HotToastyRag
The song "The Last Time I Saw Paris" actually wasn't written for this movie; the movie was written for the song. How often does that happen? It's a very famous song, and it's played countless times throughout the film, mostly to distract the audience from a mediocre story. Van Johnson is torn between traditional Donna Reed and impulsive Elizabeth Taylor. A very tough decision, made even tougher by the circumstances in which he meets Ol' Violet Eyes. She grabs him and kisses him on the street during the merriment of VE Day, then flees. No man would choose Donna Reed after that.The majority of the film isn't a will-they-or-won't-they romantic struggle, which is the movie's biggest mistake. After the two lovebirds get together, the audience stops caring. Pitfalls and contrived obstacles befall the couple, and eventually puts the audience to sleep. I know Liz Taylor is beautiful, but there are so many other movies you can watch if you want to see her beauty up on the big screen. Try A Place in the Sun, Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof—pretty much any movie besides Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to look at her gorgeous mug. The Last Time I Saw Paris is really bad; I'd even go so far as to say it's one of the worst Liz Taylor movies out there. Trust me and save yourself.
writers_reign
Here's the thing. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940. He published his first novel in 1920 and his last in 1934. In the twenties and early thirties he turned out some fifty or so short stories for which, initially, he earned top dollar but when his wife, Zelda, was diagnosed as schizophrenic and hospitalized he turned to the bottle and apart from a series of pot-boilers about a Hollywood hack named Pat Hobby and a series of essays, The Crack-Up, published in Esquire magazine around 1936, he produced little of any merit, albeit he was working on a novel when he died. He owed his success, particularly where short stories were concerned, to his gift of both understanding and interpreting the 'voice' of young people in the 'Jazz' Age. Bablyon Revisited is one such story dating from his peak years so the minute MGM chose to 'update' it to some thirteen or fourteen years AFTER his death its uniqueness i.e. the 'voice' of the Jazz Age, was totally destroyed. Even the central sequence, a flashback that begins in 1945 can't do much to help as that was still five years after Fitzgerald died. That being said it is, of course quite possible that movie buffs who couldn't care less about Fitzgerald would have checked this out on the strength of Elizabeth Taylor - who had grown up at MGM - Van Johnson, who had starred in several big-budget MGM movies in the forties and Walter Pigeon, who had likewise appeared in some top grossing MGM fodder (and had, ironically, just appeared in The Bad And The Beautiful, also from MGM which lifted a few rocks in the tide-pool that is Hollywood to reveal the unsavory marine life scrabbling around there). These people may well have come away content and serenely oblivious to Fitzgerald's ending, diametrically opposed to the one on offer here. The bad news is that even as I write the semi-amateur Baz Luhrman has got his claws into The Great Gatsby and is no doubt even now attempting to outdo the joke he entitled Moulin Rouge.
ma-cortes
A successful writer ( Van Johnson) remembers about his love story with a gorgeous American girl ( Elizabeth Taylor ) in post WWII Paris . As we watch bright scenarios from Paris as the Arc of Triumph , river Sena , Cathedral of Notre Dame , promenade of Eliseos ; furthermore a horsemen race and Montecarlo car race , among others . Based on a semi-autobiographic novel titled ¨ Babylon revisited ¨ by F. Scott Fitzgerald who is well incarnated by Van Johnson and in which Helen played by Elizabeth Taylor represents Zelda , Scott's wife .This interesting movie reminisces the love affair between a wealthy war reporter and a feisty young woman ; it packs romance , drama , and colorful scenarios . Good support cast as Donna Reed , Eva Gabor , Kurt Kasznar , John Ducette and Walter Pidgeon who steals the show as joyful and sponger father . Glamorous cinematography in glimmer Technicolor by Joseph Ruttemberg and adequate musical score . The motion picture is professionally written and directed by Richard Brooks . He's an American filmmaker and screenwriter who won an Oscar for ¨ Elmer Gantry ¨ writings ; Brooks so consistently blended the good with average which it became quite impossible to know what to expect from him next . In the 50s , the harder his movies impacted , the more successful they were ; and the gentler they were , the less effective as ¨The last time saw Paris ¨ . Thus , the Brooks pictures that have the biggest hit in the 50 are the following : ¨Blackboard jungle ¨, ¨Something of value ¨ ¨The Brothers Karamazov ¨ , and in the 60s are ¨ Sweet bird of youth¨, Cat on a hot tin roof ¨, ¨In cold blood ¨ and ¨ The professionals ¨ ; in addition during the 70s a special mention to ¨ Bite the bullet ¨. Rating : : Good film that appeal to Elizabeth Taylor fans .
sue nicodemus
How anyone could indicate that Van Johnson is "wooden" or miscast in this film is an incredible conumdrum. With his usual innocent charm, he builds the character with an authenticity which is totally suited to the screenplay. He is totally credible and authentic. If no other success can be perceived, surely the later scenes with his concern for both wife and daughter are amazingly touching; his tears are touching and beautifully demonstrated as no actor in my memory. The breadth of his performance stands out, with this character being fleshed out and fully developed. I hope that in his later years at the nursing home he did not read some of the uncharitable reviews of his performance. A highly underrated actor who deserved better. This is his very best role which he embraced fully, sensitively and beautifully. What a guy!
AD
