Paris in Spring (1935) watch online HD

Paris IN SPRING is a frothy delight, a story about two squabbling pairs of lovers who end up with the wrong partners thru a series of misunderstandings. The plot is not a new one but the actors have fun with it. Film starts out with Tullio Carminati threatening to jump from the Eiffel Tower if Simone (Mary Ellis) won't marry him. She dares him to jump and even hands him his overcoat so he won't get a chill high up on the tower. A younger couple is also squabbling and Carminati stops the girl (Ida Lupino) from taking a plunge while her boyfriend (James Blakeley) searches for her. They all end up at a swank nightclub where Simone is the sensational singing star. With rather spectacular sets as a backdrop, she sings "Paris in the Spring" and "Jealousy" to great effect. Later on they all end up, mistakenly assumed to be married, at a villa in Dijon where the aged countess (Jessie Ralph) eventually straightens everyone out.

Mary Ellis is just terrific in this film, shimmering in sequined outfits as she sings. In the "Jealousy" number, she's slowly lifted on a section of floor staging that is supported by a bunch of chorus girls. The sets are equally impressive at the villa where circular staircases seem to litter the place, almost looking like something out of Escher. Carminati is charming, Lupino is very pretty and blonde, Blakeley makes for a pleasing goof, and Ralph is good as always as the gruff granny. Lynne Overman plays a cop, and Akim Tamiroff runs the nightclub. A trifle to be sure, but a delightful one.

It's hard to understand why Mary Ellis wasn't a hit in pictures.

Grab some French pastry and champagne and head into a delightful but silly romantic tale of romantic confusion amongst the European nobility, more troubled in romantic issues than the long suffering affairs of the poor. The film starts off with brooding Tullio Carminati taking that long ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower to jump off and stopping extremely young Ida Lupino from doing the same thing. She's supposed to marry, at the orders if her aging grandmother, boring cousin James Blakely. To get Lupino out of this undesirable marriage, he escorts her home and pretends to be her husband, followed by Blakeley doing the same with Carmilati's ex, songbird Mary Ellis, proprietor of one of Paris's most lavish cabaret. With nearly deaf and practically blind Jessie Ralph perplexed over the whole situation, romantic intrigue ensues, causing more than just the bubbly to flow over Carmilati's temper.

A rather gauche production number featuring Ellis singing the title song has her doubling as others in brief solos. The art direction is overstuffed with extra long dining tables, endless swirling side by side staircases and castle nook and cranny's that seemingly go on forever. Carmilati is actually not French, but manages an easy going characterization that defies his huge age difference with Lupino. She's pretty but bland, and nearly unrecognizable from what she would look like only four years later when she signed onto Warners.

Ellis has one of those old fashioned shrill soprano voices that can be hard to take at times. The recording for Carmilati could make a dog bay at the moon. But compared to Blakely and Lupino, they feature much more of a magnetic personality. Of course, Jessie Ralph was a complete scene stealer, gaining laughs as she demands the dozens of guests remain seated and foodless until the wedding party comes in. There's plenty of surprises to keep this enjoyable, but I'd rather have this been a straight comedy than have to listen to the glass shattering operatic songs that screech this to a halt.

There are lots of problems with this movie that pull it down.

The biggest, for me, is that it is, in part, a musical, but the songs are all instantly forgettable and very simplistic. It's a shame, because Mary Ellis had a good voice, and was a beautiful woman. If she had been given the sort of material Grace Moore or Jeannette MacDonald or even Lily Pons were being given then at other studios, she could have done some memorable work.

The strongest performer here, as in many of the movies in which she appeared, is the character actress Jesse Ralph. She makes her character come alive in a way none of the others does.

Ida Lupino, as a blonde, does not stand out here. Tulio Caraminati wasn't a good actor, and without good material, as is the case here, he makes no impression.

The plot is obvious, and you can see everything coming a mile away.

I enjoyed watching Ellis and Ralph. The rest was pretty much a wash for me.