La dernière fois que j'ai vu Paris

The Last Time I Saw Paris was the second of two films that Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson co-starred. What a difference in four years from The Big Hangover where Johnson was billed ahead of Taylor.

Which is odd in this case because the film is really about Johnson. It's based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's story, Babylon Revisited which takes place in Paris after World War I. MGM apparently thinking that the audience would be more amenable to a story taking place after World War II, so the plot was updated for France of the Fourth Republic.

It doesn't quite work though, France of that era was a whole lot different than France of the Roaring Twenties. They partied then also when Paris was liberated and the Germans chased out of their country, but on the whole it was a time for more sober reflection of what France's role in the post war world would be. The Roaring Twenties that Fitzgerald wrote about were not the Roaring Forties.

Van Johnson is a GI who comes upon a family of expatriates who lived in Paris right through the occupation. Walter Pidgeon and his two daughters, Donna Reed and Elizabeth Taylor. They both are interested, but Johnson has eyes only for Liz. And the film is their story.

It's a tragic story, you can see Fitzgerald himself in Van Johnson, the would be writer who becomes a dissolute playboy. Partying right along with him is Taylor who is the image of Fitzgerald's party girl wife Zelda.

MGM did this one on the cheap. There are some shots of Paris, but on the whole the Paris you see is the Paris that was created by the studio for their classic musical An American in Paris. View the films side by side and you'll have no doubt.

Look for Eva Gabor as a divorcée who likes Johnson and a very young Roger Moore as a tennis pro who'd like to be a kept man by Taylor.

It's a nice story, but it could have been a whole lot better if MGM had actually shot the film in Paris completely and really set in the period it was written.

At the end of the war years his character, Charles, is a writer for the Stars and Stripes, and wants to continue a career in journalism. He meets James Ellswirth (Walter Pidgeon), an aging member of the lost generation, and his two grown daughters. There is level headed Marion (Donna Reed) and frisky flirtatious Helen (Elizabeth Taylor).

Charles and Marion are first an item, but then Helen steals him away from her own sister. Marion settles down with somebody else. That is to say, she settles for someone else. Houses tend to settle, and it's usually no fun to watch. But I digress.

Then the barren worthless oil fields that James gave Charles and Helen as a wedding present come in big time and suddenly Charles and Helen are fabulously wealthy and they transform into a second lost generation in the tradition of dear old dad, except this time with the money to make a really big mess of their lives. Charles quits his job and just becomes a huge drunken womanizing jerk, feeling sorry for himself because all of his rejection from publishers. This is where we get to the hard to believe part. I just don't buy Van Johnson as this tortured yet shallow soul. Louis B. Mayer, when he was redecorating MGM after Irving Thalberg's death, specifically hired Johnson because of his easy, song and dance man's likability and uncomplicated face. The part cries out for Kirk Douglas or maybe even better - Montgomery Clift.

A huge tragedy ensues, and Marion, taking time off from settling, comes back into the picture to make things even worse. Who do I really feel sorry for in this film full of unlikeable characters? Marion's husband, who at the end, finally figures out he's been settled for all of these years. You can see it in his face. And if that face looks familiar, it's because the actor is the father of Monkee Mickey Dolenz.

A successful writer ( Van Johnson) remembers about his love story with a gorgeous American girl ( Elizabeth Taylor ) in post WWII Paris . As we watch bright scenarios from Paris as the Arc of Triumph , river Sena , Cathedral of Notre Dame , promenade of Eliseos ; furthermore a horsemen race and Montecarlo car race , among others . Based on a semi-autobiographic novel titled ¨ Babylon revisited ¨ by F. Scott Fitzgerald who is well incarnated by Van Johnson and in which Helen played by Elizabeth Taylor represents Zelda , Scott's wife .

This interesting movie reminisces the love affair between a wealthy war reporter and a feisty young woman ; it packs romance , drama , and colorful scenarios . Good support cast as Donna Reed , Eva Gabor , Kurt Kasznar , John Ducette and Walter Pidgeon who steals the show as joyful and sponger father . Glamorous cinematography in glimmer Technicolor by Joseph Ruttemberg and adequate musical score .

