12. The Last Time I Saw Paris
I haven't been slacking as much on the "TCM 31 Movies in 31 Days Challenge" as it would seem. I've got notes on nine or ten movies at home that I have yet to write up. The problem is getting from my handwritten notes to translate into a review online. So, the only thing I can do is continue onward with a review.
The Last Time I Saw Paris is notable (to me at least!) as one of Van Johnson's films, and this one also features Elizabeth Taylor (she gets top billing), Walter Pidgeon, and Donna Reed. The Last Time I Saw Paris is also notable for including Roger Moore's American film debut and Eva Gabor in a cameo. It's based on the short story "Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, only it's revised to be set after WWII instead of WWI.
The film starts on V-E Day in Paris and Charles Wills (Johnson) ends up being invited to a celebratory party by a girl he meets in a bar (Donna Reed). She's interested in him, but once Charles gets to the party, he has eyes only for her sister Helen (Taylor) whom he had kissed earlier in the square. Charles ends up funding an ill-conceived bet that their father (Walter Pidgeon) is convinced will pay off. It does, and the family has money again -- they live well but can't fund it.
Eventually Helen and Charles get married and have an adorable baby. Charles works for a newspaper in Paris and writes his great American novel at night. He gets a lot of rejection letters, but later, their Texas oil leases pay off and the family is flush with cash. Charles quits his job to write full-time. The whole family takes up partying as a career, and Charles drinks too much. Things go wrong with their marriage, and eventually Charles passes out on the stairs after locking the door and poor Helen catches her death of cold. Charles realizes that he needs to pull things together, mostly for his daughter's sake, and leaves the daughter in the care of Helen's sister. He comes back at the end of the film, much to the sister's resentment, and ends up getting his girl back. Fin.
I actually didn't watch this one on TCM because I found a cheapie DVD set featuring three Elizabeth Taylor movies. (The other two are Life with Father and Father's Little Dividend. I haven't gotten around to watching either of them.)
I thought that both Johnson and Taylor were miscast -- and I honestly thought Johnson and Reed had more chemistry together. Johnson's scenes with his daughter are very tender, and really help establish the heart of his character -- but with his wife -- not so much. It's surprising because Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous, but she just doesn't seem to fit the character.
Van-related gossip: apparently he and many of his contemporaries were disappointed that he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for this film, or so says his biography. Considered by some to be one of his best roles -- I'm not totally convinced, but part of that might be the fact that his character is supposed to be from Milwaukee and he does not sound Midwest at all. This was his last film under his MGM contract -- Johnson did go back to MGM as a freelancer.
Also, from the reviews I read of this, this was a real career builder for Elizabeth Taylor. I'm not sure that she's fantastic -- the lack of chemistry between the two can't all be his fault -- and she never really had me convinced that she was fully the character. I felt like it should have been someone more delicate, some one like Daisy Buchanan or Zelda (to mix F. Scott Fitzgerald associates both factual and fictional). At the end, Helen dies of pneumonia and I didn't really feel like she was sick. She certainly didn't look like someone who was going to die!
FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge ; Van Johnson
The Last Time I Saw Paris is notable (to me at least!) as one of Van Johnson's films, and this one also features Elizabeth Taylor (she gets top billing), Walter Pidgeon, and Donna Reed. The Last Time I Saw Paris is also notable for including Roger Moore's American film debut and Eva Gabor in a cameo. It's based on the short story "Babylon Revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, only it's revised to be set after WWII instead of WWI.
The film starts on V-E Day in Paris and Charles Wills (Johnson) ends up being invited to a celebratory party by a girl he meets in a bar (Donna Reed). She's interested in him, but once Charles gets to the party, he has eyes only for her sister Helen (Taylor) whom he had kissed earlier in the square. Charles ends up funding an ill-conceived bet that their father (Walter Pidgeon) is convinced will pay off. It does, and the family has money again -- they live well but can't fund it.
Eventually Helen and Charles get married and have an adorable baby. Charles works for a newspaper in Paris and writes his great American novel at night. He gets a lot of rejection letters, but later, their Texas oil leases pay off and the family is flush with cash. Charles quits his job to write full-time. The whole family takes up partying as a career, and Charles drinks too much. Things go wrong with their marriage, and eventually Charles passes out on the stairs after locking the door and poor Helen catches her death of cold. Charles realizes that he needs to pull things together, mostly for his daughter's sake, and leaves the daughter in the care of Helen's sister. He comes back at the end of the film, much to the sister's resentment, and ends up getting his girl back. Fin.
I actually didn't watch this one on TCM because I found a cheapie DVD set featuring three Elizabeth Taylor movies. (The other two are Life with Father and Father's Little Dividend. I haven't gotten around to watching either of them.)
I thought that both Johnson and Taylor were miscast -- and I honestly thought Johnson and Reed had more chemistry together. Johnson's scenes with his daughter are very tender, and really help establish the heart of his character -- but with his wife -- not so much. It's surprising because Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous, but she just doesn't seem to fit the character.
Van-related gossip: apparently he and many of his contemporaries were disappointed that he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for this film, or so says his biography. Considered by some to be one of his best roles -- I'm not totally convinced, but part of that might be the fact that his character is supposed to be from Milwaukee and he does not sound Midwest at all. This was his last film under his MGM contract -- Johnson did go back to MGM as a freelancer.
Also, from the reviews I read of this, this was a real career builder for Elizabeth Taylor. I'm not sure that she's fantastic -- the lack of chemistry between the two can't all be his fault -- and she never really had me convinced that she was fully the character. I felt like it should have been someone more delicate, some one like Daisy Buchanan or Zelda (to mix F. Scott Fitzgerald associates both factual and fictional). At the end, Helen dies of pneumonia and I didn't really feel like she was sick. She certainly didn't look like someone who was going to die!
FILE UNDER: Classic Film ; 31 Films in 31 Days Challenge ; Van Johnson
posted by Rebecca at 2:27 PM
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