Is Paris Burning?
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Movie Reviews of Is Paris Burning?
Movie Review: The Liberation of Paris...
Summary: 4 Stars
1966's "Is Paris Burning?" was one of several ensemble 1960's movie epics commemorating the Allied victory in World War II. It was based on the historical account by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre of the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation in 1944.
This is a French production and its cast and point of view are largely French. At the start of the film, Hitler appoints a new German commander in Paris (Gert Frobe, Goldfinger from the James Bond movie) who is directed to burn the city if Allied liberation is likely. The French resistance, with the Allies ashore in Normandy, debate among its factions about when to rise up and seize the City. In the event, several factions start on their own; the result is fighting over control of the public buildings in the center of Paris. The Swedish diplomatic representative (Orson Welles in an extended cameo) arranges a temporary ceasefire while the resistance seeks an assurance of Allied military help.
The Allies had planned to bypass Paris in pursuit of retreating German Armies, but the uprising forces their hand. General Omar Bradley (Glenn Ford in a cameo) releases the French 2nd Armored Division and U.S. 4th Infantry Division to go to Paris. The stage is set for a race to the finish, as the Germans methodically lay demolitions charges around Paris while trying to hold off the resistance and the Allies.
The cinematography is crisp black and white, intercut with actual combat footage from the war. The movie is a virtual tour of Paris. The cast must have included every prominent French actor of the time, whose lines are (mostly) seamlessly dubbed into English. The joyous hysteria that accompanied the liberation is nicely captured, with scenes of French soldiers slipping off tanks to call ahead to parents they have not seen since 1940. Maurice Jarre's distinctive musical score helps carry the storyline.
This movie has rather been forgotten over the years. It certainly deserves another look; this movie is highly recommended to fans of the World War II genre.
Movie Review: Great movie, lousy DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
The movie is a classic, no doubt about that.
While the film's visual transfer to DVD is fine, even excellent, the audio and subtitles are horrible.
This is one of those unusual films which includes dialogue in both English and French. One wants, for example, to hear Glenn Ford speaking English. But the DVD offers *only* all English or all French, in other words, no original soundtrack.
Compounding the problem, the English subtitles were evidently written by someone who isn't a native speaker of either English or French, and who may not have even been watching the movie. Every other sentence is mistranslated. Times are altered. Names are altered. Odd sentences are added that aren't in the dialogue. It's just bizarre -- I've never seen anything like it.
So four and a half stars for the movie, but only two stars for the DVD transfer.
Movie Review: Despite Its Flaws
Summary: 4 Stars
And it has many...it is star gazing on a grand scale. Only the Hubble or The Longest Day can show you more.Movie Review: Definitely French
Summary: 3 Stars
IS PARIS BURNING? is the theatrical movie version of the best selling book of the same name. It was released in the United States in late autumn 1966 at, what was then, the peak years of war films. Many have seen IS PARIS BURNING? as the natural follow on to THE LONGEST DAY. A long film in summary: Historically accurate, closely follows the book, filmed throughout Paris, dubbed French and German dialogue is sometimes annoying.
The setting is August 1944. Paris has been occupied by the Germans for more than four years. The Allied ground forces are close enough to the city to encourage various French resistance groups to join in an insurrection against the German garrison. On the eve of the uprising German General Dietrich von Choltitz (Gert Frobe) is appointed by Hitler to command Fortress Paris. His orders are to maintain order and destroy the city if the Allies break through. Choltitz arrives in Paris and realizes his job is a hopeless one. With resistance units in control of key points and facilities throughout the city, Choltitz can only play for time. Meanwhile, French resistance forces ambush German trucks and battle German tanks with Molotov cocktails. The irony is that both von Choltitz and the French depend on the rapid arrival of the Allies in order to save the city. Until that time Choltitz, whose forces are not sufficient to pacify the city, is limited to isolated demonstrations of strength, while at the same time giving the appearance of fully supporting demolition operations. French representatives finally make it through German lines and meet with a string of American Generals, as well as French General Leclerc, and obtain a commitment from the Americans. Both French and US Army troops enter the city and overcome sporadic German resistance. Choltitz is finally taken prisoner and Paris is spared the horrific fate suffered by Warsaw.
Several things surprised me about this film. Despite that fact that it was released by Paramount, was based on a book co-written by American Larry Collins, had a screenplay written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola, and included big name American movie stars the film was produced with a French audience in mind. There is no American version. Directed by French director Rene Clement, who at one time was an acclaimed director of documentaries, IS PARIS BURNING? was sometimes filmed in documentary fashion. Indeed, many of the linking scenes consisted of actual wartime footage. Much like THE LONGEST DAY, IS PARIS BURNING? is filmed in black and white with the exception of the end credits appearing over aerial views of the city.
