The Last Time I Saw Paris is a 1954 romantic drama made by MGM, loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald 's short story Babylon Revisited. It was directed by Richard Brooks and produced by Jack Cummings. The screenplay was by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Richard Brooks.
The film starred Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson, with Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor, Kurt Kasznar, George Dolenz, Sandy Descher and Roger Moore.
The film's title song was composed by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern and, although the song was not written explicitly for the movie (used in Lady Be Good), it was featured prominently throughout the film and can be heard in many scenes, either being sung or being played as an instrumental.
The film is currently in the public domain.
Plot
As World War II ends in Europe, journalist Charles Wills (Van Johnson) is on the street of Paris, covering the city-wide celebration. He is suddenly grabbed by a beautiful woman, who kisses him on the lips and disappears. Charles follows the crowd to Café Dhingo and meets another pretty woman named Marion Elliswirth (Donna Reed). The mutual attraction is instant and she invites him to join her father's celebration of the end of the war. Charles, Marion and her persistent French suitor Claude Matine (George Dolenz) arrive at the Elliswirth household, only to find that the woman who had kissed Charles is Marion's younger sister Helen (Elizabeth Taylor).
Their father, James Ellswirth (Walter Pidgeon), had come out of World War I alive and promptly joined the Lost Generation. Unlike most drifters, he never grew out of it; even went as far as raising his two daughters to desire such a lifestyle. Helen takes after her father and uses her beauty to sustain a life of luxury even though James is flat broke. Marion goes the other way and looks for serious-minded and conventional young men such as Claude, an aspiring prosecutor, and Charles, the future novelist.
Charles and Helen fall in love and start dating. After Helen recovers from a near-death case of pneumonia, they get married and settle in Paris. James had hoped that Helen would marry rich but, having taken a liking to Charles, he good-naturedly joins the happy family of Charles, Helen and their daughter Vickie (Sandy Descher). Marion, having lost Charles to Helen, agrees to marry Claude around the same time. Charles struggles to make ends meet with his meager salary, works on his novels and looks after Vickie.
At about this time, the thus-far barren oil fields in Texas James had bought years before finally begin to profit. Charles, to whom James had given the oil fields as a dowry, quits his job, and Helen and James begin to host parties instead of going to them. Sudden wealth changes Helen, who becomes more responsible, while Charles parties his wealth away. They also each take on other interests: Helen starts to flirt with handsome tennis player Paul Lane (Roger Moore), while Charles asks professional divorcee Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor) to join him as he competes in a local Paris-to-Monte Carlo race.
After the race Charles returns to Paris to patch things up with Helen, only to find her sitting in Café Dhingo with Paul. A fight breaks out between Paul and Charles, and an angry Charles goes home first and puts the chain latch on the door from the inside, preventing it from being opened all the way. When Helen comes home and tried to enter she sees the latch. She calls out if he wants her to go away. But Charles is in a drunken stupor on the carpeted staircase and we all hear the bottle dropped from his hands as Helen calls. Helen ends up having to walk all way to Marion's place in the snow. She catches pneumonia again and dies.
Marion petitions for and gets full custody of Vickie, while Charles goes back home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to deal with the loss of both his wife and daughter. A few years later, having straightened his life out, published a book, and stopped boozing, Charles returns to Paris, hoping his reform will persuade Marion to give Vickie back to him. Marion refuses, however, still feeling resentful towards Charles for having fallen for Helen instead of her. Seeing that Charles and Vickie belong together, Claude finally steps in and tells Marion that she is punishing Charles for his not realizing that Marion loved him. It is painful for him to tell her he realizes that he, Claude, could not have all of her love, but Charles should not be punished any more.
Marion goes into Café Dhingo (on whose main wall is a big picture of Helen memorializing her having jumped into a fountain and getting arrested for it) to look for Charles (who is sitting in front of the wall painting) and tells him that Helen would have wanted him not to be alone. Outside the cafe, Claude is with Vicki. The child runs to Charles and Charles and the child walk off together as the movie ends.
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