Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13502 in VHS
• Released on: 1999-04-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com
Doris Day landed another All-American Gal role in April in Paris, a musical in which, due to a case of mistaken identity, her unknown chorus girl ends up representing the United States of America in an international peace festival. (The invitation was meant for the esteemed Ethel Barrymore, not Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson. Oops.) Responsible for the SNAFU is state department official Ray Bolger, who naturally falls in love with Doris during a trans-Atlantic voyage. Complication: he's supposed to marry his boss's daughter. The songs here, by Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, are a pretty decent lot (the Duke-Harburg title tune was already a standard, and gets a thorough working-out during the movie). The tunes are good enough that that musical numbers easily outshine the story, which is slow and stagy at best--Warner Bros. musicals never could compete with MGM on that level. The flat studio-bound re-creation of Paris must have looked especially chintzy coming so soon after An American in Paris. Most damaging to the movie is the lack of chemistry between Day and Ray Bolger, who gets a very rare leading role here (this was shortly after his celebrated Broadway triumph in Where's Charley?). They simply don't click, and Bolger is busy giving a Broadway-style performance full of mugging and double-taking. But boy, the man could dance. Especially noteworthy is a solo routine that expands, in a neat bit of trickery, into a "pas de trios," as Bolger dances with two paintings of Washington and Lincoln--both played by Bolger. The rest of the film isn't up to that level of cleverness. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Doris shines in pleasant musical
By 1952, her fourth year of film-making, Doris Day had become the top female box office draw in the U.S. She was generally better than the films in which she appeared, and APRIL IN PARIS is no exception. If you're not particularly a Doris Day fan, you will probably find the film a light time-passer at best (and certainly won't agree with my four-star rating!). But if, like me, you consider Day one of the most enjoyable of all Hollywood musical stars, you'll be delighted by this movie.

The plot centers around a U.S. diplomat (played by Ray Bolger, the legendary Broadway performer in one of his infrequent film appearences) who is charged with inviting an American actress to a Parisian arts festival. By mistake, he invites not Ethel Barrymore but Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson (played by Day), a snappy Broadway chorus girl. Complications ensue, as the two fight, fall in love, and enjoy the pleasures of springtime in Paris.

Of course, in the early 1950s, most American movies were filmed on Hollywood soundstages, so Day and Bolger never actually got anywhere NEAR Paris. But to make up for the lack of authentic French atmosphere, the movie's cast features the fine French actor Claude Dauphin in a supporting role.

APRIL IN PARIS, like the other musicals made by Warner Bros. in the late 1940s and early 1950s, has its plusses and minuses. It is nowhere near as artistically and technically accomplished as the musicals of the same period made by MGM. Its script is somewhat flat and silly (though with a few good lines) and its choreography is nothing special. However, the musical direction and arrangements are excellent. And the costumes and use of Technicolor are quite attractive; appropriately, the film's color scheme features lots of spring-like pastel shades.

The film's score, by Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, includes several pleasant numbers, including a lovely ballad, "I Know a Place," and the rousing "That's What Makes Paris Paree." The classic title song had actually been written 20 years earlier by Duke and "Yip" Harburg for a Broadway revue called WALK A LITTLE FASTER.

What about Doris Day? She is actually somewhat miscast in her role--as written, "Dynamite" Jackson is more like the brash, wise-cracking chorus girls played by Betty Grable in her 1940s musicals, whereas Doris' film persona was more gentle and quietly spunky. But Doris still does an excellent job. She dances quite well in a few lively routines with Bolger. She wears her attractive costumes well. And--as always--her singing shows her to be one of the finest popular song stylists ever. Her bittersweet performance of the title tune toward the beginning of the film is a classic performance, and one of her most memorable moments on film. (In addition, Doris also displays the subtle sexiness that has been too-little remarked on by film historians recalling her career. In her opening number, "It Must Be Good," there is a moment where she turns her back to the camera and walks briskly upstage--delightful!)

If you enjoy 1950s musicals, and especially if you are a fan of Doris Day, you'll be pleased with APRIL IN PARIS.

That's What Makes Paris PAREE!"
This picture was made when Doris Day was "Doris Day", that fresh-faced, delightful blond singer who lit up the silver screen with her beautiful smile and glorious singing voice.

