Amazon.com video review:
This big-budget, star-studded epic 1966 French film features
well-known actors from both Europe and America in the story of the
final battles over the liberation of Paris at the end of the Second
World War. Is Paris Burning? tells the story from all
perspectives, from the Nazis to the French resistance, allowing for
star turns and cameos from an illustrious group of actors, including
Jean-Paul Belmondo (Breathless), Kirk
Douglas (Spartacus), Orson
Welles (The Third
Man), Leslie Caron, Glenn Ford, Charles Boyer, Anthony
Perkins, and many others. As the members of the resistance fight for
control of the city, the Nazis order the commander in Paris (Gert
Fröbe) to burn the city if the resistance gains the upper
hand. Written for the screen by author Gore Vidal and filmmaker
Francis Ford Coppola, director René Clément's film
hearkens back to the star-filled epics of America's heyday while
retaining a modern French sensibility. --Robert Lane
