Paris, When It Sizzles
Encyclopedia
Paris When It Sizzles is a 1964
romantic comedy film directed by Richard Quine
and produced by Quine and George Axelrod
. The screenplay
is by George Axelrod based on the story and film Holiday for Henrietta
by Julien Duvivier
and Henri Jeanson
. The music score is by Nelson Riddle
, the cinematography by Charles Lang
and Claude Renoir
. The film stars William Holden
and Audrey Hepburn
, and features Grégoire Aslan
, Raymond Bussières
and Noël Coward
.
) who has been paid to write a screenplay for his boss, Mr. Alexander Myerheim (Noël Coward
). Overly confident in his writing abilities, he puts off writing the screenplay until just two days before it is due. Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn
), a temp secretary hired by Benson to type the script, comes to Richard's hotel room where they are to spend the weekend. Richard and Gabrielle come up with various off-the-wall scenarios for his screenplay, called The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. As the script unfolds, so does the romance between the two writers.
Cast notes:
was Together in Paris, is a remake
of the 1952 French film Holiday for Henrietta
, directed by Julien Duvivier
. Paramount exercised an option on their contracts with both Hepburn and Holden, forcing them to make the film together. Holden, who had had an affair with Hepburn during the making of Sabrina
a decade earlier and been in love with her ever since, attempted without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress. Holden's alcoholism
was also a constant challenge for Quine, who moved into a rented house next to Holden's during production to keep an eye on him. Holden later commented on both of the problems:
Curtis was brought into the production to film during a week when Holden was undergoing treatment for his alcoholism at the prompting of the director. Lang replaced Renoir as the director of photography during production, a change demanded by Hepburn after she saw what she felt were unflattering dailies
.
Hepburn shot the film in the summer of 1962, back-to-back with Charade, which she shot that fall. The films shared several locations, most notably a Punch and Judy
puppet theatre in the park in front of the Théâtre Marigny
.
called Paris When It Sizzles "marshmallow
-weight hokum" and quoted a line from the film as an apt description of the film itself: "contrived, utterly preposterous and totally unmotivated"; it complimented the two leads, saying Hepburn is a "refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve" and Holden "handles his assignment commendably."
Time
said the film was "a multimillion dollar improvisation that does everything but what the title promises" and suggested that "writer George Axelrod
(The Seven Year Itch
) and director Richard Quine
should have taken a hint from Holden['s character Richard Benson], who writes his movie, takes a long sober look at what he has wrought, and burns it."
Turner Classic Movies
notes that "critics uniformly panned" the film but said it "has earned a reputation as a guilty pleasure
for those who enjoy in-joke
movie spoofs and an absurdist storyline played out against the glorious backdrop of the City of Light
."
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
romantic comedy film directed by Richard Quine
Richard Quine
Richard Quine was an American stage, film, and radio actor and film director.Quine was born in Detroit. He made his Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May in 1939 and appeared in My Sister Eileen the following year...
and produced by Quine and George Axelrod
George Axelrod
George Axelrod was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play, The Seven Year Itch , which was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
is by George Axelrod based on the story and film Holiday for Henrietta
Holiday for Henrietta
Holiday for Henrietta is a 1952 French comedy film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Dany Robin, Michel Auclair and Hildegard Knef. In 1962 it was remade in English as Paris When It Sizzles starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn...
by Julien Duvivier
Julien Duvivier
Julien Duvivier was a French film director. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930-1960...
and Henri Jeanson
Henri Jeanson
Henri Jeanson, was a French writer and journalist. He was a "satrap" in the "College of Pataphysics".- As a journalist before World War II :...
. The music score is by Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
, the cinematography by Charles Lang
Charles Lang
Charles Bryant Lang, Jr., A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.Early in his career he worked with the Akeley camera, a gyroscope-mounted "pancake" camera designed by Carl Akeley for outdoor action shots...
and Claude Renoir
Claude Renoir
Claude Renoir was a French cinematographer. He was the son of actor Pierre Renoir and nephew of director Jean Renoir. He was also the grandson of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He is the father of actress Sophie Renoir....
. The film stars William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
and Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
, and features Grégoire Aslan
Grégoire Aslan
Grégoire Aslan was an Armenian actor.Born Krikor Aslanian in Switzerland or in Constantinople, according to different sources, Aslan made his professional debut at 18 as a vocalist and drummer with a Paris dance band, then launched an acting career under the name of Koko Aslan. His first film...
, Raymond Bussières
Raymond Bussières
Raymond Bussières was a French film actor. He appeared in over 160 films between 1933 and 1982.He was born in Ivry-la-Bataille, France and died in Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* The Two Orphans...
and Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
.
Plot
The story concerns a veteran playboy screenwriter named Richard Benson (William HoldenWilliam Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
) who has been paid to write a screenplay for his boss, Mr. Alexander Myerheim (Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
). Overly confident in his writing abilities, he puts off writing the screenplay until just two days before it is due. Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
), a temp secretary hired by Benson to type the script, comes to Richard's hotel room where they are to spend the weekend. Richard and Gabrielle come up with various off-the-wall scenarios for his screenplay, called The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. As the script unfolds, so does the romance between the two writers.
