París de mis amores

Paris - Alec Guinness - color - one might think that would be enough, but alas, it isn't. "To Paris, With Love" is a 1955 Rank film about a father and son (Guinness as Col. Fraser and Vernon Gray as John Fraser) going to Paris in order to matchmake for one another. Plus, Col. Fraser wants more time with his son.

They meet women, all right, but it seems that Col. Fraser is attracted to a young woman closer to John's age, and vice versa. A widower, he wasn't necessarily looking for love, either, but his quiet lifestyle bothers his son. "At 42," the Colonel says, "one has a few good years left." The perception of age has really changed.

Unfortunately for all parties, the film moves like lead and is about as dull as a movie can get, except for the beautiful shots of Paris. Alec Guinness is marvelous but wasted. There is one very funny scene at the door of their hotel room, but it's not enough.

Very hard to concentrate and stay interested in this film.

I love Alec Guinness. And that's saying a lot after this film. Actually, he is not bad in it. He just seems to stand aside, be urbane and his usual delightful self, but invest nada. It is obvious the girl he is matched with is a featherweight, even as an inexperienced young French girl. Sir Alec wouldn't have chosen her when he was young and very obviously isn't too happy about it now.

The interesting character is the brooding brother of the odd "Suzanne", another twit. "Donald" aspires to be a French Heathcliffe and I waited in vain for the source of his mystery. What deep dark secret was he hiding behind that forehead? Was he in love with the father's mistress? Why did he jerk Suzanne's hair when she plotted to bring the disparate parts of this turkey together on the country estate? Or perhaps he had simply had enough of her obnoxious acting.

The film would have been charming with Guiness and the "older woman" reminiscing and seeing Paris together. THAT would have been a great story! Two lovely experienced people in a beautiful city after the destruction of World War II. Why didn't somebody come up with that? I suggest watching Alec Guiness in "The Card", a little known but worthwhile film.

In the 1950s, Alec Guinness made a long string of some of the most wonderful comedies ever made. However, it's very sad that most of you have probably never seen them and only remember this actor for his work in STAR WARS. THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT, THE HORSE'S MOUTH and KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (among many others) are all fabulous Guinness films and I would heartily recommend just about every film Guinness made in the 50s--except for this somewhat dull film. Unfortunately, TO Paris WITH LOVE isn't particularly funny nor is it particularly distinguished. If it hadn't been for Guinness in the lead, I truly doubt I would have ever bothered watching it--it's just so mediocre.

The story is about a man and his 20-something son going on a holiday to Paris and both are intent on setting the other up with a lady. The problem is, Guinness ends up with the young one and the son gets the older girlfriend--and you know that both would really be better off switching partners.

Despite being so ordinary, there's nothing bad about the film or the acting. I think the problem mostly is that with such high expectations, the film was bound to disappoint.

Alec Guinness starred in an impressive number of very good comedies in the 1950s, and most of these are now sadly quite obscure. The obscurity of Robert Hamer's 'To Paris with Love' *isn't* such a tragedy, however. There are one or two genuinely funny lines in this film, but the laughs are far too infrequent to justify watching it, even in light of its rather forgiving 78 minute runtime. The performances are not too bad and Guinness's is predictably solid, but when the film's problems are situated in the writing and directing even a legion of A-listers would probably fail to elevate it out of mediocrity. To the fans of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' who've found their way to this later pairing of Hamer and Guinness: don't get your hopes up.

"To Paris With Love" fails to deliver what it ostensibly promises. First of all Paris gets only a few token frames of film, so this story could have been shot anywhere. Also, there is very little romantic love in this film.

A father and son visit Paris, where each plans to search for the other's mate. The father, a widower, is a nearly prehistoric forty- two years old. This characterization is one of the film's biggest problems. The son needs some experience. Well, fortunately for them, the two female subjects fall into their laps within the first few seconds of the film.

This simple--yet intriguing--storyline could have been magical in the hands of Shakespeare (or Woody Allen). Here, it's all predictable and transparent.

Alec Guiness, terrific in roles like "The Bridge on the River Kwai", falls flat here. The premise that he is such an old fuddy duddy only serves to magnify the mismatching of his character with a much younger French woman. The dialogue and the plot provide few interesting moments for him or his fellow actors. When the story is over, little has happened--certainly nothing of consequence.