Paree, Paree

Netflix should mention this short feature on the info for Silk Stockings. Superior in every way to that over-produced fluff. This had much better Cole Porter songs and lots more energy. Silk Stockings turned out to be a big disappointment. Fred was getting too old for this sort of thing, though the dances and Cyd are lovely. I will be on the watch for the Garbo--Melvyn Douglas version of Ninotchka. Was Peter Lorre ill during the making of Silk Stockings--he seems to be very passive in the more active numbers and with less lines? Very glad that I ran across Paree--Paree by pure accident. Made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. Bob Hope, as a simple "song and dance man' is pure joy.

An American in Paris (a popular spot for Americans before Der Fuerur invited himself in) tries to woo his lady-love in 20 minutes or fewer.

Bob Hope, of course, isn't "Bob Hope" as we know and love him but he clearly has "movie star" potential. So did lots of photogenic actors whose careers went phut. You might guess he had a future in movies but he doesn't have "entertainment powerhouse" written all over him. It's amazing to think of people a century ago unaware they were seeing a figure who would be so dominant.

This is really like an extended music video advertising some Cole Porter's songs.

Leonard Maltin once made the shocking, but probably true, statement, that Astaire introduced more sung "standards" in the movies than anyone. Well, here's Bob Hope doing a creditable job of introducing "You Do Something to Me." Hope would never knock Crosby off the charts but he wasn't a bad warbler.

Whatever happened to Dorothy Stone?

I would not say that Bob Hope was a major star on Broadway, that eluded him until he got into films, but he was a prominent Broadway performer during the Thirties before he went to Hollywood for The Big Broadcast of 1938. This short was made in New York probably between his run in Roberta and Say When.

What Paree, Paree is is a condensed version of the Cole Porter Broadway show Fifty Million Frenchmen. The soundtrack includes You Do Something To Me, Find me a Primitive Man, You've Got That Thing, and the title song all from the stage production of Fifty Million Frenchmen.

This short while it lacks a lot of production values is a marvelous opportunity to see something of a photographed Broadway show of the time. In that it's like The Marx Brothers Cocoanuts or Animal Crackers.

Bob Hope was not in the original Broadway cast of Fifty Million Frenchmen, but Cole Porter would provide him with a great duet with Ethel Merman in Hope's last Broadway appearance a few years later in Red, Hot, and Blue. He introduced It's Delovely with her from that show which did lead to his Hollywood contract.

Now that would be great if someone preserved them on film singing It's Delovely.

You can find this on the DVD of "Silk Stockings" to which it is much superior. Apparently, this is a quickie film of part of a successful show. The songs are inventive and have much more energy than Porter's later work. The musical numbers are pretty standard fare for the time, which means pretty good.

Two things worked for me: the story was complete enough to support the songs but simple enough to grasp in a few moments. When the thing was over, I wanted more which is how it should be.

The other thing: in such projects, at least one number has to grab me, really grab me for the thing to work. In this one, there's a scene where Bob spends time with the girl he has bet he can marry. He "sweeps her off her feet." The song is forgettable, but the languid energy of her dance really was impressive: no fancy choreography, in fact it looks as if she just made it up that morning. But it came across as natural, almost real.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

"Paree, Paree" is among Bob Hope's earliest films. I can only assume his newness to the medium would explain why it really isn't a comedy--it's really a musical. Sure, he makes a few quips here and there but they aren't all that funny and seem like more of an afterthought.

Peter (Hope) is in Paris and he's smitten with a lady...though he's only seen her and doesn't even know who she is. However, he bets his friends that within 30 days he'll marry her...even though he's broke. What follows is far less romance and more just a whole bunch of musical numbers...one after the other. In other words, plot is pretty much secondary. And, considering it's a short film, it really could have used less singing and more plot. Watchable and pleasant enough but nothing more. It does, however, allow you to hear the nice Cole Porter song, "You Do Something to Me".