Paris Holiday

1958 "The two top mirth makers of all time turn Paris upside down."
5.7| 1h43m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 09 May 1958 Released
Producted By: Tolda Productions
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Comedian Bob Hunter is aided by his French counterpart Fernydel and two beautiful blondes when he is targeted for death by a powerful European counterfeiting ring.

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Director

Gerd Oswald

Production Companies

Tolda Productions

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Paris Holiday Audience Reviews

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.
Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Jay Raskin There were so many spy spoofs in the 1960's that I think people don't get how fresh and original this spy spoof was in 1958.The great French comedian and Bob Hope play off of each other wonderfully. It is amazing because neither spoke the other's language. Both have to resort to slapstick and pantomime. The first scene where they meet and Fernandel stares at Bob Hope's large nose and calls it "extraordinaire, formidable, and fantastique". As a bonus, we get to see Anita Ekberg in a pre-La Dolce Vita role. She plays the femme fatale and steals every scene that she is in. A brief appearance by Preston Sturges is also a highlight.I think a lot of people don't like the swift movement between sophisticated comedy and slap-stick. However I enjoyed the mixture. The hanging from a helicopter ending reminds one of many silent screen Keystone Cops crazy endings. I'm a fan of silent films, so I enjoyed it as an homage, but I can understand people dismissing it as weak and derivative.
MartinHafer This film has some VERY strange casting and I am not sure what the producer (Bob Hope) was thinking, nor what the film's writer (once again, Hope) had in mind. After all, why get the great French comic, Fernandel, to appear in the film in a major role...and yet he speaks French the entire time and Hope speaks only English. Often, they just hang out together and you wonder why--what keeps them together?! Couldn't they have gotten a French comic who also spoke English?! There's also another odd casting decision, but it works well and the part is small. For some odd reason, the writer/director Preston Sturges plays a French man. And considering that the film was made in France, I am not sure why they did this--though Sturges was surprisingly good in his small role. One other unusual role went to the lovely Anita Ekberg--who oddly got higher billing than the equally lovely Martha Hyer--even though her role was minuscule in comparison."Paris Holiday" begins on the cruiser, the Ile de France. There, Bob Hope meets Hyer and immediately begins making boorish sexual innuendos towards her. This sort of thing was not uncommon for a Hope film, but he comes on particularly strong here--so strong you wonder how she can fall in love with his character. This occurs thanks to Fernandel--who plays himself and a bit of a cupid. Now I did think it strange that Hope basically played himself, a famous American comic and movie star, yet he was called 'Bob Hunter'--yet Fernandel played himself. This ruse seemed very unnecessary.During the cruise, Ekberg breaks into Hope's room twice to search it. She's looking for something--but what? Later, once they are all in Paris, you learn that she's working with some counterfeiters and that they now are trying to kill Hope. Considering that his one-liners are VERY weak throughout the film, I really couldn't blame them! Can Hope extricate himself AND get the girl? Well, considering he wrote the film, I severely doubted it as I watched! My biggest complaint is not that Hope has such limp lines (which he wrote--so he has no one else to blame) but the complete waste of Fernandel. The Frenchman is cute here--but not all that funny (except when he's in drag late in the film--not THAT's something to see). I've seen him in a few other films and liked him very much and know he's capable of much more. Also, while some die-hard fans might disagree, as Hope aged, the quality of his films declined. His heyday was clearly the 1940s and by the late 50s, the films just weren't that funny. Now "Paris Holiday" isn't bad--it just isn't particularly funny. So, if you are a Hope fan, it's worth seeing--if not, you probably won't be particularly impressed--especially at the horrible scene involving the helicopter and the two ladies in the car (uggh!).
richard-1787 It is unintended irony, I suspect, that the plot of this movie - what little there is of it - centers around Bob Hunter's (Hope) efforts to find a script. This movie could certainly have used a better one. Hope and especially Fernandel were great comedians, but they have virtually nothing to work with here, so the movie drags from one uninteresting scene to the next.How a picture executive could have believed that anyone would pay money to see this, much less, after having seen it, tell anyone else to see it, I can't imagine. It really is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.
Chazzzzz The Mystery is why is this film not as good as it should have been. I've given it a 7, but it had the potential to be even better. Our two comics are good when they are together, but the courtroom scene is dragged out, and several scenes are very dark. However, the beauty of this film is in the viewing of Martha Hyer, Anita Ekberg, and Irene Tunc! All three are drop-dead gorgeous, and really contribute to the movie! Irene should have been given a bigger part! See it in wide-screen if possible.