"April in Paris", directed by David Butler was a colorful, joyous romp for Doris Day and Ray Bolger. Mr. Bolger has been criticized for not being a suitable co-star for Miss Day, but I felt he did a credible job in the picture. No, he was not handsome, like Rock Hudson, but Rock couldn't DANCE like Bolger!

And dance up a storm, he does! I enjoyed his acrobatic dance routines in "I'm Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight" and the politically-themed dance with former Presidents' portraits, coming to life to dance with Bolger.

Doris Day, as Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson, a Broadway chorus girl, who is mistakenly chosen, instead of Ethel Barrymore, to represent America at a Paris Festival, is energetic and bouncy and mostly delightful. Her rendition of "April in Paris" was hauntingly beautiful and the highlight of the film. It was also a hit record for Miss Day.

The nicely staged, "It Must Be Good" also showcased Miss Day's wonderful singing voice and dancing skills as did "That's What Makes Paris Paree".

Claude Dauphin lugubriously reprises the title tune in a side-walk cafe with the wind blowing bitterly while he sings the song to Doris.

To my knowledge, this is the only occasion in which Doris Day engages in an all out fist fight on the screen! If you can believe it, she was battling over Ray Bolger with Eve Miller, who also had the illusion that Bolger was "Clark Gable".

In the aforementioned "I'm Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight", Doris Day opens the number with some rousing singing and later joins Bolger for some fancy footwork.

If you love Doris Day, you'll like this film. As usual, there was able support by veteran actors like Paul Harvey, who later played "Henry Miller", proprieter of the Golden Garter Saloon in "Calamity Jane".

A slightly Drizzly "APRIL"
When it was released in 1952, "April in Paris" proved to be another box-office winner for star Doris Day. She was the reigning box-office "Queen" in the world and this film further solidified her ranking with the public.
The main reason to see this film is Doris Day and in every scene in which she appears you watch her and only her - the true sign of a Star of the first magnitude. In scenes in which she doesn't appear, you eagerly await her return.
Miss Day's co-star is Ray Bolger, hot off a tremendous Broadway success in "Where's Charley". The nimble and long-legged dancer had been a favorite for nearly two decades, being especially fondly remembered for his 1939 turn as the Scarecrow in the classic, "The Wizard of Oz". Unfortunately, he and Miss Day has virtually no on-screen chemistry and their dancing styles don't especially mesh either. They move nicely together in several numbers but there is none of the on-screen magic that Miss Day and Gene Nelson displayed in their dancing numbers together previously.
Doris Day plays "Dynamite" Jackson, a performer who is brassy and a bit loud. It is somewhat reminiscent of Miss Day's debut role as Georgia in "Romance on The High Seas". She is a delight, getting full opportunity to display her incredible comic timing and skill which even then was well ahead of any other actress making films. She is also vulnerable and endearing and renders the title tune better than it has ever been rendered, before or since. She looks like a dream in lush technicolor and sings the film's other songs in her inimitable voice. Especially lovely is "I Know a Place" and she nearly stops the show with the rollicking "I'm Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight" which also lets her have full rein with some zesty dance steps.
Ray Bolger reminds one of Icahbod Crane, with his lanky frame and gawky way of performing. He's enjoyable and gets to show his talents in several scenes but again, the lack of chemistry between him and Miss Day makes some of their scenes together a bit awkward.
The plot line, condensed, is that Miss Day is accidently sent to Paris to represent the USA Theatre. The invite should have gone to Ethel Barrymore. Bolger works for the US Government and must go attempt to clear up the mistake.
The rest of the cast are pleasant and Claude Dauphin lends a "Chevalier-esque" touch to the proceedings.
Warner Brothers has dressed up the film with some nice production values that make the time pass tunefully and pleasingly.
One wishes that Miss Day had been able to venture over to the MGM lot around this time, when musicals were still making quite a splash. That pairing in the early 50's might have resulted in a string of additional classics to add to Miss Day and Leo the Lion's long list.
However, there are few moments sweeter than Doris singing the title song, and while possibly not transporting the listener to Paris, she takes us instead to that lovely, peaceful and serene place that only this superstar can take us by the sheer magic of her being.