The Paris Adventure (1936) review - A wonderfully dusty, awkward melodrama

If you have a rainy Sunday and a soft spot for grainy, black-and-white dramas where everyone takes themselves way too seriously, then yes, The Paris Adventure is worth a look. 🌧️

People who love old-school European romance with lots of sighing and dramatic piano will probably dig this. But if you get bored when a plot hinges entirely on 'oh no, he danced for money, how scandalous!' you should definitely skip it.

The whole thing starts with this British colonial officer’s daughter—played by Karin Hardt, who looks like she’s constantly about to sneeze but in a pretty way.

She falls hard for this exiled prince.

Only he’s broke. Like, really broke, and his brother needs cash, so our noble prince takes a job dancing with lonely rich ladies at the 'Russia House' in Paris.

Honestly, the Russia House venue looks like a high school gym that someone decorated with three velvet curtains and a single potted fern. 🌿

The extras in the background of these dance scenes are hilarious.

There is this one guy with a giant mustache who just stares directly at the camera for about four seconds while holding a wine glass.

I kept waiting for the director to yell cut, but I guess they couldn't afford a second take.

It reminds me a bit of the dusty, street-level melodrama in Slums of Berlin, though this one tries much harder to feel 'fancy' and international.

But instead of feeling worldly, it just feels delightfully awkward.

Like, why does the British officer speak with a thick German accent?

Nobody explains this, we just have to accept it.

There is a scene halfway through where they drink tea, and the silence goes on for so long you can literally hear the camera whirring in the background.

It's fantastic.

The movie actually gets way more fun once the brother starts causing trouble.

Hannes Stelzer plays the brother, and he has this manic energy that feels like he wandered in from a completely different, much faster movie.

He’s constantly sweating and waving his hands around.

Meanwhile, our main prince just stands there looking incredibly noble and sad, like a wet dog who lost his favorite stick. 🐶

Some of the writing by Axel Eggebrecht is actually pretty sharp, but it gets buried under the theatrical acting.

Everyone moves their hands like they are trying to flag down a taxi cab.

If you’ve seen Devil and the Deep, you know how these older dramas can sometimes feel incredibly cramped, like everyone is trapped in a very small cupboard.

The Paris Adventure has that exact same claustrophobic energy, even when they are supposed to be in 'wide open' Paris.

Here are a few things I wrote down while watching:

• The prince's hair remains perfectly greased even during a literal fistfight.
• There is a dog in the background of one street scene that clearly wants to bite the lead actress.
• The dramatic climax involves a very slow walk down some stairs.

It's not a masterpiece, not even close.

But there is something so cozy about how earnest it is.

They really wanted you to care about this dance-hall prince.

And for about seventy minutes, I kind of did.