| Paris in Spring | |
| Director: | Lewis Milestone |
| Producer: | Benjamin Glazer |
| Screenplay: | Samuel Hoffenstein Franz Schulz adaptation by Keene Thompson |
| Starring: | Mary Ellis Tullio Carminati Ida Lupino Lynne Overman Jessie Ralph Dorothea Wolbert |
| Music: | Harry Revel Mack Gordon |
| Cinematography: | Ted Tetzlaff |
| Editing: | Eda Warren |
| Studio: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 82 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Paris in Spring (also released as Paris Love Song) is a 1935 black and white musical comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone for Paramount Pictures.[1] [2] It is based on a play by Dwight Taylor, with a screen play by Samuel Hoffenstein and Franz Schulz.[3]
Afraid of marriage, Simone (Mary Ellis) ends her long term engagement with her fiancé Paul de Lille (Tullio Carminati). Paul heads to the top of The Eiffel Tower with thoughts of suicide. In another part of Paris, and also afraid of marriage, Mignon (Ida Lupino) decides to separate from her young lover (James Blakely). Despairing, Mignon also climbs to the top of The Eiffel Tower intending to leap to her death. There she meets Paul and the two compare stories. After discussion, Paul dissuades her from leaping and the two conspire to make their respective partners jealous by pretending to have an affair with each other.
The film was first released in US theaters on 28 May 1935. The New York Times reviewer wrote that while Mary Ellis offered a degree of entertainment with her singing, Tullio Carminati did not help the film by treating the film in a burlesque style. The newspaper was of the opinion Ida Lupino and James Blakeley were moderately good in their roles, but any merited praise for acting was to the credit of Lynne Overman, Jessie Ralph, and to the actor in the lesser role of the Chez Simone manager.[4]
Reviewer Graham Greene praised Milestone's emulation of Ernst Lubitsch in his ability to create a film that was a "silly, charming tale", and make something "light, enchanting, and genuinely fantastic" out of a nonsense plot device.[5] Lupino's role in Paris in Spring has been described as "dull", a view she shared.[6]
