Le chemin du paradis

Three impoverished young men open a filling station and fall in love with the same lady customer. After she alienates all three from each other and herself, she must devise a way to reunite the three friends and win back the one of them whose love means the most to her.

This is the french version of "Three from the Filling Station" that was made simultaneously with the german version also starring Lilian Harvey. It was Harvey's first french-language film and she recalled being unsure of her "school" french. She does just fine and the character is referred to as having been raised in America to explain her slight accent.

The film isn't quite as charming without Willy Fritsch, Oskar Karlweis and Heinz Ruehmann, but is served nicely by Henri Garat doing Fritsch's duty for France. The Karlweis/Harvey song has been transposed to her first meeting with Garat and it actually may be an improvement for it to be done as an introduction between the two leading roles.

Olga Tschechowa retains her role from the german version and manages to seem as self-posessed and lovely as before. It is interesting to watch her and Harvey reenact the story using the same sets and songs but with a different feel and spirit. Some of the bit players from the german version can be seen as prominent extras here.