12 Jan Act of Love
(1953) An American soldier falls in love with a Parisian girl during the U.S. liberation of Paris. He wants to marry her, but his commanding officer is against it. The film is based on a 1949 novel, The Girl on the Via Flaminia, by British author Alfred Hayes. According to the TCM article Gary Cooper originally bought the screen rights to the book then sold them to Russian filmmaker Anatole “Tola” Litvak. The soldier is played by Kirk Douglas (at his prime) and French actress Dany Robin.
Act of Love reminded me of Waterloo Bridge, perhaps my favorite WWII love story. In each film, the American soldier returns to an iconic spot to revive painful memories.
What I learned as I read about the making of the movie is that Kirk Douglas fell in love with his press agent, Anne Buydens. He married her in 1954 and they are married to this day.
Director Litvak was born in Russia and during those pre-war years fled to Germany, then to France then finally to Hollywood. He began making films in the 1930s. During World War II, he became a Colonel in the Army and worked with Frank Capra to make the Why We Fight series of films. Right after the war he also directed another of my favorite WWII movies, Decision Before Dawn.
I guessed early on that there would not be a happy ending. I hate to say it, but I suppose that the commanding officer might have been right.
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