The Last Time I Saw Paris

Overview

Richard Brooks directed this adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a writer who returns to Paris to gain custody of his daughter, and while there reminisces about his ill-fated marriage to the girl's mother.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/22/2020
UPC:	0191092124986
Original Release:	1954
Rating:	NR
Source:	Digicomtv
Language:	English
Time:	1:56:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Elizabeth Taylor	Helen Ellswirth
Van Johnson	Charles Wills
Walter Pidgeon	James Ellswirth
Donna Reed	Marion Ellswirth
Eva Gabor	Lorraine Quarl
Kurt Kasznar	Maurice
George Dolenz	Claude Matine
Roger Moore	Paul,English Man
Sandy Descher	Vicki
Celia Lovsky	Mama
Peter Leeds	Barney
John Doucette	Campbell
Odette	Singer
Christian Pasques	Boy
Ed Hinton	American Officer
Richard Emory	American Officer
Steve Wayne	American Officer
Loulette Sablon	Nurse
Jean Heremans	Leon
Paul Power	English Man
Harry Cody	English Man
Ann Codee	Another Nurse
Gene Coogan	Gendarme
Luis Urbina	Actor
Gilda Fontana	Flamenco Dance Team
Josette Deegan	Actor
Mary Ann Hawkins	Actor
Yevgeny Urbansky	Flamenco Dance Team
Tim Cagney	Actor
Bruno Ve Sota	Actor
Conrad Salinger	Composer

Technical Credits

Richard Brooks

Julius J. Epstein

Richard Brooks	Director,Screenwriter
Jack Cummings	Producer
Julius J. Epstein	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
A. Arnold Gillespie	Special Effects
Wesley Miller	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Were it not for the presence of a luminous Elizabeth Taylor, The Last Time I Saw Paris would be a well-made but instantly forgettable little weepie. Taking an F. Scott Fitzgerald story as its basis but turning it into a full-fledged soap opera, the Epstein brothers fill the screenplay with clichés and ask the actors to deliver dialogue that is sometimes cringe-inducing. Director Richard Brooks, not usually associated with romantic melodramas of this sort, does a very credible job with this material, making sure that the picture has the high-gloss look and feel common to the genre,\ and giving costumer Helen Rose ample opportunity to strut her stuff. More importantly, he guides Taylor past the more dangerous parts of the script, enabling her to turn in a solid, powerful performance that was her best work since A Place in the Sun. As her paramour, Van Johnson doesn't quite measure up, turning in a performance that is somewhat mechanical and surface-oriented, but Donna Reed does an excellent job as the vile but sympathetic sister. Throw in some sharp set designs and tasty cinematography and the Paris comes out as a fairly decent way to spend the afternoon, especially if you're in the mood to shed a couple of tears.