Customer Reviews

Is Paris Burning?

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had a chance to watch this movie back in 1981 when I saw it for the first time on an Australian TV channel. The movie capitavted me even then that I have decided to buy a copy DVD copy to watch it again, and to realy appeciate this move fully.

Is Paris Burning starts off with German General Dietrich von Choltitz played by Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). Gerneral Choltitz visits Adolf Hitler (the actor playing Hitler is an exact carbon copy of him), Hilter tell Choltitz if he cannot keep Paris from falling into enemy hands, then the General must blow up Paris. The movie then goes into the overture theme which was a combination of music that portays the jackboot goosestepping Nazis that took over Paris with a theme for Paris in the movie, merged in with the Nazi march theme. This realy made me feel that Paris was Germanized since 1940 where Hiltler had captured it through the Arden River and Forest area. Is Paris burning was released on the big screen 22 years after the D Day invasion in 1944. This movie was done by the producer Paul Graetz in Black and White with true archival footage from the Second World War to make it real. In my opinion this movie has the realism of that of Jeremy Issacs World at War documantary with the realism of a modern day movie like Steven Spielburg's Saving Private Ryan. This epic drama that was on the big screen in 1966 is unique and is a must for those of us that love history. I highly recomend this movie, it was years ahead of it's time.

"Is Paris Burning?" (In France: "Paris brûle-t-il?") (1966) tells the story of the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II, as related by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins in their book of the same title. This book was extremely popular, especially in France, and to date has sold more than 20 million copies in more than a dozen languages. Apart from some dramatic liberties, the movie follows the book closely, and the documentary style of the book is taken over by the film. As a result, the film is episodic in nature without a single hero dominating the story. In that respect, and also because of its large mega-star cast, it is reminiscent of "The Longest Day," about the D-Day invasion, which preceded the events in this film by two-and-a-half months. This reviewer finds "Is Paris Burning?" the more interesting film.

The title of the book and the film comes from Hitler's order that Paris be defended to the end and that the city be completely demolished before it can be recaptured by the Allies. While this threat certainly pervades the film, it is the story of the Liberation itself, mostly by the French Resistance, which is the dominant story.

The film has a multi-national cast, with American actors playing Americans, French actors play Frenchmen, and German actors playing Germans. Unfortunately, the American producers of the film insisted on larger-than-life American stars for the American roles, which detracts slightly from the film. The French and German stars, who have always been much more low-key than their American counterparts, do not present as great a distraction for the audience. Fortunately, with the exception of Orson Welles, who is one of the few actors with a persistant role in the film and whose acting is wonderfully understated, the American movie stars make only cameo appearances. The French actors too appear for the most part in only a single episode and then disappear for the rest of the film, but, unlike the American stars, their scenes are much longer. This is essentially a French movie, with a French director (René Clément). It is probably much the better for it.

What is truly unfortunate is that the French and English soundtracks on the DVD are monotonously monolingual with non-English or non-French speakers overdubbed according to the language of the soundtrack. I remember having seen this film in a trilingual version with subtitles for the French and German dialogue. In many cases, the English dubbing on the DVD was done by the original actors. Leslie Caron's and Simone Signoret's voices, for example, are unmistakable. English dubbing was not a possibility for Gert Froebe (as General von Chotlitz, the German commander of Paris), whose command of English was only slightly better than that of my neighbor's cocker spaniel. When the original foreign actors were not fluent in English, the English dubbing was done sometimes by Americans and Britons, so that many French and Germans sound inauthentic in the English soundtrack. The situation is even worse on the French soundtrack. None of the French dubbers for the Americans has an American accent. There is the vestige of a French subtitle track on the DVD, unannounced on the cover but selectable with my remote. It becomes invisible, however, after the opening credits. Before that, Germans speak German on the French soundtrack. When I watch this DVD, I frequently flip between French and English soundtracks with my remote.

I really like this film, even if it is not a "great" film. (For much greater, but less exciting, Clément films, watch "Forbidden Games" and "Purple Noon.") The week or so that the film covers was very complex, and, thankfully, the film did not choose to trivialize it. I wish that Paramount had included a trilingual soundtrack for "Is Paris Burning?," but one must be thankful for what one has. If you generally enjoy History Channel documentaries, or if you enjoyed "The Longest Day," you will enjoy this film even more. Just don't expect your typical hero-centered war movie.

Hopefully, now that the DVD has appeared, the book will reappear in English. If you like the movie, you will like the book, which contains many more stories of the Liberation. It is still a big seller in France, where the bullet holes (now almost sacred) in the building facades of Paris are still visible, and Parisians easily recognize the streets in the film. If you do not know Paris and you buy the book, you will learn the names of these streets and can follow the action on a map. After you have watched the film, you can even go to Paris and see the reminders of the Liberation up close....

