Paris Honeymoon

Bing Crosby starred in some great films (i.e. 'Holiday Inn' and 'Going My Way') but also a few not so good ones (i.e. the 1956 version of 'Anything Goes'). 'Paris Honeymoon' is a minor, and pretty much forgotten, film, but it is a pleasant diversion and nothing more or less.

The title is misleading at the very least. There is a little bit of Paris, but it is more Ruritania than Paris (probably done because it sounds catchier?) and there's no honeymoon. That however is a nit-pick and not really a flaw. There are things that stop it from being great, but there are a good many good things to make 'Paris Honeymoon' very much watchable.

Franciska Gaal agreed is irritating and displays very little warmth or charm. The plot, while still warm-hearted and light-footed, is pretty paper thin nonsense, and although there is some enormously fun comic relief from Akim Tamiroff and especially Edward Everett Horton, the script is every bit as flimsy in places. The songs have been criticised for being forgettable, well they are not the most memorable in a Bing Crosby film or any musical for that matter but they are pleasantly tuneful.

Crosby however carries 'Paris Honeymoon' with ease, it is a reasonably early film in his filmography and he is much more comfortable than in some of his earlier roles. As ever he also sings a dream. Shirley Ross is also charming, and Horton and Tamiroff are very funny, Rafaela Ottiano also. Ben Blue is amusing too, though one can't help think of Harpo Marx when seeing Blue, except not as good.

It is a good looking film too, hardly a cheapo while also not being elaborate. There are two particularly great scenes, when Horton gets water spilt over him by Ottiano and particularly the scene in the castle.

All in all, a pleasant if not exactly great film. 6/10 Bethany Cox

"Paris Honeymoon" is an above-average Bing Crosby musical. Bing plays a superstitious Texas gambler, engaged to marry a European countess (Shirley Ross). They're planning a Paris honeymoon ... but first Bing needs his good-luck charm: a horseshoe from a left hind hoof. While Bing's valet goes hoof-hunting, Bing takes a wrong turn in the Pyrenees and meets a pair of knees attached to Franciska Gaal.

Hungarian actress Gaal was discovered by Paramount and given the movie-star build-up in three Hollywood films. ("Paris Honeymoon" is her best and last Paramount movie.) She's incredibly annoying in this film, as a peasant girl who latches onto Bing and tries to woo him away from Shirley Ross.

The supporting cast are excellent. Edward Everett Horton gives his usual superb performance as Bing's hoof-hunting valet, a bit more "nelly" than usual. Akim Tamiroff is amusing as a crooked politician promoting a soft drink called "Karloca-Cola". Ben Blue plays a Harpo Marx-like European village idiot, remarkably similar to the role Harpo Marx played in "Two Many Kisses". Like Harpo in that film, Ben Blue here is almost entirely mute, but he spoils the effect when he speaks. "Paris Honeymoon" features a gag sequence with a slot machine that pays out jelly beans to everyone else, but which pays out cash jackpots to Ben Blue: this is very similar to Harpo's slot-machine routine a few years earlier in "Horse Feathers".

The funniest scene in this film occurs when Bing disguises himself as a ghostly head without a body, hoping to scare away Franciska Gaal. (Of course, Bing sings "I Ain't Got No Body".) The songs and production numbers in this film are just a notch below first-rate. The only fly in the paprika is Franciska Gaal, who was strictly from Hungary and went back there after this movie.

Bing Crosby plays Lucky Lawton a cowboy millionaire who struck gold on his land and would be considered nouveau riche. He's about to marry a Countess played by Shirley Ross, but a hitch has gone through with her divorce. They both come over to Paris to try and straighten it out.

While there Crosby buys a castle from Akim Tamiroff in some unknown Balkan town called Pushtalnik. It's also time for Pushtalnik's Rose Festival and the Rose Queen traditionally resides in the castle. That would be Franciska Gaal and she arrives and Crosby has to get rid of her before Ross joins him in wedlock.

