Scandale à Paris

A kind of anti-Les Miserables, this sophisticated period comedy inverts conventional morality, following a thief/scoundrel as he rises to become the chief of police of Paris. This makes an ideal showcase for George Sanders at his peak of suavity, which he maintains even in a blond wig while posing for a portrait of St. George [this evolves into a theme of the film: "In all of us there is a St. George and a dragon"]. Naturally, Sanders effortlessly spins aphorisms: on adultery, he murmurs, "Sometimes the chains of matrimony are so heavy they have to be carried by three".

Very much a production of displaced Europeans [Sirk, Shuftan, Eisler, Pressburger], the story celebrates a continental tolerance ["No man is a saint"]. Douglas Sirk clearly enjoys the subversive charm of the criminal mind which stays sharp by exploring all the possibilities for larceny. However, Sirk is not cruel: the provincial victims are not buffoons; they are just not sharp enough to see all the angles in each situation. He does not mock the cheerful dowager [Alma Kruger] who is eager for more adventurous company, and even the bumbling cuckold [Gene Lockhart] is ultimately touching when he disguises himself as a canary-merchant.

Like its contemporary, Renoir's DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID, this sometimes seems like a European film trapped in Hollywood. However, while the first hour sometimes strains to be "naughty" [as in a decorous skinny-dipping scene], Sirk is able to unify the tone more successfully than Renoir. If Signe Hasso seems a bit old [at 30] as the wide-eyed ingenue, and Carole Landis struggles through her music hall number, Sirk guides both of them to satisfying moments, justifying their casting. The plot – involving a garter made of rubies, a monkey called Satan, and a Chinese carousel with a giant Pekinese to ride -- develops increasingly clever and surprising twists, to a pleasing conclusion.

Although the story line bogs down a bit and the plot gets a bit thick at times to follow, for fans of George Sanders this film is an absolute must. I cannot imagine anyone else but Sanders in the lead as the con man Eugene Francois Vidocq the thief who rises to become the head of the Paris PD and then gets put in charge of the security at the bank. The better to rob it when the time comes.

Even when in the greatest of danger of exposure Sanders is never at a loss for word, wit or wits. The only one who knows the whole story of Sanders is Akim Tamiroff and he won't tell.

I cannot and will not spill any of the elaborate plans that Sanders makes, but it involves his ability to con every one so that he is trusted implicitly.

One should also take careful note of Gene Lockhart who usually is playing sniveling rats. Here for a change of pace he's a detective who Sanders makes an absolute fool out of.

Forget Addison DeWitt and the Oscar Sanders won for playing him, A Scandal In Paris is no doubt his career role. And he looks like he's having such a good time in the part.

"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.

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!

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.