Paree, Paree (1934)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Roy Mack

Writers:

Herbert Fields (book)
Cyrus Wood (scenario)

Release Date:

8 September 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Short

Plot:

A young American man in Paris spots a beautiful woman in a crowd and is instantly smitten, but soon loses sight of her...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Broadway Brevity | Based On Book

Cast

Dorothy Stone	...	Lulu Carroll
Bob Hope	...	Peter Forbes
Billie Leonard	...	Violet
Rodney McLennan	...	Michael Cummings (as Rodney McLennon)
Charles Collins	...	Baxter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lorraine Collier	...	(uncredited)
Charles La Torre	...	Flower Vendor (uncredited)

Directed by
Roy Mack

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Herbert Fields		book
Cyrus Wood		scenario

Produced by
Samuel Sax	....	producer

Cinematography by
Ray Foster

Music Department
Cole Porter	....	composer: music and lyrics

Other crew
Allan K. Foster	....	dance director (as Alan K Foster)

Production Companies

• Vitaphone Corporation, The
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Broadway Brevities: Paree, Paree (USA) (series title)

Runtime:

USA:21 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #070)

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

Vitaphone production reels #1752-1753

Movie Connections:

Version of 50 Million Frenchmen (1931)

Soundtrack:

Find Me a Primitive Man

Short But Wins the Race

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.