The motion picture is professionally written and directed by Richard Brooks . He's an American filmmaker and screenwriter who won an Oscar for ¨ Elmer Gantry ¨ writings ; Brooks so consistently blended the good with average which it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . In the 50s , the harder his movies impacted , the more successful they were ; and the gentler they were , the less effective as ¨The last time saw Paris ¨ . Thus , the Brooks pictures that have the biggest hit in the 50 are the following : ¨Blackboard jungle ¨, ¨Something of value ¨ ¨The Brothers Karamazov ¨ , and in the 60s are ¨ Sweet bird of youth¨, Cat on a hot tin roof ¨, ¨In cold blood ¨ and ¨ The professionals ¨ ; in addition during the 70s a special mention to ¨ Bite the bullet ¨. Rating : : Good film that appeal to Elizabeth Taylor fans .

The Last Time I saw Paris

Reviewed by Dan Cooper

This film was made in 1954, and by virtue of its age it becomes an easy target for those who would use it as a vehicle to pump up their own egos with a verbal bashing that will likely go unchallenged. The film has indeed been bashed, here on this database among other places, as unimportant and unworthy of your time as a possible rental choice.

I disagree completely with the uncalled for bashing, and with the judgement that the movie is unworthy of your time. See it for yourself. And if you are young enough to be completely unfamiliar with all of the actors, so much the better for you to judge it fairly on its merits rather than be snowed by the reputations of Hollywood personalities.

The plot has depth and very few weaknesses, the acting is good to very good, and the story has interest value in both historical and social frames of reference.

The plot concerns the uniting of two people whose tragic flaws are not well matched, with the obligatory tragic results. The pair gets together spinning out of a near-miss love triangle. The man (Van Johnson) has no idea of the existence of the triangle, as he is completely taken with Taylor and just as completely forgets his earlier attraction to the other woman (Donna Reed). Reed, the rejected third wheel, is actually not rejected, per se, but becomes the "odd man out" none the less when her sister (Liz Taylor) successfully steers the affections of the duped Johnson in her own direction instead.

Reed adopts the persona of the rejected party to a relationship that never was, and exacts her revenge later in the film.

While the big name actors of the day are no longer influencing moviegoers today, they undoubtedly sold the film in 1954. I find some weaknesses in both acting and directing, but the film is definitely worth seeing if you have never had the pleasure. Van Johnson's role is that of a fairly shallow character with a good heart but no follow-through to carry him to victory until way too late to do much good. Johnson possibly could have done more with the role, but the weakness of the character should not be confused with some partially perceived weakness in Johnson's delivery of the part.

Taylor does a nice job as the sly and experienced older sister, the one with the better looks and the Machiavellian technique to get whatever she wants, again at the expense of little sister Reed. The film is actually carried more by the acting of the supporting cast than by the efforts of the leads. Two very strong performances are put forth by Walter Pidgeon and George Dolenz. Pidgeon plays the opportunistic pretender to wealth and father of the two women. Dolenz is the earnest lover of Reed, who inherits her full-time attentions only after Johnson is fully occupied with Taylor. Dolenz marries Reed and in the end does a very nice job of becoming the film's heroic figure.

Eva Gabor at the peak of her youthful beauty does a good job as yet another love triangle component for the easily side-tracked Johnson after his marriage to Taylor. Another triangle develops with a very young Roger Moore finding the eye of Taylor.

Do yourself a favor and see this movie.

Dan Cooper is a freelance writer/editor. He has been writing for over 30 years and has done book and movie reviews sporadically since the 1970's.

Come on, IMDb-ers! Check the credits for a film before you embarrass yourselves. It was Eva Gabor, not her sister, Zsa Zsa, who had a small role in this film. Mama Jolie and her glamorous daughters are a part of the American celebrity/entertainment scene that so many of us remember rather fondly and Eva, among them, was quite a charming actress. (Check out her appearances in Minnelli's "Gigi" and the Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward clunker, "A New Kind of Love," in which Eva almost stole the show, despite the presence of Thelma Ritter who usually carried off that particular prize.)

"The Last Time I Saw Paris" was typical mid-Fifties high gloss soap opera from M-G-M, and it's a bit of a surprise that Richard Brooks was the director, since he's noted for somewhat more topical and/or hard-hitting stuff. But, as a look back at the gorgeous Elizabeth emoting most fetchingly at the peak of her camera-worthiness, this one can hardly be beat.