Vacances à Paris

This is a cute piece of fluff, with the sole purpose of entertainment. One poster said something about slapstick brawls in a pan, and there are none of those. Tony Curtis shines in the type role he shone so well in during the late 1950s, and Janet Leigh is the officer sent to keep an eye on him during his jaunt in Paris with Linda Cristal. And that's the beginning. There's a good amount of chuckles, and a fine supporting cast led by Elaine Stritch, King Donovan, and Keenan Wynn. No classic, nor is it intended to be. Just an fun, enjoyable film, and one that deserves a larger audience and a DVD release. Hopefully, TCM airs it in order to allow more of an audience to view it.

The Army has a problem. 104 men has been in an Arctic base for 7 months but they can't all go on furlough. Psychiatrist Lt. Vicki Loren (Janet Leigh) suggests giving one man their perfect furlough. Cpl. Paul Hodges (Tony Curtis) leads the men to demand a trip to Paris with movie star Sandra Roca. Paul schemes his way to winning the lottery. It turns out that he was forced to go to the Arctic due to his womanizing ways and Vicki is forced to be a chaperon.

The premise is too complicated but a screwball comedy can do that sometimes. At least, it allows Tony Curtis to have some fun in the Arctic. His charm is cinematic and the movie shows it off. This is an early Blake Edwards comedy and there are a lot of his touches. My only complaint is Sandra Roca's revelation. It cuts short the possibility of a love triangle. That has so much potential but most of it is left behind. I also don't think Janet Leigh is a great comedic actress. Her seriousness can be used for comedy but in this case, it is simply a case of frustrating misunderstanding. It's not as funny as it could have been.

I'm a fan of Tony Curtis so obviously I am more inclined to like this movie than not. To be completely fair this movie is not his best effort and in fact it is probably one of the worst movies of this period of his acting career. That's not to say it's a bad movie because it is still a decent effort and a pretty good comedy with good performances and OK writing.

It is also worth watching this movie because it is one of the films he co-starred in with his real life wife Janet Leigh. In fact Jamie Lee Curtis was born around the time of this movie so that's an interesting piece of trivia for film buffs I guess.

All in all it's a pretty forgettable film and not one of the greats but if you can get your hands on a copy or catch it on TV it's definitely a decent way to get a few laughs and it's worth watching as a silly comedy that holds up pretty well after all these years.

'The Perfect Furlough's' main attraction is the cast (Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn, Elaine Stritch) . Also the talented Blake Edwards, who did many good to great films, so 'The Perfect Furlough' is watchable if one is trying to see as many films of his as possible. The same goes for Curtis, if, like me, you've found yourself unexpectedly watching as many films of his as possible.

Seeing it, 'The Perfect Furlough' is far from the best work of everybody else (Edwards though has also certainly done far worse), everybody here has been better and been in much better work. 'The Perfect Furlough' is most interesting for two things, one being seeing Curtis and Leigh in their third film together and the other being that it is the second time Curtis starred in a film directed by Edwards. As far as 1950s (and 1960s) comedies of this type go, there were far better, namely those featuring Doris Day, which were glossy and frothy but had much more wit, fun and charm as well as more natural chemistry between the cast.

It is certainly watchable. 'The Perfect Furlough' has glossy, but not overly so, production values, being elegantly shot and charmingly designed. The music is neither intrusive or low key and is pleasant enough in its own right. There are amusing and charming moments scattered through, there is a likeable light-heartedness and some chuckle-worthy lines.

Curtis and Leigh are fun to watch and are appealing in individual acting and together, Curtis especially has great comic timing and his expressions say an awful lot. They sparkle together and their love genuine. Stritch and Wynn stand out of the impressive supporting cast.

Edwards' direction however is disappointing clunky and without much pizzazz, got the sense he wasn't very interested in the film. The locations look nice enough but they don't look authentic, being more Hollywood than Paris. There is a constant stuck in the 50s feel and not much that feels current.

Also found the script uneven and more flabby than sparkling, there is not enough wit with too many moments that leaves one stone-faced while there is a lot of depth-less froth and the more risqué elements are not sharp or broad enough and come over as forced. The pace could have been much tighter and the story is contrived to the extreme, it's all very obvious and gets too silly even when taking it for what it's meant to be. At the end of the day, there is not an awful lot that's memorable here.

Summing up, a watchable enough film but uneven and forgettable after a few days. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I am in line with the vast majority of my fourteen IMDB colleagues below in regarding this as a pleasant if not very successful attempt by Blake Edwards to be Lubitsch. It is at its best in the scenes between Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh who have very good sexual and comic chemistry and balance, he being cheeky and sarcastic, she cynical and even more sarcastic. There are also some good bits with wry servants commenting upon their charges (this seems especially lifted from ol Ernst L), Curtis' bumbling attempts at being a French bellboy that pre date Peter Sellers in "Panther" by five years and Elaine Stritch given some nice zingers by scenarist Stanley Shapiro.

On the downside you have numerous failed attempts by Edwards/Shapiro to make the characters played by Linda Cristal, Keenyn Wynn and especially King Donovan's bumbling captain (a role that cries out for Ernie Kovacs) anything but faintly dull. And running through the film is Edwards' usual racism which becomes especially offputting in the scene where the French winemaker and his son opine on clean, bath taking Leigh versus unclean, bath avoiding Cristal. C plus.