Madam Pimpernel/Paris Underground 1945.

Posted on by womo



A 1945 film starring Constance Bennett and Gracie Fields, both were coming to the end of their film careers. Tightly directed by Gregory Ratoff. Both Bennett and Fields, are trapped in Nazi paris, they go on to rescue shot down airmen, and help them reach the English Channel. The film was released some five months after VE day in October 1945.

The Movie is quite light weight but has a powerful ending. I feel Fields was a natural actress, and this film shows just that to great effect. Bennett is more of a glamour puss really, with slight moments of reality and grit.

Both stars had nothing in common and did not speak off set. Gracie had never liked film so this was her last one after 14 years

The film has is a curio and therefore is uploaded for educational and historical purposes The film is public domain too.

I have uploaded a good quality version of the film, which has nothing to do with the official Gracie Fields lot. The first version has now been deleted, so hopefully you can enjoy this much better upload? A quite entertaining film.

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31 Replies to “Madam Pimpernel/Paris Underground 1945.”

  1. Very impressive movie ! With these two actresses, it may have resonate a lot as the war was just ending, and still resonate.
    To be noticed : Constance' sister, Joan, played in a remarkable 1940 film: Man I married, which was denouncing the pre war nazi regime at a time when not all american were convinced nazis represented a real danger.
    Ah, les sœurs Benett ….

  4. Appreciate because of Vietnam is my generation. People today may not understand this time. We all did what was necessary. Stress was put aside to do what was necessary

  5. This is only inspired by Shiber's book, because the book is very different. From memory a lot of the book covers her experiences in a Nazi prison, which is noteworthy in itself. There was no romance either

  9. Incredible! Produced by Constance Bennet! A woman's heroic story so well written and directed. Oh, how I wish women hadn't been pushed out of Hollywood when it began to make big money.

    Did you notice the pair of stove pipes making shadows on the building when police were looking for the flyer, one crooked, one straight? They made sure to include them in the backdrop as the couple were speaking later, and in the correct position! I've never seen a movie with that much attention to detail.

    Thank you, dear poster.

  10. Merci from la belle France, Chris. We are proud of many of our people's true grit, and we honor those who helped la Resistance allow such heroic escapes.

  11. As a 90s baby it a honor to see movies that show true stories as well as wonderful actors. Us young kids who are able to enjoy and respect these films truly saw great treasures. I'll be honest, so far I love this and Molly and Me. I love black and white films.

  21. It's not even an accurate portrayal of the story of Etty Shiber… There was a movie and it was called Paris underground but this ain't it. And it was over 150 service man that they helped to escape. And Eddie was exchanged for a German spy a female German spy. This is just an American war film that was pretty much propaganda which is why it doesn't have the right name or the right name of the people involved considering that Etty Shiber suffered two heart attacks while being in prison among other things it is really a crime that this is a poor ripoff of her story.

  28. Great movie, left me in tears these terrible times in Europe and those who put their lives on the line like these in the Underground.

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