April in Paris (1952)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Just perfect...

A Brilliant Conflict

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Sam (Ray Bolger) works for the State Department and has made a major mistake. Having worked his way up, he is aghast to find that he has sent an invitation for a diplomatic event in Paris to a chorus gal, Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson (Doris Day). One supposes that in the Thirties, Ethel Jackson is a rather common name. But, when Sam goes to "un- invite" Ethel, he arrives just as her fellow chorus girls are throwing a Bon Voyage party. It's awkward to say the least. Nevertheless, when the party finishes, Sam breaks the news. As can be expected, this Dynamite explodes and cries. Sam leaves. The next day, the State Department superior says it was a stroke of genius that Sam invited Ethel as a common citizen and a beauty to be part of the event. Horrors! Now, Sam has to go and persuade a still upset Ethel to go with the group. He succeeds. As the snooty uppercrust officials try to "reform" Ethel's demeanor, way of speaking, and table etiquette, she rebels. Not only that, Sam, an engaged gentleman with his fiancée on board, starts to fall for Ethel hard and visa versa. Yet, this would probably spell trouble for his future diplomatic career. Will love bloom in an April in Paris? This lovely musical is a winning combination of song, dance, and fun. Day and Bolger are a terrific couple and, wow, can they hoof it and dazzle in song. Some of the numbers are so imaginative, too, with Bolger performing a fun scene with President Washington's portrait! Day, too, dances it up in the ship's galley with pots, pans, and cooks. Viewers will also admire the supporting cast, costumes, scenery, script and direction. Don't wait until April, musical fans, to watch this film. It's a winner twelve months of the year!

While Ray Bolger may seem an odd choice for leading man for Doris Day after Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson and even Jack Carson, they work well together here in this show business musical about a government error that has a chorus girl named Ethel Jackson chosen to represent America at an art's festival in Paris over the intended and unseen Ethel Barrymore. While both share theater backgrounds, one is a leading lady whose corn was green, the other whose experience was. Bolger plays the government representative who must try to rectify the mistake, but ends up taking Day there anyway. On the ship, she proves herself to be an affable public relations representative, entertaining the ship's restaurant staff with a big production number, "I'm Gonna Rock the Boat Tonight", and wins over a Parisian singer (Claude Dauphin).Bolger, at the top of his game here after the success of "Where's Charley?" on Broadway, could have broke into a chorus of "Once in Love With Doris" here and scored, because the movie came out the same year after he had briefly returned to Broadway in the touring production of that Frank Loesser show. Both "Where's Charley?" and "April in Paris" were released by Warner Brothers who had previously employed Bolger in their Marilyn Miller bio musical "Look For the Silver Lining". Bolger scores with his solo "State of the Union" musical number where he fantasizes about being President of the United States, giving huge refunds to all Americans because of an excess of cash (!), and dances with huge portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Even if that was the only highlight of this movie, Bolger would have scored, because it is as equally memorable as Gene Kelly's solo "Singin' in the Rain" the very same year. This may not rank up there in overall excellence as that MGM masterpiece, but individual performances do put it on top, and Bolger truly scores an "A".