The music was composed and arranged by Maurice Jarre. Recall the Maurice Jarre was made forever famous by his score for LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Most of 1960s scores sound like a variation of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. His music for THE TRAIN also contained many familiar cues from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Although his IS PARIS BURNING? music is not one of those soundtracks that will ever reach the fame and popularity of classic war films such as PATTON, I must admit that it appropriate for IS PARIS BURNING? It simply sounds like what I would expect for a film centered in and around Paris.
There are two reasons I gave IS PARIS BURNING? only three stars. First is that the English dubbing leaves something to be desired. The original American actor voices are retained. Unfortunately the German and French dialogue is dubbed poorly. The second reason I did not give the movie a higher rating is that the movie faithfully follows the book. In most cases this is a good thing. In this film adhering to the book sometimes becomes confusing as there are too many locations and personalities. There is also a loss of continuity between activities because it is difficult to portray concurrent events in any sort of order. Unless you have read the book you are likely to miss the importance of many of the events. For example at the same time the resistance appears to hold key positions in the city with French armor entering the outskirts of the city we still find German demolition crews continuing unimpeded with their work.
A lot of effort went into the making of this film. Filming on location in a major European city is no easy feat. This is a credit to the production crew. Also note that they configured ex-U.S. Army M-24 Chaffee tanks as German Mark V Panthers. Not a bad job at all.
Paramount was less than thrilled at the response for IS PARIS BURNING? Despite two academy award nominations the film bombed at American box offices. Audiences are picky when it comes to docudramas. TORA, TORA, TORA would years later suffer a similar response. What it really got down to was the question as to why anyone in the United States would care about what happened in August 1944 Paris. Despite boasting such American stars such as Glenn Ford, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Perkins, E.G. Marshall, Orson Welles and Robert Stack, none of these fine actors has a singularly pivotal role in the film. Additionally none of the Americans has a presence throughout the film. German actor Gert Frobe (most audiences know him best as James Bond's Goldfinger) is really the only personality in the movie from beginning to end.
The movie has a 175 minute running time. This might be a little lengthy for those more familiar with more traditional 90 to 120 minute films. For history buffs it is likely just the right length.
Movie Review: Will Goldfinger burn Paris?
Summary: 3 Stars
I fail to understand why a film company would go through the process of cleaning up a negative for DVD and not bother trying to source the original soundtrack for the same DVD. There must exist, somewhere, the original language soundtrack to "Is Paris Burning?" as least in some form. Even an original mono soundtrack included as a bonus would have done the trick.
As it stands, what we get looks like the version that was done a few years ago for the NTSC video release.
The film itself looks clean and clear and it's a nice enough anamorphic transfer. The dubbed soundtrack, for what it's worth is clear, but nothing spectacular. But after all it is a 1966 film. The major problem technically, is that it quickly becomes very irritating seeing all these actors performances reduced to a level of stupidity because their words don't match their mouth movements. Dubbing has never sat right on foreign films and this is no exception. It was and always will be a bad solution for idiots who cannot / will not read subtitles. It's never a good alternative. At least the Region 1 DVD has a French soundtrack. But then EVERYONE will speak French. The Region 2 version I watched didn't. Bizarrely, only Spanish and Italian were included!
The story itself concerns the German attempts to prepare to hold Paris in the face of overwhelming odds. As well as the advancing Allied armies, the Germans also have to deal with the various resistance groups that are building up in the City itself. The films portrayal of the Nationalist and Communist groups however is confused and disjointed. It looks like a deliberate attempt though to make it look like the resistance groups were essentially fighting for the same things...which historically was not correct. I also suspect the producers wished to tone down the Communist element, who were the new "bad guys" in the 1960's, so that the film would do better box office in the States. There are hints are the inter-group rivalry, but the viewer is left unclear why they exist. Either way, it is far more defined in the book that the film is based on.
Most of the performances are good and it's a joy to spot so many faces on the screen. Gert Frobe (ahem...Goldfinger) deserves special mention as General von Choltitz, the Paris Garrison commander. He has the dubious decision of choosing to carry out the Fuhrer's order to "destroy Paris" or to leave the City intact. Historically, of course, it would have been an absolute impossibility for the German's to destroy the city given the parameters involved, but the choice to obey or disobey still remained.
There are a number of cameos too from US stars, such as Anthony Perkins and Glenn Ford, but this really is a film about the French during the end of the Paris occupation.
As a whole it isn't a bad film, but isn't really a good film either. I felt somewhat empty at the end and disappointed too with some un-necessary bog standard "evil German" representations. In the main though, the German's are presented as human. The French are presented as nothing but heroic and noble, which is to be expected, I suppose, but I would have liked to have seen more of the inter- group rivalry that took place in reality. The "good guy/bad guy" polemic just doesn't cut it for a cynical post-Vietnam/Iraq audience anymore.
I can't really recommend "Is Paris Burning" in this format to be honest, but if you don't mind dubbing, sometimes confusing plot structure and a near 3 hour running time, then you may enjoy it. A version with the original French, German and English soundtrack would have been a winner, but the producers missed the boat on that one.
Bottom line is rent instead of buy.