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THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS
Elizabeth Taylor at her most alluring is the main attraction of a 1954 melodrama called The Last Time I Saw Paris, a lushly mounted romantic tale that ranks with the best work of Douglas Sirk.
The film stars Van Johnson as Charlie Wills, a soldier who returns home from the war to Paris and begins a whirlwind romance with Helen Ellswirth (Taylor), a carefree party girl who kisses Johnson on the street during the coming home celebration. He gets a job writing for The Stars & Stripes and Helen continues to believe that life is one big party. Charlie and Helen marry and have a child, much to the consternation of Helen's sister, Marian (Donna Reed), who also has feelings for Charlie. But Charlie's inability to get his own novel published, which starts him drinking, coupled with Helen's boredom with their marriage leads to constant conflict and eventual tragedy.
Screenwriter Julies J. Epstein has constructed one of those old fashioned romances that appears to be sincere on the surface, but there are little hints along the way that this relationship is doomed. It is unclear from the beginning whether or not Helen is actually in love with Charlie or if she just pursues him to stick it to her sister, but a love does eventually blossom here, but it is aggravating watching Helen punish Charlie for the kind of behavior that was the norm for her. What we have here is a love affair that takes too long to find its footing for this couple to actually survive.
This film is slick and glossy and director Richard Brooks pulls a luminous performance from Elizabeth Taylor that lights up the screen. Brooks would later direct Taylor in her Oscar nominated performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Van Johnson is a solid leading man for Taylor, one of the few actors to do more than one film with Taylor. Clearly, the chemistry they demonstrated four years prior in The Big Hangover was no fluke. I loved these two together and was behind them as a couple from the start. Walter Pidgeon offers one of his most charming performances as Helen and Marian's father. Donna Reed works hard at keeping Marian likable but fights the screenplay. The film also features some exquisite on location photography in Paris and a memorable title song, but this is really Elizabeth Taylor's show...she knows it and owns this film.
Elizabeth Taylor at her most alluring is the main attraction of a 1954 melodrama called The Last Time I Saw Paris, a lushly mounted romantic tale that ranks with the best work of Douglas Sirk.
The film stars Van Johnson as Charlie Wills, a soldier who returns home from the war to Paris and begins a whirlwind romance with Helen Ellswirth (Taylor), a carefree party girl who kisses Johnson on the street during the coming home celebration. He gets a job writing for The Stars & Stripes and Helen continues to believe that life is one big party. Charlie and Helen marry and have a child, much to the consternation of Helen's sister, Marian (Donna Reed), who also has feelings for Charlie. But Charlie's inability to get his own novel published, which starts him drinking, coupled with Helen's boredom with their marriage leads to constant conflict and eventual tragedy.
Screenwriter Julies J. Epstein has constructed one of those old fashioned romances that appears to be sincere on the surface, but there are little hints along the way that this relationship is doomed. It is unclear from the beginning whether or not Helen is actually in love with Charlie or if she just pursues him to stick it to her sister, but a love does eventually blossom here, but it is aggravating watching Helen punish Charlie for the kind of behavior that was the norm for her. What we have here is a love affair that takes too long to find its footing for this couple to actually survive.
This film is slick and glossy and director Richard Brooks pulls a luminous performance from Elizabeth Taylor that lights up the screen. Brooks would later direct Taylor in her Oscar nominated performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Van Johnson is a solid leading man for Taylor, one of the few actors to do more than one film with Taylor. Clearly, the chemistry they demonstrated four years prior in The Big Hangover was no fluke. I loved these two together and was behind them as a couple from the start. Walter Pidgeon offers one of his most charming performances as Helen and Marian's father. Donna Reed works hard at keeping Marian likable but fights the screenplay. The film also features some exquisite on location photography in Paris and a memorable title song, but this is really Elizabeth Taylor's show...she knows it and owns this film.