Paris (partially found Pre-Code musical comedy film; 1929)

The film's poster.

Status: Lost

Paris is the lost film version of the Broadway sensation of 1928, featuring Irene Bordoni and Jack Buchanan - in his feature film debut - in the lead roles. It was made in 1929 and was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot Summary

The plot involves Irene Bordoni's character falling in love with a wealthy man about town. In the original stage play, she ultimately chooses to marry her partner, who is played by Jack Buchanan, while he marries a girl who has always worshipped him from afar. As always in these early musicals, the plot is basically a device in which to contain the songs, and there are plenty of them.

Notes

Only a couple of musical numbers exist from the entire 90-minute film, which was a failure at the box office and resulted in Irene Bordoni's contract being dropped by MGM. However, she went on to appear in a Fleischer film called Just a Gigolo in 1935, in which she sang the title song; this is currently available on YouTube along with a song she performed for another musical film released the same year. In both numbers, she shows why Cole Porter added a verse to his song "You're the Top" that goes, "You're the eyes of Irene Bordoni".

The film is lost, but the Vitaphone sound disks are known to survive at the UCLA.

External Links

• Wikipedia article on Paris. Retrieved 16 Aug '18
• IMDB article on Paris. Retrieved 16 Aug '18