"Arch of Triumph" Review

 

by Daniel White

I have often said not everything from the Golden Age of Hollywood was golden. If you ever needed proof of that statement, watch Arch of Triumph (1948), one of the worst films ever to be hatched in Tinseltown during its heyday. Which is too bad, because there is a lot of talent here, all of it defeated by a cockamamie screenplay that stinks to high heaven. The film was released four years after Gaslight, in which Charles Boyer terrorized poor Ingrid Bergman. In this mess, they play tormented lovers, but the only ones who really suffer are those forced to watch this flapdoodle.

Set in Paris on the eve of WWll, Boyer plays Ravic, a doctor who is an undocumented refugee. One rainy night he spots Charles Laughton (his outsized talent grievously underused), a sadistic Nazi who tortured and killed his girlfriend. He decides to avenge her death. So far so good. An atmospheric war drama perhaps, or an exciting revenge tale. Cinematographer Russell Metty has cloaked everything in shadow and given the flick a doomed, noirish feel. But then Boyer has a fateful (and fatal, for us viewers) encounter with a despondent Ingrid Bergman walking home one night. About to toss herself into the Seine over an unhappy love affair, Boyer saves our pouty leading lady.

Oh Charles, why didn't you let Miss Bergman sink to the bottom of that famous river? Then we may have had a decent cat-and-mouse thriller and not the ludicrous romance that the movie morphs into. This film is beyond silly - it's unbearably stupid. Not even the considerable cinematic sizzle that our two stars generate can save this idiotic flick. It is nothing but codswallop, an over-baked potboiler that is a waste of time for all those involved - especially the audience. Writer Irwin Shaw submitted a screenplay that emphasized the political intrigue and downplayed the love angle. Unfortunately, director Lewis Milestone and scribbler Harry Brown rejected it and wrote their own treatment, offering up this piece of claptrap instead. The two shall be shot at dawn.

Louis Calhern doesn't help matters much as an annoying, platitude-spouting Russian doorman. I kept hoping someone would vigorously perform a folk dance on his head to shut him up. Actress Ruth Warrick comes off best - all her scenes were cut. Despite this, she still receives a screen credit!

Based on an Erich Maria Remarque novel - I can only imagine what he thought of this hogwash.

Produced by Enterprise Productions and released through United Artists, Arch of Triumph is available on YouTube. Just remember my fellow film buffs, these are 140 minutes you will NEVER get back.