Tonight's Movie: French Without Tears (1940) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The relatively unseen FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS (1940), a romantic comedy from Paramount British Productions, was just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

The movie was filmed by Paramount Pictures at Shepperton Studios in the UK, starring Ray Milland (born in Wales) and American actress Ellen Drew, supported by a French and British cast.

It was directed by Anthony Asquith and written by Ian Dalrymble and Anatole de Grunwald, from an uncredited treatment by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, based on a play by British playwright Terrence Rattigan.

The featherweight story takes place at a small French language immersion school patronized by future diplomats and members of the military.

The students of Professor Maingot (Jim Gerald) at his home in France include Alan (Milland), Chris (David Tree), Brian (Guy Middleton), Kenneth (Kenneth Morgan), and recently arrived navy commander Bill (Roland Culver),

Into this bastion of male camaraderie drops Kenneth's flighty sister Diana (Drew), who rather inexplicably arrives for a visit and takes over one of the bedrooms.

All becomes chaotic as the inconstant Diana professes to love each of the school's dazzled students in turn -- which also dashes the hopes of Jacqueline (Janine Darcey), the professor's daughter who quietly loves Chris.

Alan alone tries to stay out of all of the romantic shenanigans and focus on learning French. But eventually even Alan is drawn into the game of discerning the answer to the all-important question: Who does Diana really love?

FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS is pleasant though frankly a tad confusing -- including the fact that very little goes on at the school in the way of French lessons!

The movie might be described as having good dialogue and characters in search of a deeper story. For instance, Diana seems airheaded, but is she really, or is it just part of an act to provoke jealously in the one she loves? We never really find out for certain.

Part of the issue with the lack of motivations underlying the film's comedy may be that this is not a full-length edition of the original British theatrical release.

I was confused about a substantial discrepancy between the 86-minute running time listed at IMDb and the length of this 67-minute Blu-ray, but read that the Blu-ray contains the short U.S. release; the UK edition of the film was much longer.

That leaves me wondering about information possibly left on the cutting room floor for the United States; for instance, there's a lobby card depicting a wedding scene, which is interesting!

Consequently I will be particularly interested to learn more soon from Kino Lorber's commentary track by Gary Gerani. I'm hoping part of the track will include information on what was cut in the United States.

The movie is pleasant, thanks to the previously mentioned dialogue and the engaging lead performances of Milland and Drew, a pair of actors I always enjoy. Milland balances knowing cynicism with underlying longing and is most enjoyable, not to mention handsome.

This was one of several films Drew was in that year, along with Preston Sturges' CHRISTMAS IN JULY (1940). She's a bit of a chameleon seen here as a blonde rather than her usual brunette.

Drew plays Diana without a British accent, but I've become so accustomed to that in films of the era that it didn't even dawn on me until the movie was over.

Like Milland, Drew's character contains considerable contrasts; Diana is sharply witty while also seeming empty-headed at times, which makes no sense and leads the viewer to wonder, as I mentioned before, whether she's putting on an act.

Diana's lies about her feelings could make her seem mean, yet the film is such a souffle that her behavior never comes off as malicious, simply amusing. And her ultimate declaration of love is heartfelt and touching.

The print is slightly soft-looking but in very good shape, free of skips or jumps, nicely reflecting the black and white cinematography of Bernard Knowles.

There's a sort of dreaminess to the film's look and "barely there" story which makes one remember that the reality in France and Britain in 1940 was far different from the dreamscape portrayed here, where all that mattered was affairs of the heart.

In addition to the previously mentioned commentary track, the disc contains half a dozen trailers for other films available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS is imperfect yet entertaining, and those who love the era and the actors will likely want to see it, as I did, and fill in seeing a previously hard-to-find Paramount title.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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