BY FRED BLOSSER
During
the stress of the COVID-19 outbreak, people are hungry for vicarious escape,
any escape, from isolation, financial uncertainty, and worries about
contagion. Even so, Bob Hope’s lightweight 1958 comedy “Paris
Holiday†is likely to appeal mostly to fans in their sixties and older who remember
the star as a ubiquitous presence on TV decades ago. Jokes based on references to Sputnik and My
Sin perfume will fly past everyone else. Hope produced and starred in the movie (now available on Blu-ray from
Kino Lorber) with an additional “from an idea by . . .†credit. His character, Bob Hunter, a famous American
comedian who might as well be named Bob Hope, ventures over to Paris on the
1950s luxury liner, the Ile de France. He has an appointment to meet a celebrated
French playwright whose latest work he hopes to secure as his next
screenplay. On board the ship, he meets
and chases an attractive State Department employee, Ann McCall (Martha Hyer),
and is pursued in turn by Zara, a mysterious femme fatale (Anita Ekberg). Also on the liner is a celebrated French
comedian, Fernydel (Fernandel), whose introduction to his American counterpart
produces an amusing exchange. “Fernyâ€
strokes Hunter’s ski-slope nose and marvels, “Formidable!†Not to be
outdone, Bob riffs on his rival’s toothy, hangdog countenance: “Straight from
the horse’s mouth!†This and other early
scenes suggest that the script will be anchored by an edgy if amiable
competition between the two characters. But Hope’s ego collided with Fernandel’s in real life, and so
eventually, the French comedian is relegated to a secondary role once the ship
docks. From there, the story becomes a
standard Bob Hope farcical thriller in the style of “My Favorite Blonde†(1942)
and “My Favorite Brunette†(1947). The
playwright’s new opus is a drama rather than a comedy as Hunter expected, based
on an exposé of wartime counterfeiters who have since moved into “positions of
power†in the French government. The
conspirators murder the playwright to protect their secrets, and try to do the
same to Hunter. When those attempts
fail, their associate Zara checks the comic into a mental institution from
which Hyer’s and Fernandel’s characters must rescue him.
The
script by longtime Hope associate Edmund Beloin, joined by Dean Reisner (now
best remembered for his work on “Coogan’s Bluff†and “Dirty Harryâ€), never
makes a lot of sense, serving mostly as a tent pole for Hope’s mile-a-minute
wisecracks. Hope’s timing remains
marvelous, and even younger viewers may be impressed, but the conceit of Hyer’s
younger foreign service officer tolerating and even welcoming the uninvited
advances of Hope’s older character sits uneasily with today’s social
attitudes. The credits claim that the
picture was shot entirely on location in Paris, but if that’s true, they could
have saved their money. The interiors
are obviously sets on a sound stage, and when Bob Hunter tools around the city
in a sporty Citroen, it’s Hope in front of rear-projected scenery. Today’s computerized effects may be equally
phony, but at least they look more authentic. The impostures are particularly apparent in the sharp, bright image
provided by the Blu-ray edition from Kino Lorber, reproducing the film’s
Technicolor palette and widescreen Technirama aspect. The only supplements on the disc are a
still-shot of a 1958 cigarette ad publicizing Anita Ekberg “as featured†in
“Paris Holiday,†and trailers for other
KL releases.
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Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon