Scandale à Paris

This film is excellent! I don't understand why anyone would call this the "nadir" of Sirk's career, as it is far more intelligent than any of Sirk's famous melodramas. While I enjoy those films, this remains my favorite Sirk picture. The story chronicles the misadventures of pretty rascal turned gentleman thief, Eugene Vidocq, played by the eternal screen cad George Sanders. This is one of Sanders' best caddish roles, as he sidles around chateaux and graveyards, uttering lines such as "sometimes the chains of marriage as so heavy they must be carried by three". In addition to the witty, frothy humour, there is a dark undercurrent to the film that is evidenced in its noirish photography and the amorality of the lead characters. High recommended to fans of Old Hollywood who enjoy the more eclectic films of that period!

Romanticized and not entirely historically accurate, but nevertheless an entertaining movie about Eugene Francois Vidocq, (based on his memoirs, which were probably not entirely accurate either) who goes from thief to Chief of Police in Paris, with quite a lot of adventure in between. (there's a funny scene where he's posing in armor on a horse, for a portrait of St. George, then steals the horse and runs off, later committing another theft by stealing a bejeweled garter from a lovely singer/gold digger, played by Carole Landis. Meanwhile, his portrait is admired by Theresa (Signe Hasso), granddaughter of the Marquise de Pierremont, who soon falls for the real man.

There's a couple of touching scenes. In one, Eugene tells Teresa the difference between her and Loretta, is that in Loretta's eyes he sees the man he is, but in Theresa's, he sees the man he could be. In another, Theresa steals some jewelry (ones that will belong to her anyway) to let him know that she'll love him no matter what, and wants to be part of his life, even if it means becoming like him.

I won't give away any more details, except to say that Jo Ann Marlowe gives a great performance as Theresa's precocious little sister, who tells Eugene she knew all about him from the start.

A fun movie!

"A Scandal in Paris" is a 1946 film starring George Sanders, Akim Tamiroff, Signe Hasso, and Carole Landis. Directed by Douglas Sirk, it's based on the memoirs of François-Eugène Vidocq, a thief who became the Chief of Police in the 18th Century. The story begins with Francois being born in a jail and covers his European escapades. At one point, he poses for a painting of St. George and rides off on the horse he sits on; later, a marquise's granddaughter (Hasso) falls in love with the face in the painting and recognizes him when he comes to stay with her grandmother...and steal her jewels.

A very witty script that is perfect for the elegant, handsome Sanders. This role seems tailor-made for him. The beautiful Carole Landis plays one of his victims, a showgirl with a valuable garter. Sadly, by this time, her career had really stalled out. She's still a bright and glamorous presence. Hasso is an odd choice for an ingénue role, though she does a good job.

Entertaining film, particularly because of George Sanders.

I was already a fan of George Sanders - but this film really gives him the witty language that he can spin under his breath better than any actor in movies. The story itself is far more interesting in its twists and turns than expected. Listen carefully - and you hear real style and imagination.

George Sanders as Eugene Francois Vidocq, a clever French crook (and a very flimsy representation of the amazing real-life template), is both the lead actor and narrator of this film in which he neatly swindles his way from a lowly prison cell to the top of French society delivering a bounty of aphorisms along the way. The real-life Vidocq began as a rough-and- tumble child criminal and ended up a government minister.

Sanders basically delivers the same polished performance seen in numerous other films, from "Man Hunt" (1941), through "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945) and "All About Eve" (1950): the cool, cultivated, continental, dry wit with just the right suggestion of the animal beneath. Carole Landis, in what may be her finest role, is both funny and chilling as a self-centered show girl who blatantly uses her beauty to catch wealthy men. Signe Hasso (who looks distractingly like Margaret Sullavan) plays the daughter of the minister of police; she falls in love with Sanders but is as lifeless and damp here as she is vivacious and crackling in "The House on 92nd Street," made the year before.

The film is obviously 100% studio made, with painted backdrops to represent the French countryside. But since scenery is not the point here, this drawback can be overlooked. It's an unusual film about an extraordinary man, here reduced to a sort of Sherlock Holmes who strides both sides of the law.