Cast
Some members of the cast have roles in The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower, the film-within-the-film.| Actor | Role | Role in the film-within-the-film |
|---|---|---|
| Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century... |
Gabrielle Simpson | Gabby |
| William Holden William Holden William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974... |
Richard Benson | Rick |
| Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan was an Armenian actor.Born Krikor Aslanian in Switzerland or in Constantinople, according to different sources, Aslan made his professional debut at 18 as a vocalist and drummer with a Paris dance band, then launched an acting career under the name of Koko Aslan. His first film... |
Police Inspector Gilet | |
| Raymond Bussières Raymond Bussières Raymond Bussières was a French film actor. He appeared in over 160 films between 1933 and 1982.He was born in Ivry-la-Bataille, France and died in Paris, France.-Selected filmography:* The Two Orphans... |
François, the gangster | |
| Tony Curtis Tony Curtis Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama... |
Maurice, the second policeman | |
| Noël Coward Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy... |
Alexander Meyerheim | The Producer |
Cast notes:
- In addition to the uncredited role played by Tony Curtis, the film also features uncredited cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s by Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
, as herself, and Mel FerrerMel FerrerMel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....
, Hepburn's real-life husband at the time, who plays a party guest dressed as Dr. Jekyll, while Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
sings a few bars of the opening song, The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower.
Production
The film, whose working titleWorking title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
was Together in Paris, is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1952 French film Holiday for Henrietta
Holiday for Henrietta
Holiday for Henrietta is a 1952 French comedy film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Dany Robin, Michel Auclair and Hildegard Knef. In 1962 it was remade in English as Paris When It Sizzles starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn...
, directed by Julien Duvivier
Julien Duvivier
Julien Duvivier was a French film director. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930-1960...
. Paramount exercised an option on their contracts with both Hepburn and Holden, forcing them to make the film together. Holden, who had had an affair with Hepburn during the making of Sabrina
Sabrina (1954 film)
Sabrina is a 1954 comedy-romance film directed by Billy Wilder, adapted for the screen by Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman from Taylor's play Sabrina Fair...
a decade earlier and been in love with her ever since, attempted without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress. Holden's alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
was also a constant challenge for Quine, who moved into a rented house next to Holden's during production to keep an eye on him. Holden later commented on both of the problems:
Curtis was brought into the production to film during a week when Holden was undergoing treatment for his alcoholism at the prompting of the director. Lang replaced Renoir as the director of photography during production, a change demanded by Hepburn after she saw what she felt were unflattering dailies
Dailies
Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. They are so called because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synched to sound, and printed on film in a batch for viewing the next day by the director and some members...
.
Hepburn shot the film in the summer of 1962, back-to-back with Charade, which she shot that fall. The films shared several locations, most notably a Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy is a traditional, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character...
puppet theatre in the park in front of the Théâtre Marigny
Théâtre Marigny
The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny, in the 8th arrondissement. It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panorama, which opened in 1883...
.
Reception
VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called Paris When It Sizzles "marshmallow
Marshmallow
The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavourings, and sometimes colouring, whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow recipes call for egg whites...
-weight hokum" and quoted a line from the film as an apt description of the film itself: "contrived, utterly preposterous and totally unmotivated"; it complimented the two leads, saying Hepburn is a "refreshingly individual creature in an era of the exaggerated curve" and Holden "handles his assignment commendably."
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
said the film was "a multimillion dollar improvisation that does everything but what the title promises" and suggested that "writer George Axelrod
George Axelrod
George Axelrod was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play, The Seven Year Itch , which was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe...
(The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
) and director Richard Quine
Richard Quine
Richard Quine was an American stage, film, and radio actor and film director.Quine was born in Detroit. He made his Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Very Warm for May in 1939 and appeared in My Sister Eileen the following year...
should have taken a hint from Holden['s character Richard Benson], who writes his movie, takes a long sober look at what he has wrought, and burns it."
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
notes that "critics uniformly panned" the film but said it "has earned a reputation as a guilty pleasure
Guilty pleasure
A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. The "guilt" involved is sometimes simply fear of others discovering one's lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes. Fashion, video games, music, movies, and junk food can be examples of...
for those who enjoy in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
movie spoofs and an absurdist storyline played out against the glorious backdrop of the City of Light
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
."
Film-within-the-film
- In one scene, Holden's character remarks that the film-in-the-film could have a theme song by Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Sinatra's voice is heard singing the laughable lyric, "The girl who stole the Eiffel Tower also stole my heart" over the fictional credit sequence.
- In his first nutshell explanation of his plot, Benson references a cat in a rain-soaked alley while a couple shares a kiss, a reference to the end of Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's.
- Another film from Hepburn's back-catalogue, My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
, is mentioned as being the same story as FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
.
- The film-in-the-film's title, "The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower", was also used as the title of a song by Texas band The Deathray DaviesThe Deathray Davies-History:The band formed as a solo side-project for Dallas musician John Dufilho, who sent in a demo tape to the 1999 SXSW performance; he recruited friends from other local Dallas bands in order to perform...
.