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Paris (1929 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Paris' is a 1929 American Pre-Code musical comedy film, featuring Irne Bordoni. It was filmed with Technicolor sequences: four of the film's ten reels were originally photographed in Technicolor.
'Paris' was the fourth color film released by Warner Bros.; the first three were The Desert Song (although it was only a part-color film) 'On with the Show' and 'Gold Diggers of Broadway', all released in 1929. ('Song of the West' was actually completed by June 1929 but had its release delayed until March 1930). The film was adapted from the Cole Porter Broadway musical of the same name. The musical was Porter's first Broadway hit. No film elements of 'Paris' are known to exist, although the complete soundtrack survives on Vitaphone disks. The sound tape reels for this film survives at UCLA Film and Television Archive.
'Paris' was the fourth film Warner Brothers had made with their Technicolor contract. The filmmakers used a color (Technicolor) process of red and green, at the time it was the third process of Technicolor.'The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30' by The American Film Institute, c. 1971[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/P/Paris1929.html Progressive Silent Film List : 'Paris'] at silentera.com[https://archive.org/details/mediahistory&tab=collection?and%5B%5D=subject%3A%22Motion%20pictures%20--%20Catalogues%22 1957 MOVIES FROM AAP Warner Bros Features & Cartoons SALES BOOK DIRECTED AT TV]
Plot
Irne Bordoni is cast as Vivienne Rolland, a Parisian chorus girl in love with Massachusetts boy Andrew Sabbot (Jason Robards Sr.) Andrew's snobbish mother Cora (Louise Closser Hale) tries to break up the romance. Jack Buchanan likewise makes his talking-picture debut as Guy Pennell, the leading man in Vivienne's revue.
Cast
* Irne Bordoni as Vivienne Rolland
* Jack Buchanan as Guy Pennell
* Louise Closser Hale as Cora Sabbot
* Jason Robards as Andrew Sabbot
* ZaSu Pitts as Harriet
* Margaret Fielding as Brenda Kaley
File:Paris lobby card 2.jpg
File:Paris lobby card.jpg
Production
Warner Bros. paid the celebrated French music hall star and Broadway chanteuse Irene Bordoni $10,000 a week to star in this film, playing the role she had originated on Broadway, introducing the enduring Porter standard "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love". While this film was being shot, the studio was in the process of completing their all-star revue 'The Show of Shows' (1929), so they had Bordoni film a number for the revue. Their initial intention was to have Bordoni star in two musical features, but due to the poor box-office reception of 'Paris', they decided not to make any more films with her.[http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=10737 'Paris', original Broadway production at the Music Box Theatre, October 8 1928 to March 23 1929 totaling 195 performances; IBDb.com]
Songs
Advertisement
'Paris' used advertisements of a type which were common for its time, featuring the talking in the film and Irne Bordoni starring. One ad for 'Paris' said "See the talking picture of the future".
Preservation
No film elements of Paris are known to exist, although the complete soundtrack survives on Vitaphone disks. The sound tape reels for this film survives at UCLA Film and Television Archive. According to the George Eastman Museum 2015 Book "The Dawn of Technicolor, 1915-1935" there are three fragments at the Seaver Center. In 2018 British Film Institute discovered a one minute Technicolor fragment being used as a film leader, along with fragments of various other films, which are included in video posted to YouTube on April 27, 2018.
Box office
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $632,000 domestically and $541,000 in other markets.
See also
* List of early color feature films
* List of incomplete or partially lost films
References
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