Paris Holiday

Plot

Two of filmdom's finest farceurs--Hollywood's Bob Hope and France's Fernandel--are teamed in the location-filmed Paris Holiday. Since Hope coauthored the script, however, guess which actor has the largest part. Cast more or less as himself, Hope plays an American comedian who comes to Paris to purchase a script. Little does his suspect that the script contains secret messages pertaining to a vicious gang of counterfeiters. With the help of villainess-turned-heroine Anita Ekberg, Hope is committed to an insane asylum to protect him from the bad guys; he then must rely upon Fernandel to spring him from the looney bin. Throughout Paris Holiday, Bob Hope looks too old and too rich to be indulging in such nonsense. Film buffs will enjoy the brief, unbilled appearance by famed producer-director-writer Preston Sturges. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

Paris Holiday is a passable Bob Hope comedy, but definitely one that should have been much better than it is. By 1957, when Paris was made, Hope had started on the decline that would plague most of his films from that point on. The comedian was still as sharp as ever, with admirable timing and the ability to toss off a zinger that was still something to see, but the character that he had developed for the past two decades -- a cowardly yet cheeky fellow who finds himself mixed up in situations he doesn't really understand -- didn't seem to suit him as he aged. He became a little too self-aware, and much of the naturalness and spontaneity that is found in the earlier films is missing. It doesn't help matters that Paris is very sloppily put together, with bits and pieces that were shown to much better advantage in earlier films. Hope's co-star, the French comic Fernandel, is good but doesn't get the chance to make the strong impression that his reputation leads one to expect. As for the women, Martha Hyer and Anita Ekberg look simply stunning, which is all that is required of them -- but they also manage to turn in solid work within the confines of the script. Gerd Oswald's direction is okay but uninspired; its biggest failing is in the climactic courtroom scene, which simply lacks the comedic rhythm that it demands. Paris Holiday doesn't sparkle, but it has some decent laughs along the way. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• Bob Hope - Robert Leslie Hunter
• Fernandel - Fernydel
• Anita Ekberg - Zara
• Martha Hyer - Ann McCall
• Preston Sturges - Serge Vitry

Andre Morell - American Ambassador; Alan Gifford - Bit Player; Maurice Teynac - Dr. Bernais; Yves Brainville - Inspector Dupont; Jean Murat - Judge; Roger Treville - Golfer Patient; Irène Tunc - Shipboard Lovely

Credit

Pierre Balmain - Costume Designer, Paul Feyder - First Assistant Director, Gerd Oswald - Director, Ellsworth Hoagland - Editor, Joseph Lilley - Composer (Music Score), Joseph L. Lilley - Composer (Music Score), Joseph Lilley - Musical Direction/Supervision, Sammy Cahn - Songwriter, Jimmy Van Heusen - Songwriter, Georges Wakhévitch - Production Designer, Roger Hubert - Cinematographer, Bob Hope - Producer, Robert Hope - Producer, Francis J. Scheid - Sound/Sound Designer, Edmund Beloin - Screenwriter, Dean Riesner - Screenwriter

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