Panic in the Streets
Synopsis
“I’ve been to Paris, France and Paris, Paramount. I prefer Paris, Paramount,” so said the director of one of the great early thirties Paris, Paramount film comedies, Trouble in Paradise. No doubt, Herr Lubitsch’s declaration can charitably be attributed to a moment of hyperbolic celluloid intoxication; however, there is definitely something to be said about the pleasures afforded by Paris, Paramount and especially so in a dazzling song and dance sequence from Stanley Donen’s (Singing in the Rain) 1957 fashion industry film ( you fashionistas can not afford to miss this one), Funny Face. When the likes of Fred Astaire, the never-more-exquisite (or gamine) Audrey Hepburn, and Kay Thompson kick up their heels in the ebullient “Bonjour, Paris” sequence, well, you can see how swell a place Paris, Paramount once was. Recently revived at New York’s Film Forum and now being shown at this year’s festival in the new digital DCP restoration that brings back the look of spectacular 1957 Technicolor and VistaVision. Notoriously grouchy Village Voice critic J. Hoberman has dubbed Funny Face “the last great Hollywood musical, a playful, sometimes ecstatic confection.”
