Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûte-t-il?)
Directed by Rene Clement
Written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola from a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre
1966/France/US
Marianne Productions/Transcontinental Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Général Von Choltitz: Herr Consul, if I thought that the destruction of Paris could win the war for Germany… I would set the city on fire myself. But we’ve lost the war.[/box]
I prefer a little depth to go with my movie stars and action.
Is Paris Burning is another in a line of films starting with The Longest Day assembling a host of international stars – largely in short cameos – speaking in their own languages to tell the story of a key event in history – in this case the liberation of Paris. Resistance units in the city argue among themselves as the armies of liberation get closer and closer.
The main tension in the story is whether Gen. Von Choltitz (Gert Frobe) will execute Hitler’s order to completely destroy the city if it seems sure to fall to the Allies. The issue is never in doubt. We also get a subplot about diverting a train full of political prisoners from its destination in Buchenwald. The film culminates with combat leading to the taking of the city by DeGaulle’s army. With a cast including: Orson Welles, Leslie Caron, Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Jean Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Simon Signoret, Yves Montand, etc. etc.
The film is three hours long, in line with the size of the story it had to tell, but did it have to drag so badly? There are obviously no surprises in the plot and none of the characters is really given enough screen time to have a satisfactory arc. The film is also crammed with stock footage. Some of it is used to better affect than others. I remember the bombing scene in Clement’s Forbidden Games (1952) as absolutely riveting and terrifying. That director appears to have lost his nerve here.
Apparently it is impossible to watch the film in its intended multilingual version online. The one on Amazon Instant is dubbed into English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vGKvgutzw
Clip – liberation of Paris
