Paris Honeymoon (1939)

A Texas millionaire travels to Europe to meet his girlfriend, a European countess. He stops in a rustic mountain village and meets a beautiful peasant girl. He falls in love with her, then ... See full summary »

Director:

Frank Tuttle

Writers:

Frank Butler, Don Hartman,

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff

Cast

Cast overview:
Bing Crosby	...	'Lucky' Lawton
Franciska Gaal	...	Manya
Akim Tamiroff	...	Mayor Peter Karloca
Shirley Ross	...	Barbara Wayne aka Countess De Remi
Edward Everett Horton	...	Ernest Figg
Ben Blue	...	Sitska
Rafaela Ottiano	...	Fluschotska
Gregory Gaye	...	Count Georges De Remi
Luana Walters	...	Angela
Alex Melesh	...	Pulka Tomasto
Victor Kilian	...	Old Villager aka The Ancient
Michael Visaroff	...	Judge
Keith Hitchcock	...	Butler (as Keith Kenneth)
Raymond Hatton	...	Huskins

Storyline

A Texas millionaire travels to Europe to meet his girlfriend, a European countess. He stops in a rustic mountain village and meets a beautiful peasant girl. He falls in love with her, then must decide if he wants her or the rich countess.

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Plot Keywords:

millionaire | superstition | gambling

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 January 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

I vasilissa ton rodon

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Soundtracks

"You're a Sweet Little Headache"
Music by Ralph Rainger
Lyrics by Leo Robin
Sung by Bing Crosby

User Reviews

Boy meets goulash

"Paris Honeymoon" is an above-average Bing Crosby musical. Bing plays a superstitious Texas gambler, engaged to marry a European countess (Shirley Ross). They're planning a Paris honeymoon ... but first Bing needs his good-luck charm: a horseshoe from a left hind hoof. While Bing's valet goes hoof-hunting, Bing takes a wrong turn in the Pyrenees and meets a pair of knees attached to Franciska Gaal.

Hungarian actress Gaal was discovered by Paramount and given the movie-star build-up in three Hollywood films. ("Paris Honeymoon" is her best and last Paramount movie.) She's incredibly annoying in this film, as a peasant girl who latches onto Bing and tries to woo him away from Shirley Ross.

The supporting cast are excellent. Edward Everett Horton gives his usual superb performance as Bing's hoof-hunting valet, a bit more "nelly" than usual. Akim Tamiroff is amusing as a crooked politician promoting a soft drink called "Karloca-Cola". Ben Blue plays a Harpo Marx-like European village idiot, remarkably similar to the role Harpo Marx played in "Two Many Kisses". Like Harpo in that film, Ben Blue here is almost entirely mute, but he spoils the effect when he speaks. "Paris Honeymoon" features a gag sequence with a slot machine that pays out jelly beans to everyone else, but which pays out cash jackpots to Ben Blue: this is very similar to Harpo's slot-machine routine a few years earlier in "Horse Feathers".

The funniest scene in this film occurs when Bing disguises himself as a ghostly head without a body, hoping to scare away Franciska Gaal. (Of course, Bing sings "I Ain't Got No Body".) The songs and production numbers in this film are just a notch below first-rate. The only fly in the paprika is Franciska Gaal, who was strictly from Hungary and went back there after this movie.