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6.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Paree, Paree remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you are a sucker for 1930s musical theater or really want to see an early performance by Bob Hope. If you have zero patience for plots that move at the speed of light because they’re trying to cram a whole Broadway show into a tiny runtime, skip it.
Paree, Paree is one of those frantic little musical shorts that feels like someone hit the fast-forward button on a much larger, more expensive production. It's essentially a condensed version of a Cole Porter show, and you can really tell they are rushing to get to the next song.
The whole bet plot—where the rich guy hides his money—is a classic trope, but here it’s treated like a throwaway excuse to get to the dance numbers. Charles Collins is fine, I guess, but the movie really finds its pulse whenever the ensemble gets moving.
Seeing a young Bob Hope pop up is definitely the highlight. He’s already got that snappy delivery, though he’s clearly playing a smaller cog in a much larger, weirder machine. It’s a far cry from the massive personality he would eventually become in his later career.
There’s this one scene where the transitions are so jagged you’d think the film editor fell asleep on the scissors. One minute they’re in a quiet conversation, and the next, everyone is bursting into song in a cafe. It’s jarring, but also kind of fun in a 'they really didn't care about logic' sort of way.
I can’t help but compare the pacing to something like Pack Up Your Troubles; it has that same slapdash energy where the plot is barely holding the musical numbers together with scotch tape.
It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch. But it’s a quick, colorful, and slightly dizzying artifact from a time when movies were just trying to get a few tunes on screen and keep the audience from falling asleep. Sometimes that’s enough. 🎶