I?m looking for a movie I saw on a movie network in a hotel once. It
was in black and white, and I had the impression that it was made in
the 50?s (though I could be wrong). I only saw maybe the 1st half of
this movie.  I don?t remember much about the plot, but it was pretty
outrageous, especially for the time period in which it was made:

- The setting was France (during WWII?), though it was an American
movie (everyone spoke US English).
- It mostly took place in a café, with prostitutes who were at one
point hauled away by the police (though they came back after, I think)
- There was a case of mistaken identity, I think (maybe involving a
rich guy from the UK and some guy from the US?)
- A woman pretended to be a prostitute with one of these two guys, but
maybe later she actually enjoyed it and became one for real?

I know this isn?t much to go on. If anyone thinks of something, maybe
it?ll jar my memory for some more details.

Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by eiffel-ga on 11 May 2006 09:25 PDT

Hi richardmtl-ga,

The film you recall is likely to be "Casablanca", a classic black and white movie.

The setting was Casablanca in Morocco during World War II, during
which time Morocco was French-administered - and Morocco is referred
to repeatedly in the movie by the wartime term "Unoccupied France", so
you could easily have recalled the setting as France.

Most of the movie is set in a cafe - "Rick's Cafe Americain". Rick
(played by Humphry Bogart) is an American with a definite US accent,
and quite a few of the other characters speak US English too.

Near the beginning there is a police raid, with various unsavoury
characters hauled away although I don't recall a prostitute amongst
them. A little later though, Rick allows a young couple to win a large
amount of money at roulette so the woman won't have to prostitute
herself.

You can see many more details about Casablanca at the Internet Movie
Database, and there's also a link to view the trailer (the streaming
quicktime version worked best for me):

Internet Movie Database - Casablanca
http://imdb.com/title/tt0034583/

There's a long and rather dry plot summary at filmsite.org (but have
your popup-blocker switched on!):

Casablanca (1942)
http://www.filmsite.org/casa.html

Please review this and let me know if it is likely to be the film that you saw.

Regards,
eiffel-ga

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Clarification of Question by richardmtl-ga on 11 May 2006 10:12 PDT

Hi there,

Nope, it's not Casablanca, sorry! Try again! :)

The movie was definitely in France, probably Paris.

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Request for Question Clarification by eiffel-ga on 11 May 2006 13:59 PDT

Hi richardmtl-ga,

OK, so it's not Casablanca then!

The question remains open in case another researcher wishes to take it on.

Regards,
eiffel-ga

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Clarification of Question by richardmtl-ga on 11 May 2006 15:26 PDT

Anyone else want to try?

Well it could be dubbed, in that case it might be one of the
following: Les Prostituees de Lyon palent by Carole Roussopoulos. It
was released in 1975. It is in Black and White. The only problem is
that it is acted in French.

Thanks, but no, it wasn't dubbed. Definitely American English, but
"pretending" to be in French.

Sounds vaguely like "Irma La Douce". Just a guess really.

Bingo! How'd you find it? That's it! Good job aussietpp!

I don't understand! Irma La Douche was in colour! I saw it at the
drive-in when I was quite young (under 10) and probably only saw the
1st half. (My parents would have been encouraging me to go to sleep)
But what you described just reminded me of it. It would have been in
the 1960's and I'm pretty sure it starred Shirley Maclaine. I am
thrilled that I got it right!