Assignment: Paris

Assignment: Paris is another of those films with a faraway location that never got past the Columbia back lot. Still it's a decent enough Cold War noir thriller.

Dana Andrews is a hotshot reporter for the New York Herald Tribune assigned to its prestige international division in Paris which is headed by editor George Sanders. Andrews is covering the capture and trial of an American for espionage by the Hungarian hardline regime. Of course when he's sent to Budapest in pursuit of the story, Andrews becomes the story himself and Sanders works like a demon to get him free.

Sanders is aided and abetted by the lovely Marta Toren who gets in a bit of hot water herself in the effort. Audrey Totter, the fashion editor, provides moral support all around.

Hard to believe that in five years Toren would be gone, dying of leukemia at a young age. That was one extraordinarily beautiful woman, what a career she should have had.

Though Andrews is first billed, the film is really carried by Sanders in one of his few roles as a good guy. The man with the built in sneer carries the part off well.

The Cold War atmosphere was just right for these shadowy noir films of intrigue. Assignment: Paris is a good representation of the times.

Dana Andrews has "Assignment: Paris" in this 1952 Cold War drama that also stars George Sanders and Marta Toren. Andrews is Jimmy Race, an ambitious reporter in the Paris office of the New York Herald Tribune; his boss is George Sanders. Race is assigned the espionage trial of an American captured by the Hungarians. In Budapest, Race is captured, and it's up to Sanders to try to free him.

Sanders gets help from a woman, played by Marta Toren, whose background is not explained. Audrey Totter plays a fashion editor.

All the performances are good, but the revelation is Toren, whom I'd never seen before. She was remarkably beautiful and a fine actress. Unfortunately she died very young, which is a terrible tragedy. She never makes the list of most beautiful, and she should. I suppose not that many people are familiar with her.

Sanders carries the film in the workhorse role, and an unusual one for him as he's a good guy. The film is done in more of a documentary style with a dynamic conclusion, though some plot points are up in the air.

Definitely worth seeing for the stunning Toren.

This movie assumes we viewers have a lot of background knowledge. I guess this is a "cold war drama". It seemed, to me, like a James Bond film. Anyway, it's about reporters in Hungry being threatened by Communists. Dana Andrews is taken by the Communists, and George Sanders has to get him back.

I found myself watching lead actress Märta Torén's performance above all. The photography, direction, and performances are interesting - Ms. Torén's performance is my favorite.

My biggest criticism it that I couldn't figure out what the Communists ultimately do to Mr. Andrews. Did he have a lobotomy or something? I think the filmmakers owe it to the audience to explain; and, with more than just an offhand speculation that he'll be "okay". We're supposed to assume Mr. Andrews is going to be "okay" and character Gabor will be safe with the Communists?

I don't understand.

***** Assignment: Paris (1952) Robert Parris ~ Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, George Sanders

Cocky young reporter DANA ANDREWS gets at the truth of some political funny business in Cold War Hungary. Will this help him in his budding romance with the pretty young émigré he took from improbable good guy GEORGE SANDERS during his ASSIGNMENT Paris?

This is a rather typical Columbia production -- decent actors thrown into a fairly silly plot where the implausibilities keep piling up. The good to this movie is the location shooting (they really are in Paris in the exteriors -- love the scene where it's spitting snowflakes) and George Sanders, gamely taking on the sort of role given to Ralph Bellamy. The bad is a somewhat dumb cold war plot, that assumes that a reporter sent to a cold war country is likely going to be arrested, put on trial, and brainwashed (as opposed to merely deported after a careful search). Also, if a reporter really acted like Dana Andrews in his professional or romantic life, he would have his lights punched out by his victims, and be arrested for stalking.

In other words -- not bad, and if you like George Sanders, it might be interesting to see him tackle a non-sneering part. Be warned, though, that Dana Andrews is seriously annoying in this one.

Assignment Paris is directed by Oscar-awarded Robert Parrish, who had worked with Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach, and John Ford in the 1920s and 1930s. Looking at his resume, he certainly worked his way up the ladder the old fashioned way. George Sanders plays Nicholas Strang, the wise editor of the paper, for which Jimmy Race (Dana Andrews) works as a digging, scheming reporter. Viewers will recognize Sanders from All About Eve, again playing the older, wiser, mentor. A lot of time is spent with the viewer (but not the characters in the film) watching and hearing what is going on inside the foreign embassies and administration offices, so it's very much a cold war us- against- them story, with Race trying to get to the truth. Caught up in all this is fellow reporter Marta Toren as Jeanne Moray, and no-one is really sure what her story is.... We are led to think she is more involved than we know, but that part of the story seems to have been dropped, or deleted. Also keep an eye out for Leon Askin, who would play General Bulkhalter in Hogan's Heroes ten years later. Quite entertaining, but it almost feels like an episode of Dragnet -- more documentary than story, which could have been the director's intent. Thrilling, if not surprising, conclusion to the movie.