Rencontre à Paris

Betsy Blair was the star of the celebrated "Marty " by Delbert Mann in which she played a very plain schoolteacher in love with a rather ugly butcher (Ernest Borgnine).It was awarded 4 AA and the Palme D'Or of the Festival de Cannes to boot.

So it was only natural that Blair chose France for the follow-up to "Marty "; against all odds ,diametrically opposite to her hapless schoollteacher,her character is an attractive woman , a rich heiress at that;her daddy millionaire wants her to fly back the US ,but she refuses and he cuts off her means of subsistence.

Undaunted, she will live as a poor ,so to speak ;a Bohemian life in the gai Paris, the thrill of it all!Besides,she's wooed by two men , a marquis (Castelot) and a writer down on his luck who's in charge of following her and noting her actions,doings (Robert Lamoureux)

Unfortunately , the movie looks like a guiding tour of the capital, peppered with predictable dull love affairs ;only the scene between Blair and Raymond Bussières , on a boat on the Seine , retains some charm and poetry : "we do not have old bridges such as this one,says the American girl" "it's the last refugee of the homeless,and they are not necessarily miserable " the temporary guide answers .An oasis in a bland effort.

But Blair turned around from that mushy stuff and opted for Spain for her next movie: this time, it was a great one ,J.A. Bardem 's "Calle Mayor.