Now if you're already thinking this plot is silly, it is. But that's the kind of thing that was done in the 1930s in Hollywood. And it's the kind of story that Bing Crosby was often asked to carry on the strength of his popularity and charisma. He does this admirably with assist from some nice songs by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger.

Robin and Rainger were one hot songwriting team in Hollywood at that time. They were fresh off an Oscar in 1938 for Thanks for the Memory which became the beloved theme song of Crosby's Road picture partner Bob Hope. Not often remembered is that Hope introduced this song with Shirley Ross and also recorded it with her.

Shirley Ross was at home equally on Broadway as well as Hollywood, she probably shuttled back and forth so she never got really established in either. A good singer with a pleasant voice, the woman was destined to be a footnote in Hollywood history. She also introduced Blue Moon in Manhattan Melodrama, albeit with a different lyric and entitled The Bad in Every Man. Larry Hart changed the lyric and the song became a smash, but not for Shirley Ross.

Akim Tamiroff was a great addition to any film he was in. Here he plays Peter Karloca, mayor of Pushtalnik. Karloca spent some time in the United States, proudly studying our political methods in Chicago and adapting them to Pushtalnik. He and Ben Blue who plays the village idiot who turns the table on Tamiroff in the end, have some great scenes together and separately.

Robin and Rainger's score consists of The Funny Old Hills, a cowboy ballad that is a personal favorite of mine, I Have Eyes which he sings as a duet via telephone with Ross, You're A Sweet Little Headache which Bing expresses his feeling for Gaal tongue in cheek and finally Joobalai which is one of the few huge production numbers in 30s Bing Crosby film. Nice, but boy what Busby Berkeley could have done here.

Gaal was a continental cabaret entertainer who Cecil B. DeMille discovered and tried to make a star, just like his rival producer Sam Goldwyn tried with Anna Sten. Paris Honeymoon was one of only two other films she made before returning to Europe just in time for World War II.

There's another number, sort of. One night Bing and butler Edward Everett Horton try to spook Gaal from the castle. Bing plays a disembodied head who is rolled down the dark hallway singing, I Ain't Got Nobody for a couple of lines. When Decca released the Bing's Hollywood record series, they included a great jazz recording that Crosby made with Woody Herman's band a couple of years after Paris Honeymoon was out.

I can't forget Edward Everett Horton who's prissy stuffiness provided a great foil for many stars. At that time primarily known for his work with Fred Astaire, Horton and Bing work well together and it's a pity they didn't do more.

A few months after Paris Honeymoon was released, Europe was at war and that mythical village of Pushtalnik would have been caught up in it. But we Americans like our escapist entertainment and Paris Honeymoon certainly fills that bill.

I like Crosby, but this is definitely not a memorable movie. It's a rather late case of American goes to Ruritania, the land of endless Viennese operettas. (In fact, the movie's title is misleading: only a short time is spent in Paris, and there is no honeymoon here. Most of the movie takes place in Ruritania.) There are the usual complications. Crosby's character meets a young peasant girl who is, as one of the other reviewers notes, very annoying. Why he would forsake Shirley Ross for her I don't understand.

The music is forgettable, and that sinks any chance of remembering this otherwise unmemorable if pleasant effort.

When the film begins, rich American, Lucky Lawton (Bing Crosby) is about to marry Barbara when the unexpected occurs...they discover she is STILL married and she needs to return to Paris to get her divorce. The plan is for Lucky to soon follow and meet her there for the wedding. However, when he goes through a small town on his way to Paris, he discovers a comely local lady (Franciska Gaal) and falls for her as well! How do alcohol and attempted vehicular homicide have to do with sorting all this out??

The film is fair and pretty predictable but could have still worked...mostly because Crosby was always such a great screen personality. But the alcohol gimmick and how it played out was really, really stupid...as was the finale. Frankly, I expected more.