Arch of Triumph (1948 film)


Arch of Triumph is a 1948 American romantic war drama film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Charles Laughton. It is based on the 1945 novel Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque, which he wrote during his nine-year exile in the United States.

Synopsis

Pre-World War II Paris is crowded with illegal refugees, trying to evade deportation. One of them is Dr. Ravic, who under a false name practices medicine illegally, helping other refugees. He saves Joan Madou from committing suicide after the sudden death of her lover. They become involved, but he is deported and she becomes the mistress of a wealthy man, Alex. All this time Ravic seeks revenge against the Nazi officer Haake, with war eventually declared between France and Germany.

Cast

The film's name is a reference to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where the film is set. The rough cut of the film was four hours long, and in reducing it to two hours several actors were cut. Irwin Shaw spent five months writing the screenplay, but quit when Lewis Milestone wanted him to add a love story. Milestone then rewrote the script himself together with Harry Brown. Ingrid Bergman's salary for the part was $175,000 + 25% of net profits.
William Conrad, in just his fourth film, has a small important role, as a policeman.
The MPAA's head of the Production Code Administration at the time, Joseph Breen, made the film's studio tone down the violence in the script. The scene where Ravic kills Haake also included him stuffing Haake in the car's trunk, stripping him naked, burying him and burning his clothes — this was cut from the film. Breen also objected to the murder going unpunished, but relented.
Breen's initial objection contradicted the novel which made clear that Haake was a torturer whose many victims included Ravic and a girl he loved.
In 1985, under the same title, the film was remade as a made-for-television movie with Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Ravic.