Holden and Hepburn are screwballs in... Paris When It Sizzles (1964)

Paris When It Sizzles is weird. It has many scenes that will either make you giddy with disbelief or frustrated. Personally, I've always enjoyed the film -- why else would I be writing about it? -- but others love nothing more than to tear it to pieces. Is it a masterpiece? Oh goodness, no. Is it ridiculous, silly, and bizarre? Oh, yes! I would be the first to admit that Paris... is not for everybody, but I happen to think its positives outweigh the negatives.

One very big positive is the cast. Audrey Hepburn and William Holden were a really good team, yet they only made two films, this one and Sabrina. The latter film saw Holden losing Audrey to Humphrey Bogart, so it's nice to see Holden get the girl this time. (And naturally Audrey is in chic Givenchy!) Noel Coward has a supporting role, but my favorite favorite favorite supporting role goes to Tony Curtis, who wasn't even put on the poster and must have came as quite the surprise to the audience back then -- I was certainly shocked when I first saw it.

With a Bloody Mary in hand, Richard Benson (Holden) sunbathes on the terrace of his Parisian apartment. What he should be doing is writing his screenplay for producer Alexander Meyerheim (Noel Coward), but writing has become joyless for Richard, a mechanical thing rather than a passionate one. That only slightly changes when Gabrielle Simpson (Hepburn) shows up. Richard had telephoned an agency for a typist, and Gabrielle's his gal. She's all ready to get to work, but Richard shocks her by revealing that, well, there is no script. All he has are blank pages and the title "The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower." Oh, and did he mention that they have just two days to whip something together?

Gabrielle is already feeling stressed, but she's worked with unorthodox people before, recounting her time with a New Wave director who makes films about nothing. (A sample title: The Scrabble Game Will Not Take Place.) Richard is pretty disgusted with these new, hip filmmakers, frequently cracking wise about the ridiculousness of Method actors and such, yet the film never names names. Any kind of movie is fair game, though, be it old-fashioned or not. Throughout Paris..., mockeries will be made of lots of things, creating a very intertextual film. Anyway, Richard and Gabrielle get to work, as he describes in detail the opening credits, complete with a title song from Frank Sinatra (alas, he only gets to sing one line, but you can bet that it's still sung gorgeously).

We then go into the film-within-the-film, also known as Richard's imagination. He begins with a mysterious woman in black, looking at her watch atop the Eiffel Tower. But that's scrapped in favor of something more glamorous, like... Marlene Dietrich pulling up to Dior in a shiny Bentley! The beautiful star appears, looking wonderful as ever. Funny story: in a deleted scene, Dietrich picked out an ermine coat in Dior and once the cameras stopped rolling, she decided she wanted to keep it. Producer and screenwriter George Axelrod was confident that he could get Dietrich to forget it. He returned minutes later and said, "She gets the coat -- and the limo." Oh, Marlene.

For the rest of Paris..., Richard and Gabrielle take us into their imaginations and create many amusing sequences where they picture themselves as their script's protagonists. There are also moments when they get swept away by their writing. When Gabrielle wakes up in the morning, for instance, she hears the lovely voice of Fred Astaire singing "That Face." She then opens her bedroom door to find a trail of pages leading her throughout the apartment until she finds Richard. He twirls her around a few times, dips her, and just when they are about to kiss, he sharply says "Unfortunately, Ms. Simpson, we are not writing a musical." There is no way that this scene isn't a reference to Funny Face, right? Watch it for yourself here.

The movie that Gabrielle and Richard are writing ultimately becomes a spy thriller with "switch after switch after switch." There are some genuinely surprising moments that happen during their movie, so I'm going to refrain from spoiling anything. The script goes through multiple mood and genre shifts, allowing us to see Holden and Hepburn in scenes that we were never able to witness in their own careers, such as Holden playing a vampire

who goes after Hepburn. Their acting is outrageous and over-the-top, but that's kind of the whole point. It wants to make fun of Hollywood. Whether or not it succeeds is entirely up to your tastes. Some things land flat, while others never fail to make me giggle.

Speaking of giggling... it's time we talk about Tony Curtis. Due to difficulties with Holden (more on that in a bit), the

filmmakers decided to include cameos like Dietrich's and asked Curtis to come in for a small part in order to film things that didn't require Holden. Curtis only appears in the film-within-the-film, but he is just so fabulous. Playing a self-centered jerk with a twist (again, no spoilers), Curtis made the most of his appearance. You can watch his first scene here, as narrated by Richard.

 
Paris... was filmed in the summer of 1962 on location; in the fall, Hepburn made one of her best films, Charade. The studio wasn't entirely impressed with Paris..., shelving it for two years. Holden and Hepburn had been very much in love during production of Sabrina in 1954, despite Holden's marriage. The romance was quickly ended, though, when Audrey discovered that Bill had had a vasectomy before they met, making it impossible for them to have children, the one thing Audrey wanted most in the world. She married Mel Ferrer later that year.

By 1962, Holden's alcoholism was in full force, causing director Richard Quine to rent a house next to the actor's to keep watch over him. On top of that, Holden was very nervous about working with his ex: "I remember the day I arrived at Orly Airport for Paris When It Sizzles. I could hear my footsteps echoing against the walls of the transit corridor, just like a condemned man walking the last mile. I realized that I had to face Audrey and I had to deal with my drinking. And I didn’t think I could handle either situation." Quine was able to convince Holden to go for a week-long treatment towards the end of production. (It was during that time that producer George Axelrod hired Curtis.) When Holden came back, he got right back into trouble -- he bought a Ferrari and crashed it into a wall, putting his arm in a splint. It's amazing that most of these stories didn't get out to the press at the time.

The production was probably awkward for Holden and Hepburn, but I imagine it was made even more tense when Mel Ferrer was given a quick cameo in a costume party sequence masquerading as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although Paris... doesn't capture the former lovers' chemistry like Sabrina does, there is still a spark there and it appears that the actors were civil to one another. I haven't found any stories of them behaving unprofessionally towards each other, so that's nice.

Paris When It Sizzles is a tricky film to sell to others, particularly because it has this reputation of being a huge flop. It doesn't always stay sharp and it can feel unfocused at times, but it is an enjoyable way to spend your time. The movie references fly fast and furious, and the cameos are like catnip to classic film fans. Holden and Hepburn are charmingly amusing, and if Tony Curtis does nothing for you in this movie, I may need to rethink our friendship.

With love,

Michaela

__________________

This is part of the Second Golden Boy Blogathon, celebrating the irresistible William Holden. Click here to see the other entries.