PARIS INTERLUDE (1934)

Otto Kruger and Robert Young are American reporters stationed in Paris. The older, more famous Kruger occasionally takes advantage of the younger cub reporter Young, treating him like a 'legman' who runs errands, but they're good drinking buddies. When Lindbergh lands in Paris at the end of his famous flight, Kruger beats all the other reporters in filing his story, has a drink with Madge Evans, his sorta girlfriend, and drunkenly proposes to her. The next day, without telling Evans, who took his proposal seriously, Kruger leaves for a hot story in China and doesn't come back. Young wants to marry Evans, but she turns him down and makes a name as a fashion writer with her buddy (Una Merkel) doing illustrations. Evans starts hanging with George Meeker, an American golfer, and they grow close. Eventually they get word that Kruger has been killed by Chinese bandits and Evans decides to marry Meeker, until a misunderstanding leads to Young being present in Evans' apartment in his underwear, and Meeker storms off alone. Just as Young works his way into Evans' good graces, a telegram arrives saying that Kruger is alive and will be in Paris soon. When he shows up, in bad shape, Young pays for his hospital stay. Kruger decides to marry Evans after all, until Merkel reads him the riot act about his irresponsible behavior. Evans winds up with Young as Kruger heads for a story at the South Pole.

This mild romantic comedy has maybe one too many plotline for its own good, and characterization suffers a bit. I like that Kruger is not a total jerk; he's a bit brusque and thoughtless but mostly because he's clueless, not deliberately cruel—and in the end, he tries to fake cruel behavior to let Evans down easy, but of course she sees through him (a trope in romantic stories). His performance is fine but a little artificial. Young and Merkel are both good in standard roles of likable good guy and streetwise tough cookie, and I wish Merkel had more to do. One extraneous plot point involves Kruger having lost an arm in WWI, though nothing really comes of this. Another involves an American woman with a thick Southern accent (so thick I assumed it was supposed to be fake, but I don't think it is) who tries to sneak jewelry past customs and is given a huge fine—Evans thinks that Young turned her in for a reward, but he didn't. The only point of that bit is to drag out for another few minutes Evans' decision that Young is an OK guy. The Evans character is particularly fuzzy; I never felt simpatico with her as she verges on being unsympathetic, and at the end I didn't care much about how she ended up. The original New York Times review refers to Young and Merkel as actors who can "talk flip"; that’s a good description and a reason why they come off a notch above the others who should be flip-talking characters but can't quite pull it off. Other actors include Edward Brophy and Ted Healy in minor comic roles. A pleasant enough movie, with, as she often was, Una Merkel as the saving grace. Pictured are Young and Evans. [TCM]