A SCANDAL IN PARIS
(United Artists)
AM considerably more impressed by the form of this picture than by its contents. A far-from-literal account of the life of Eugene Francois
Vidocq, the first great French detective, it gives George Sanders a chance to spout Wildean epigrams and engage in elegant love-making in a manner which suggests that his role in The Picture of Dorian Grey has rather gone to his head. But. it also gives its producer and director (Arold Pressburger and Douglas Sirk respectively) the opportunity to embellish a frothy. tale of larceny and lust with many distinctively Continental mannerisms. The result is an artificial, but fairly amusing periodpiece with what may be described as a high French polish. It is therefore an entertainment rather less likély-to commend itself to the ordinary picturegoer than to the student of the cinema who is interested in noting how the polish is applied. The whole story is played on a note of suave irony, from the moment of the hero’s birth in prison, through his apprenticeship in crime, right up to his elevation to the office of Prefect of the Paris Police, when, deciding that virtue pays better dividends, he puts his intimate knowledge of the underworld to good account. True love (represented yy Signe Hasso) plays some part in his ~onversion, and so does conscience; but the other type of love is equally well represented (in the person of Carole Landis), and throughout there is a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards some of the things which Hollywood often treats with dire solemnity. This flippancy of outlook is reflected not only in the mockserious dialogue, but also in the musical score by Hanns Eisler, the treatment of the settings and costumes (circa 1805),
the brightness of the lighting, and the acting of all the players (.ncluding Akim Tamiroff and Gene Lockhart). It is even to be detected in the treatment of such a normally-serious situation as the murder of a faithless wife by a jealous husband, and a fight to the death between Vidocq and his erstwhile henchman-in-crime.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19470228.2.38.1.3
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 23
Word count
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343A SCANDAL IN PARIS New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 23
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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