"French Without Tears" is a British-made film distributed by Paramount. It was originally a play by Terence Rattigan and apparently starred Rex Harrison (according to one of the other reviewers). His part was played here by Ray Milland.
The story is about a bunch of Brits living in France in order to take a language immersion program. Oddly, most of these folks didn't seem to care at all about learning the language and they seemed annoying because of this. The one big exception was Alan (Milland), who is the wise man in the program. He is not only working on his French but seems to know women...and watches as two of the residents of the program throw themselves at a pretty but manipulative woman. Will he, too, be able to withstand her charms?
To me, this film is enjoyable but dated. After all, a bunch of rather xenophobic Brits not bothering to learn French seems like a commentary about the British Empire of the time. The film also is a bit slow...but watchable if you are a patient viewer.
The story is about a bunch of Brits living in France in order to take a language immersion program. Oddly, most of these folks didn't seem to care at all about learning the language and they seemed annoying because of this. The one big exception was Alan (Milland), who is the wise man in the program. He is not only working on his French but seems to know women...and watches as two of the residents of the program throw themselves at a pretty but manipulative woman. Will he, too, be able to withstand her charms?
To me, this film is enjoyable but dated. After all, a bunch of rather xenophobic Brits not bothering to learn French seems like a commentary about the British Empire of the time. The film also is a bit slow...but watchable if you are a patient viewer.