The Rage of Paris

This is basically a formulaic romcom with predictable beats, but sparkles from the start with Darrieux's unforced sexy comic energy. Her accidental strip-tease is both credible and hilarious; her slight embarrassment at the hustle she finds herself promoting makes her subsequent attempts to pull it off all the more endearing. She shares the screen here with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. but it's pretty much her film. Sweet and fun.

Danielle Darrieux plays a French woman called Nicole who is desperately looking for a job to get some cash.Without any luck. But she finds a better way to get rich.Nicole gets a rich man called Bill Duncan (Louis Hayward).Bill's friend Jim Trevor (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) knows Nicole's nasty little plan and tries to stop it.The Rage of Paris from 1938 is nice comedy with good actors.Beautiful Danielle Darrieux is perfect in her role.Same thing with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.Mr. Fairbanks died last May at the age of 90.If you want to see a good old Hollywood comedy this is a movie for you to see.The movie has a happy ending and I'm a nuts for happy endings.

What a discovery! My wife and I were perusing a Madrid flea market and came across a few American films, released cheaply and given Spanish subtitles. This one had Douglas Fairbanks Jr and neither of us could make out what film it was. It turned out this was not because of the Spanish title translation but because this seems to be a genuinely forgotten film. Goodness knows why because it is an absolute gem and the perfect screwball comedy. Fairbanks is fine but the gorgeous Danielle Darrieux is amazing, a sheer delight throughout. The dialogue sparkles as much as she does and the only reason few will know her name is that this is one of the very few non French films she made, even though she is still making a contribution to French film, even now. The story of a pretty young thing wanting to marry rich is hardly original but take my word for it this is one of the very best.

Danielle Darrieux and friend Helen Broderick are jobless and have plans on marrying men with money. At least Danielle does. Helen tells her "that ship has sailed for me, dearie." But in trying to get a job as a model, Danielle discovers she has to wear nothing but drapes. No, she says. But when someone else has no qualms about it, she reconsiders and snatches the company card off the executive's desk. The only trouble is she picked up the wrong card in her haste. She goes to Douglas Fairbanks' work and thinks she's in the right place and starts to undress! When Douglas sees this, we find that his character has none and that's he's no gentleman. He's only loving this and gazes on and on… She eventually leaves and she and Helen find a name in the news who's scandalously rich. They set their sights on him with some financial assistance from waiter and friend Mischa Auer. Posing as a rich socialite from Paris, she innocently meets Louis Hayward, who just so happens to know Doug. The rest of the film is about Doug warning Louis about the kind of woman Danielle is, because he knows better. Or, does he? Right from the very beginning, this film is flamboyantly funny and tres, tres chic. I found this off Amazon and am so glad I did. How could I not know about such a fun and entertaining film as this, which is worthy of being compared to "The Awful Truth"! It was sweet and romantic one moment and then uproariously funny the next. I don't have to tell you what happens. Can't you guess? Can't you? With zippy one-liners and a great cast, including Charles Coleman, who made a career of being a man's man in films and Harry Davenport, this is one screwball comedy to discover today.

After becoming an international sensation in "Mayerling" (1936), pretty French Danielle Darrieux (as Nicole de Cortillion) arrives in America. Mistaken for a nude model, Ms. Darrieux gets caught in the middle of undress by debonair Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Jim Trevor), who gets to utter the amusing line "I'm all ears" (while looking his Gable best). How director Henry Koster gets Mr. Fairbanks to keep his eyes glued upon Darrieux' face after she takes her shirt off is good acting.

When Darrieux is about to be evicted from her room, she "adopted" as a "niece" by matronly Helen Broderick (as Gloria Patterson). "The only job for a woman is marriage," Ms. Broderick tells Darrieux, "There's nothing wrong with you that a nice rich husband couldn't cure." Broderick conspires to marry Darrieux and millionaire Louis Hayward (as Bill Duncan), with the help of busboy turned head waiter Mischa Auger (as Mike). But, Fairbanks has other plans for the French beauty.

****** The Rage of Paris (6/9/38) Henry Koster ~ Danielle Darrieux, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Broderick, Louis Hayward