REUNION IN FRANCE (1942) * ½

Joan Crawford gets separated from her boyfriend Philip Dorn in Paris during WWII.  The Nazis invade, and Joan gets attacked by a mess of stock footage.  The Germans confiscate her house and she finds out her boy toy is in cahoots with the Nazis.  When Joan stumbles upon a wounded American air force pilot (John Wayne), she decides to help him, which could get her into a lot of hot water with her fiancé.

Reunion in France is an unsuccessful melding of melodramatic tearjerker and jingoistic war picture.  Director Jules (Rififi) Dassin does a fine job of giving Crawford plenty of elegantly shot close-ups, but the drama is never captivating and the pacing borders on excruciating.  Crawford is her usual maudlin self, so if you’re one of her die-hard fans, you might find her very appearance reason enough to watch it.

I came to the party to see my boy John Wayne and I was sorely disappointed.  Even though The Duke is second-billed, Wayne doesn't show up until forty minutes into the picture.  He gives the movie a shot in the arm whenever he’s on screen, but frankly, this thing was beyond saving.  There aren’t any sparks between Wayne and Crawford either, which makes things even more unbearable.  The supporting cast, which includes John Carradine, Morris Ankrum, and Henry Daniell, is pretty good though.

The romance stuff is rather insufferable and the plot twist at the end is predictable as all get out.  However, Dassin does give us at least one cool looking shot.  At a Nazi dinner party, he slowly pulls back the camera to reveal that all the tables have been arranged in the shape of a swastika!  If the amount of care that went into the party planning was put into the plot, this might’ve been a winner.