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Paris brûle-t-il? (1966)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
3/08, 3/24
3/08:
Don't be fooled by the tagline on the DVD cover of Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûle-t-il?) which boasts of having an
"all-star cast."
While Gert Fröbe gives the best performance and Orson Welles has good scenes with him, Kirk Douglas offers his two cents and
disappears after five minutes; Simone Signoret, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Yves Montand have bit parts; and
that's it. In short, it's a terrible soap opera film that runs too long on fumes.
There are countless overly melodramatic scenes to draw sympathy from the audience, and they all look amateurish.
One in particular is a woman looking for her husband and finally finding him before he runs away and gets shot. When I
think about that part as time goes on, the sillier it is.
In a way, Is Paris Burning? feels like an assembly of moments to create one big picture with none of them tying
up together. Every time the word "Paris" is mentioned, especially in the last hour, it's like a magic word that
can unlock doors to the universe of truth. It makes me wish the Nazis bombed the city into smithereens.
Even worse is the inclusion of Anthony Perkins, which is probably the final nail on the coffin, because my gosh...he doesn't
look like he was in the war for more than two seconds! Thinking of him, some potential film titles come to my mind such as
Norman Bates Attacks Paris, Norman Bates Battles the Nazis,
and my favorite...Norman Bates Could Have Met Adolf Hitler.
One scene showed a jeep with several men ramming into a wall or a tree, and they all stood up to fall pathetically to
the ground. I couldn't help but rewind the tape and watch the scene over and over while laughing to death. When the hammy
line, "In Paris, we have to look our best," was uttered by a French commander, it's the death knell of Is Paris Burning?
for trying to be a serious war film.
On the positive side, I like some of the shots which are aesthetically done. It's probable that certain ideas may have influenced
the making of Schindler's List. Then again, Steven Spielberg could've learned a lot
in terms of what to avoid.
All in all, I wish Paris had been burned down instead of the mess I saw in Is Paris Burning?
3/24:
Raising my rating from '3' to '4' for Is Paris Burning?, the French's stunning arrogance is in full display.
They actually think their city is so special, and they're heroes for saving it? Bullshit. When the Nazis came in 1940, the French
just gave up like that and laid low the next four years before retaking the city only because the Allies finally came. Otherwise, they
were doing nothing while aiding Nazis with their work. The biggest crime they committed was deporting as many Jews as they
could, and most were killed during the Holocaust. That being said, who the hell cares about Paris? Just burn it already.
All in all, Is Paris Burning? is pathetic.