooting Pirosh to save Yvonne, Who was ready to turn herself in, from being executed! P.S I didn't quite see Jean's act as that heroic, as Dr. Marbel broadcast on the underground radio, since he knew he didn't have long to live anyway and in his suffering from a deadly and incurable disease by him being executed by the Gestapo would have only put him out of his misery -as well as the movie-anyway!

Paris After Dark 1943This 20th Century Fox production, is another one of the myriad of mid WW2 films about the French Resistance against the German occupiers. This one stars George Sanders, Brenda Marshall, Philip Dorn, Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau.George Sanders is a doctor working at a Paris plant that is making tanks for the German Army. He is also the leader of the local French Resistance group. His number 2 is Brenda Marshall, who is also his nurse at the plant hospital. The group mainly just posts leaflets and such calling for sabotage of products and materials for Germany.Philip Dorn, Marshall's husband, returns to the family after several years in a German P.O.W. camp. The Germans have released prisoners that are too sick to work for their cause. Dorn is a broken man, both is body and spirit. He wants nothing to do with the resistance movement etc.The anti-Nazi group work out of a hidden room in the local café. They hold their planning meetings there with the odd get together at the home of Sanders. (The radio to London is hidden there) The local barber, Dalio, is a collaborator in the employ of the Gestapo. He makes a tidy bit of cash reporting on any funny behaviour in the area.The Germans decide they are going to round up 500 able-bodied men and send them to Germany to work. Several of the younger lads, including, Marshall's younger brother, Raymond Roe, decide to head for Spain. They are however rounded up by the Gestapo types on a tip from Dalio.This of course goes nowhere good for young Roe. He is shot by the German officer in charge of the area. The Nazi swine, Robert Lewis, is then shot by Marshall from an upstairs window. Marshall is not seen doing the deed. Lewis is badly wounded and Sanders is forced by the German's to save Lewis. If he fails, the Gestapo will shoot 50 hostages. Marshall is also drafted in to help save the man you had killed her brother.Sanders and Marshall manage to save the Nazi officer's life, thus saving the 50 hostages from death. The Germans however go back on their word, and order the hostages shot unless the person who shot Lewis comes forward.All this has convinced Dorn that he can no longer stay out of the fight. He tells Sanders that he will confess to the attack on Lewis. But he wants Sanders to make sure that he gets his wife, Marshall to safety. Sanders, agrees, and promises to get the woman to England.While not the best of the "resistance" type films, it does keep the viewer entertained. Sanders is always worth watching. Dorn, Miss LeBeau and Dalio had all escaped Europe just ahead of the Nazi's and ended up in Hollywood. Dalio and his ex-wife LeBeau would have parts in the best example of the genre, CASABLANCA.The director, Léonide Moguy was also an escapee from the German invasion of France. His Hollywood films include, WHISTLE STOP and ACTION IN ARABIA (also with George Sanders)

George Sanders plays a French doctor without a French accent. He plays Germans well and even speaks in a German accent, but he can't play a French doctor without sounding quintessentially English.The young brother of the French protagonist, Jean, is quite bold and brave standing up for what he believes and speaking out against oppression. To be honest it;s the French characters that make this film work. Sanders merely lends his name to sell the film, but he contributes very little in terms of his performance.I would advise Sanders fans to stay away from this film as it comes nowhere near the quality of 'Manhunt' or 'Tales of Manhattan'.

Set in German-occupied Paris, the plot concerns the day-to-day struggles of the French resistance during WWII, made all the more believable by a cast chosen from among real-life refugees – in other words those who were eye-witnesses to the film's historical backdrop. I suspect that when "Paris After Dark" played in small-town America, the world it unveiled was still rather exotic. Even with full-on U.S involvement after Pearl Harbor, the idea of an underground resistance for most Americans was something shadowy and obscure. New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther, though not at all impressed, did acknowledge "the terrible tragedy of the French people under Nazi occupation" which the film evoked. However, this is a film that holds its own alongside similar portrayals of the war in Europe, such as Robert Stevenson's "Joan of Paris" and William Wyler's "Mrs. Miniver", the latter in which the inimitable Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon bolstered the moral imperative of continued U.S. involvement.Fans of "Casablanca" (1942) will recognize the lovely Madeleine LeBeau in a supporting role. According to Wikipedia, LeBeau, along with her husband, Marcel Dalio, escaped from Paris in June, 1940, just ahead of the Nazi advance, eventually finding their way to the U.S. Fans of George Sanders will love his role as a heroic leader of the underground movement. But the stars of the film are Brenda Marshall and Philip Dorn. Some viewers may recall Marshall as the scientist Nora Goodrich in Anthony Mann's "Strange Impersonation" (1946). The Dutch-born Dorn was better known as an actor in Germany but who also moved to the U.S. with the war's outbreak. Director Leonide Moguy sought refuge in the States in a similar manner. He also directed the interesting noir, "Whistle Stop" (1946), with George Raft and Ava Gardner before returning to France. In short, this was a cast and company that appeared to know first-hand what they were portraying during one of the war's bleakest periods.As of this writing, it is available as a Fox Cinema Archives release, and well worth tracking down, if only for the history lesson it movingly portrays.