Paree, Paree

A delight mini movie, a musical short based on three of Cole Porter's Broadway smash songs. Bob Hope's first credited film is a delight! He plays an American playboy millionaire on vacation in Paris. The film opens with him sitting at a table of an out door café telling his friends about this beauty that takes his breath away. Suddenly he spots her a few yards away. he is so over come his friends tease him and suggest "just show her your bank book." But Hope claims he can win her in less than 30 days with "no" money! They bet polo ponies over the issue and take all his cash and ID's. Hope follows her and when they are alone gushes out a proposal she does not believe he is sincere until he sings to her, "You Do Something to Me" by Cole Porter. But she must leave and he tries to earn money as a tour guide so he can pursue her. But when she sees him showing another girl around town, disillusioned she wants to drop him. He continues to chase her and catches up to her and her family at a race track where he bets his meager earnings on the last race hoping to win enough to impress her. Through a series of events and large synchronized dance numbers he loses the winning ticket and she decides to marry him rich or poor. So he wins the girl, the race and the bet and sings two more songs!

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.

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?

Dorothy Stone may be top-billed in this mini-version of Cole Porter's FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN, but of course, it's Bob Hope you're interested in, not the Busby Berkeley shots or perhaps even the Cole Porter songs -- more fool you. Hope and Miss Stone sing two of Porter's better known songs, "You've Got That Thing" and "You Do Something To Me". Even us old-movie fans sometimes forget that Hope had a long trek on the vaudeville stage and was first noticed in two different Porter shows.

You can't see much of the Hope persona that he established over the first dozen Paramount movies, the wise-cracking, self-derogatory skirt-chaser, but he is in hot pursuit of the high-kicking Miss Stone, ready for an aside to the furnishings.

Rich American playboy Peter Forbes (Bob Hope) is in Paris doing girl-watching with his friends. He pursues Lulu Carroll (Dorothy Stone). His friends had bet him to get the girl without revealing his wealth.

This is a remake of the 1931 version which had cut out the Cole Porter songs from his 1929 hit Broadway musical. There are quite a few dance numbers. The story almost doesn't matter in this one. Bob Hope singing the iconic "You Do Something to Me" may be a bit of a waste, but at least, it's out in the world. I don't rate this high for the comedic story. I didn't actually laugh. It's really for the song and dance.