Le Jour Et L'heure (aka The Day And The Hour) (1963)

Set in occupied France in 1944, a woman (Simone Signoret) inadvertently finds herself involved with the resistance movement and aiding a downed American pilot (Stuart Whitman) in his attempt to escape to Spain. Directed by Rene Clement (FORBIDDEN GAMES), this is an uneven film with the first half inferior to the second half. The first half with Signoret hiding Whitman in her apartment suffers from the stupidity that the screenplay (Clement was one of three writers)  attributes to the American characters (Billy Kearns plays the other American) who behave recklessly even though the Gestapo is after them. If the Gestapo is nipping at your heels, would you sneak out of your hiding place and get drunk? The second half improves considerably as Signoret and Whitman attempt to escape from Paris and the tension quotient increases dramatically. The wide screen B&W cinematography by Henri Decae (THE 400 BLOWS) is striking and a solid score is provided by Claude Bolling. With Genevieve Page, Michel Piccoli, Marcel Bozzuffi and Reggie Nalder.