It is fascinating to consider the two leads of this film in terms of their movie and stage success. Doris Day became one of the biggest popular singers of her day, and then got a nice contract from Warner Brothers. Her image as the perpetually beautiful virgin who is your next door neighbor got pushed into our faces with films like ON MOONLIGHT BAY and TEA FOR TWO. But they were good films. The public never quite realized her good straight acting in films like LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME or THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. Bolger was in films from the 1930s, but performances (even good ones) in films like ROSALIE were forgotten. Instead he lucked out early at MGM with the "Scarecrow" in THE WIZARD OF OZ, a role nobody who saw it ever forgot. He did well enough in the 1940s, but his best film (again with Judy Garland - THE HARVEY GIRLS) while showing him to advantage is just not as memorable. Bolger went back to Broadway, did WHERE'S CHARLIE - a tremendous popular hit, and then was lucky enough to get his performance on celluloid in the film version. He should have taken off. Instead, he makes this film - again a nice one - and does very little other films afterward (most notably the Disney version of BABES IN TOYLAND). A great dancer and entertainer but with two first rate performances on film he never got real film stardom.APRIL IN Paris was a decent musical for 1952, but as a follow-up to WHERE'S CHARLIE it lacks a degree of snap. WHERE'S CHARLIE was based on a classic English farce, CHARLIE'S AUNT, so it was really tried material that usually works The script for APRIL IN Paris was based on the Vernon Duke number that is a standard. But the rest of the score was not up to that standard, although a song and dance number that Day and Bolger do together in the galley of the French ocean liner ("I'm Going'to Ring the Bell Tonight!") is tuneful and bouncy. A later song between Claude Dauphin and Doris Day was also quite pleasant regarding Day's reaction to being in Paris. But neither of the latter two songs have ended up in the American songbook.The script is actually fairly typical for the period. Bolger is a rising figure in the State Department, who is engaged to Eve Miller (the daughter of Paul Harvey, Bolger's boss). Bolger has set up an international cultural festival in Paris wherein America would have Ethel Barrymore representing us. But by one of those ridiculous errors that are used to stimulate the plots of comedies (usually they can be explained away by simply owning up to them), the invitation is sent to chorus girl "Dynamite" Jackson (Day). Bolger tries to get it back but he is slowly attracted to Day. Still he has a difficult time convincing Harvey to replace Barrymore with Day to impress the French about our love of fun.(I was thinking about how within a couple of years Day appeared in YOUNG AT HEART with Barrymore - it might have been interesting to have the famous actress appear for a scene or two reacting to this silly error.)Bolger is trying to balance between his career in the diplomatic service (which may lead to a political career) and his growing affections for Day (who is against the straight jacket approach of American Diplomacy forced down her throat by Harvey). Complicating matters is the side antics of Claude Dauphin, who has to sneak back to France because of a diplomatic problem that Bolger would not help him with - Dauphin is working as a steward on the ocean liner, and is unwilling to keep quiet with the crew or with the passengers, including Doris. Eventually Bolger and Day decide to be married by the Captain of the ship, and Dauphin is their witness. But the Captain is a fraud, and so is the marriage. So Dauphin has to sabotage the wedding night as the nice Day and prickly Bolger are not legally entitled to sleep together. It is quite silly, but it has some amusing moments when Harvey shows up and threatens Bolger to face up to his career responsibilities or face the end of his career. Harvey reading the diplomat's rule book to Bolger under an umbrella in a flooding cabin (don't ask) is a sight to see!It ends satisfactorily. But it is not as good as WHERE'S CHARLIE was, and as a result it was not a good follow up to that film. Maybe if Bolger's follow up had been his "Barnaby" in BABES IN TOYLAND the film career problem would have been settled more satisfactorily.I have known only one person in my life who went far in the State Department. He was the smartest fellow in my high school graduating class, and he would rise to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs. He still is a rather big wheel in his current job. I dedicate this review to him.

Exceedingly thin Warner Bros. musical, blanketed in tacky lustre and stock footage, involves an inept assistant's assistant in Washington, D.C. who is in charge of sending out the invites to attend a Theatre Arts Festival in Paris, France; somehow, an invitation meant for Ethel Barrymore is sent instead to a chorus girl named Ethel Jackson (nicknamed "Dynamite", though we are never told why). The dancer is promptly uninvited, and then re-invited, by the assistant, who falls in love with her on the ship sailing to Europe. Doris Day, perky as ever, is delightful in her early scenes celebrating with her chorus friends and with the shipboard kitchen crew ("Don't stop!" she tells the fellas, "I'm tickin'!"). Unfortunately, she has to contend with rubber-faced, bug-eyed Ray Bolger in the romance department, and it's all Miss Day can do to keep her spirits up. Bolger never found stardom in the movies sans his Scarecrow character; he does a very fine solo dance routine early on, but otherwise comes across as a joyless sourpuss, snapping at underlings and mugging at the camera (no gentleman would ever try to upstage Doris Day!). Doris sings the title song very prettily, but the other tunes are fairly forgettable. As for the happy ending, I can only hope the filmmakers were joking and that Day's "Dynamite" Jackson lures a replacement suitor aboard the ship heading back to the U.S.A. ** from ****