AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Ricardo Daly The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

MartinHafer Back in 1937, there was a French film ("Heart of Paris") and it starred the great actor, Raimu. Now, three years later Hollywood released a remake--and I can only assume the remake wasn't as good-- partly because Raimu was a wonderful actor and because this American version just wasn't particularly inspired nor did it make a lot of sense.When the film begins, Natalie (Rita Hayworth) is on trial for murder. Although many on the jury think she's guilty, Andre (Brian Aherne) insists for no real logical reason other than his gut feeling that she's innocent. Because he's so vehement, she is acquitted. Then, Andre invites her home to work for him and he gives her a place to live! None of this makes any sense, nor does it make any sense when inexplicably, Andre turns on his new protégé.The film didn't make a lot of sense and I found it all a bit tedious after a while. Not a terrible film but certainly one that's easy to skip.

inframan Where to start? They took an earthy classic French face (Gribouille) & timidly translated it into faux Oscar Wildeian summer stock frillery. Brian Aherne becomes Raimu & Rita Cansino Hayworth becomes Michele Morgan. Glen Ford (14 years Aherne's junior) plays Aherne's son.Aherne was about 38 when he made this, a handsome, debonair lightweight matinée idol (who allegedly was the object of Noel Coward's song, Mad About the Boy). Nice fellow, but a real travesty in this part. Whose fault? Probably the director, Alexander Korda, because the rest of the cast is just as bad, Irene Rich, Evelyn Keyes, Lloyd Corrigan (?).What they forgot when they bought this property is farce is not just about manners & plot, it's about character & culture.Ah well, Ford & Hayworth would grow up & make Gilda 6 years later. Same director!

Neil Doyle Interesting that Columbia teamed GLENN FORD and RITA HAYWORTH six years before GILDA made them such a hot romantic combination, in a rather tepid courtroom tale that's an uneven mix of comedy and drama and barely allowed the sparks to fly between Ford and Hayworth.Actually, it's BRIAN AHERNE who gets top billing as the Parisian shop owner who sits in on a murder trial and finds himself falling for "the lady in question". Aherne plays the man as a naively foolish individual who looks forward with childish glee to jury duty--and then manages to convince the others that Rita is not guilty of murder.EVELYN KEYES plays his equally flighty daughter and IRENE RICH is his sensible wife. GLENN FORD is his attractive and reasonably sensible son.It soon becomes apparent that all of the courtroom scenes are going to be played for comedy rather than drama. LLOYD CORRIGAN and GEORGE COULOURIS play opposing lawyers with comic skill and CURT BOIS does an amusing job as a fellow juror who takes an instant dislike to Aherne when he's accidentally splashed with water and then becomes his amusing adversary for the rest of the story.But the spotlight is mainly on BRIAN AHERNE and he easily walks off with the film as the bumbling shop owner who begins to think that perhaps he shouldn't have talked the other jurors into freeing Rita, after she has an affair with his son whom he finds has stolen some money in order to leave with her. Aherne had a flair for comedy that is really given the spotlight here.There's a clever plot twist at the end in which Aherne realizes how wrong he's been about everything.RITA HAYWORTH shows promise in a rather uninteresting role that doesn't allow her to do more than look like a decorative leading lady and GLENN FORD is clearly not yet the movie star he would become. Both have relatively minor roles compared to Aherne.Summing up: Interesting oddity is strange mixture of comedy and drama.

pitzerclan Having seen (and commented on for IMDb) the more recent movie by the same title with Gene Wilder, I wanted to watch the 1940 movie to see if there was any resemblance between the two. There was none. Although I am less qualified to evaluate this movie, considering it was made eight years before I was born, I must say it seemed to me that this court-room mystery could not make up its mind whether it wanted to be a comedy or a serious drama. There were alternating comedic and serious touches which I believe detracted from the overall enjoyment of the film. However, the story was enjoyable for a one-time viewing. Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford were familiar to me. Brian Aherne was unfamiliar to me in name, but I believe I recognized him from other movies. He reminded me a little of blustering William Powell in "Life with Father," a movie I cannot stand. It seemed to me the wife could have seen through the father's stories a lot sooner, the silliness of the daughter was overdone, and the scenes with Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth could have been more revealing as to their true feelings for each other. The pairing of the daughter with the fat boy was predictable. And I don't know that the real truth about Rita Hayworth's character really made all that much difference in the end. But these are just my opinions, and I'm glad to say I was able to view the film this once.