The great director, Rene Clement, put his angst to rest with this empowered version of the French Resistance in 1944. Most icons of the French Cinema appeared, including the great Charles Boyer, as well as modern idols Delon, Trintignant, Belmondo and the radiant Leslie Caron. This film was originally made with subtitles all around, except for the few scenes with Americans Kirk Douglas (as Patton via Spartacus), Anthony Perkins, Robert Stack, Glenn Ford and a particularly powerful performance from Orson Welles as Swedish consul Nordling. I was also very impressed with the performance of Gert Frobe (Goldfinger), as the German general with a serious dilemma. The DVD doesn't offer any features, and the entire film is dubbed, which is a great reason to try to get your kids to watch this as a valid history lesson. (I learned more about history from movies than I ever did in a classroom...) It's interesting that the film was written by Americans Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola. Director Clement never failed to show impassioned moments, and all very well played. Terrific crowd scenes were mixed with archival footage. The war-torn Paris scenes were Oscar- nominated for Art Direction, and the seamless photography was also up for an Oscar. ("Virginia Woolf?" won in both categories, though these sets were stunning!). A great wide 2.35:1 Letterbox showed off some wonderful panoramas. Maurice Jarre's score was the icing on the cake! It is another feather in his epic cap (Lawrence, Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter). One line that moved me a bit was when the resistance fighter finally made it to Patton and said "The French people would never forgive the Allies for not coming to their aid." Well, we did. Why do they hate us so much?

This has always been an awkward, clunky film that deserves the critical raspberries that have been thrown at it. Still, for a number of reasons (foremost its fantastic score by Maurice Jarre) I have a longstanding affection for it.

While the video transfer is reasonably clean, the audio track is a total mess. I say this because there is no way to avoid the skillful (yet hideous) dubbing. You are never offered the opportunity to hear everybody speaking in their native language.
If I choose English audio I get everybody speaking in English. If I choose French with English subtitles I get Kirk Douglas and the Germans speaking French. Why can't I hear the Germans speaking to each other in German and the Americans speaking in English while the French converse in French? I would have thought that the DVD format would have rectified this little bit of linguistic parochialism. But (to quote the late John Belushi) "Noooooooooooooooooo!"

Devotees of this film may be happy to see it in DVD, but the continued hegemony of the dubbing Nazis left me in a state of annoyance and irritation.

This movie will make you feel patriotic about the cause in World War II, eventhough it makes the French the war heroes.

The large group of international actors make it a memorable story.

Some of Maurice Jarre's best soundtrack music. He has such a talent for passionate anthems (Some new country needs to call him up to write their national anthem). It is worth watching just to hear the The Paris Waltz at the end.

And, it was the last war movie I saw with my late-father, who was a World War II hero.

This all star international cast does an excellent job of portraying the events leading up to the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The film tells the story from the perspective of the German and French forces with some participation, it seems, from US forces.

This film is a good overview of general activities in the battle but to fully understand the events leading up to the revolt by the French Undergound against German occupation forces, one needs to read the book by the same name and other military history. Internal frictions within the underground is downplayed in the film. The treatment of the German occupation force is good and makes a clear distinction between the military occupation force and the Gestapo in their actions during the battle.

This film gives good treatment to a high point in French history and presents a balanced, thoughtful film.

The theme music is unforgetable and captures the spirit of Paris in August 1944. This should be in all historical film collections.

I loved watching this movie. It deftly splices documentary and fictional scenes to create an emotional, uplifting story of the individuals involved in the liberation of Paris (the greater emphasis is on the Parisian resistance). It is very much in the tradition of The Longest Day - many stars in cameos, a hundred short stories of bravery and resistance - among the French, Americans and Germans; it's often humorous. The music is superb (I have it going through my head now - 2 years after renting the movie). It's also fun to see virtually all the French male stars of the 1950s and 1960s in one movie - Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Jean Louis Trintignant, Yves Montand, Alain Delon - the French casting for the movie pulled out all the stops.

The wonderful emotional impact aside, the movie is actually difficult to follow. The primary reason is that the filmmakers apparently didn't want to offend anyone (except Nazis) so were not explicit on the Communist/Gaullist rivalry that is at the heart of the book (bottom line - the Gaullists elbowed out the Communists). Instead, the movie viewer watches a large resistance group that seems to fissure, but has no idea why, sees jealousies and rivalries without explanation. You'll see some French resistance members upset that others have captured the Police Headquarters, but have no idea why. The book gives you a sense of DeGaulle's understanding of the French, amounting to genius (and of why any American or Englishman in command would have found him outrageous to deal with).

So, I'd suggest a truly CAREFUL read of the short, wonderful and fascinating book on which the movie is based - THEN watch the movie, which is glorious in its emotional impact.

Although this movie fails to fit the classic 'war film' category, it still has some decent battle scences and pays tribute to the French resistance who played such a vital role in the defeat of Hitler's Nazi war machine. On the down side, i thought the acting was a little ordinary in comparison to other films of its time ('The longest day', 'The train' etc)and at times became a little long winded. It did have a great soundtrack and overall was a film worth watching.

The few frantic and decisive days as the Allies approached Paris during World War II are beautifully reproduced in this black and white movie. With a feeling of complete realism it exposes both the traumas and the small acts of courage which added up to produce some of the most moving and triumphant moments in a city which suffered under a foreign yoke. I dare you not to cheer!

I first heard the theme song to this movie back in the 60's on the radio in my mother's car. I've looked, but I can't find the theme song or the soundtrack anywhere. Anyone know where to find it? I watch the movie just to hear the music!