La coqueluche de Paris

Although it is rarely cited by critics, The Rage of Paris is one of the breeziest and most charming of all of Hollywood's screwball comedies. It stars the lovely French superstar Danielle Darrieux in her greatest American role and second-generation Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Screwball films are famous for their attempts to push the censors to the limit. And The Rage of Paris does this amazingly. This type of comedy came about as a result of the Production Code, and the screenwriters and directors tried to go as far towards risqué as possible in them.

This picture begins with a young wanna-be model, Nicole (Darrieux). She is given an assignment to pose for a photographer, but she objects to the clothing (actually the lack of clothing) she is being asked to pose with. So the boss asks another model to come into his office to offer her the job. Nicole overhears the salary the model is going to get, and she changes her mind. While the boss and the new model discuss the job, Nicole sneaks over to the boss' desk and grabs what she thinks is the address of the photographer. But, she grabs the wrong address. Instead, she winds up at the office of Mr. Trevor (Fairbanks). Told by his secretary to "make herself comfortable" until Mr. Trevor arrives, she misconstrues and is in the process of undressing when he enters. It is perhaps the finest "meet-cute" in film history. When she finally realizes she got the wrong address, she leaves the office and returns to her dump-of-a boarding house, where her best friend Gloria lives.

Both desperate for money, Gloria and Nicole enlist the help of a head-waiter, Mike, to help them out. He has been saving some money to open his own restaurant, and he has $3,000 in the bank. Gloria proposes a scheme: use that money to buy Nicole some nice clothes, put her up in the hotel, and try to set her up with a rich husband; then, if they succeed, they will return his $3,000 and throw in the extra $2,000 he needs to open his restaurant. Reluctantly, Mike goes along with it.

The man they decide to "catch" with their beautiful bait is Bill Duncan, who "has ten million dollars and owns half of Canada." In a hilarious meeting, Nicole "accidentally" mistakes Bill for her old next-door neighbor. She runs up to him, kisses him, and talks excitedly in French. He tells her she is mistaken, and, embarrassed, she drops a glove and runs back to her room. Bill picks up the glove and begins to follow Nicole...the scheme has worked, and the next thing they know, Bill takes Nicole to the opera. It looks as though everything is going according to plan.

At the opera, Bill sees his best friend whom he hasn't met in a long time. He brings him back to his box, anxious to introduce him to his French aristocratic girlfriend. But it just so happens that his best friend is James Trevor, the same man Nicole was accidentally stripping for three weeks earlier. Instead of revealing her secret to his friend, James decides to see how the situation plays out.

Eventually, he tries to tell Bill about Nicole, but Bill believes James is lying and only wants the beauty for himself. In haste, Bill agrees to marry the girl. At their engagement-announcement dinner, however, James 'kidnaps' her. He takes her to his secluded country home, and the two fall in love.

She hitch-hikes back to the city, where Bill has found out the truth about her. And since he will no longer marry her, the door is open for James!

The story is typical of the times. Once Nicole is disrobed in front of Mr. Trevor, the audience knows they will fall in love. It's inevitable. But it is also so much fun watching it happen!

Furthermore, the entire cast is sensational. In fact, it is one of the most perfectly cast films of all time. Towering above all is the delectable Danielle Darrieux! She is absolutely ideal, using her continental French personality to drive men mad. The way she dictates to Gloria what she wants to eat for breakfast is lovely. It is such a simple moment, yet the actress manages to turn it into one of the most memorable parts of the film. Still, the highlight is her pouty foibles at the home of James Trevor. Her facial expressions when she sees the two-sided photograph and her experience with the troublesome window are totally captivating.

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is the quintessential debonair leading man. His performance here is one of his finest. His concern for his friend, as well as his slow albeit sure fall into Nicole's charms, make the character quite memorable. As Gloria, Helen Broderick is the cynical sidekick par excellence. And Mischa Auer suits the role of the headwaiter, Mike, so well, that it's hard to imagine another actor doing the part. Louis Hayward, playing Bill Trevor, gives one of the film's finest performances. And Harry Davenport has a part in the funniest portion of the movie, as the eccentric caretaker of James' country house.

The sets are art deco dreams, particularly the hotel rooms and the hotel room doors. Darrieux's magnificent wardrobe accents the star's unbelievable figure, too. Quite honestly, Danielle Darrieux might be the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, and this film, made when she was a young and glorious twenty years old, captures her joie de vivre for all time. The direction is swift and deft, but it's the script that really provides the basis for the film's charm. The writing and scenario are both perfect, and at about 78 minutes, the film is fast and fun.

Go to the ends of the earth to find this film. Buy it, watch it over and over again, and pass it on to everyone you know. It is the one film that will turn just about anybody on to classic films, and it ranks up top with Bringing Up Baby, The Awful Truth, It Happened One Night, and The Lady Eve as one of the five greatest screwball comedies of all time.

French film star Danielle Darrieux made her American debut in The Rage in Paris. She plays a fortune seeking gal who's set her cap for Louis Hayward, but has Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. running interference for his good friend.

She got good notices for The Rage in Paris and deservedly so. She made the decision however to go back to her own country and got to spend four years with some uninvited guests. Who knows what direction her career would have taken had she stayed here.

Anyway, Danielle is pretty but broke, desperate for a job she grabs a ticket from an employment office for what she thinks is a modeling job and gets to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s office and proceeds to take her clothes off. She beats a hasty retreat however when she realizes the big boo-boo she made with Fairbanks, somewhat amused.

Later on gal pal Helen Broderick and her friend head waiter Mischa Auer set her up with a suite at a really swanky hotel to trap millionaire Louis Hayward. It works, but he's a friend of Fairbanks as well.

I think you can see the complications and if you're a fan of Thirties screwball comedy you know how this one will turn out.

Darrieux is fresh and appealing and who would't want to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Louis Hayward chasing you albeit for different reasons. Broderick carries on with the gal pal's best friend part that later on Eve Arden would perfect.

The film itself was photographed though in that sometimes annoying sepia tint process. Sometimes that serves in good stead, the best example is Errol Flynn's The Sea Hawk when Flynn and his pirate crew are in the Panamanian jungle. In The Rage of Paris it starts out in sepia than switches to regular black and white and then back to sepia for no discernible reason.

Still though I think that even today's viewers will find the elegant world that Fairbanks and Hayward move in still quite appealing.

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.