April in Paris (1952)

A series of misunderstandings leads to a chorus girl traveling to Paris to represent the American theater, where she falls in love with a befuddled bureaucrat.

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

Jack Rose, Melville Shavelson

Stars:

Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Doris Day	...	Ethel S. 'Dynamite' Jackson
Ray Bolger	...	S. 'Sam' Winthrop Putnam
Claude Dauphin	...	Philippe Fouquet
Eve Miller	...	Marcia Sherman
George Givot	...	François
Paul Harvey	...	Secretary Robert Sherman
Herbert Farjeon	...	Joshua Stevens
Wilson Millar	...	Sinclair Wilson
Raymond Largay	...	Joseph Welmar
John Alvin	...	Tracy
Jack Lomas	...	Cab Driver

Storyline

Miss Ethel 'Dynamite' Jackson is a chorus girl who mistakingly receives an invitation from the State Department to represent the American theatre at an arts exposition in Paris, France. There's only one problem, the invitation was meant for Miss Ethel Barrymore. Meanwhile, S. Winthrop Putnam, the bureaucrat who made the mistake tries unsuccessfully to correct his mix-up. It's too late, for Dynamite Jackson is off to Paris, where the two meet and marry, or so they think!

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Plot Keywords:

festival | paris france | april | american in paris | vacation | 

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Taglines:

Warner Bros.' Happy-as-Springtime Musical Spree-in-Paree!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

17 April 1953 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

April i Paris

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Doris Day wrote in her autobiography that she only encountered trouble or tension on two of her Warner Bros. movies: 'April in Paris' and Young at Heart (1954). Regarding this film, she claimed that leading man Ray Bolger and director David Butler clashed early on, with Butler accusing Bolger of trying to steal scenes away from Day. Day also mentioned that, being a relative newcomer to movies, she was unaware of Bolger's tricks and managed to stay out of the line of fire.

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Goofs

Near the end, when Doris Day "stomps" on Ray Bolger's foot, she doesn't hit even close to his foot.

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Quotes

S. Winthrop Putnam: Do you know what my title is? Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State. It's taken me ten years to get this far. If this falls through I'll be right back where I started: Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State.

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: April in Quahog (2010)

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Soundtracks

That's What Makes Paris Paree
(uncredited)
Music by Vernon Duke
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Sung by Doris Day

User Reviews

Unhappy stars struggle through lumpy romantic musical...

Exceedingly thin Warner Bros. musical, blanketed in tacky lustre and stock footage, involves an inept assistant's assistant in Washington, D.C. who is in charge of sending out the invites to attend a Theatre Arts Festival in Paris, France; somehow, an invitation meant for Ethel Barrymore is sent instead to a chorus girl named Ethel Jackson (nicknamed "Dynamite", though we are never told why). The dancer is promptly uninvited, and then re-invited, by the assistant, who falls in love with her on the ship sailing to Europe. Doris Day, perky as ever, is delightful in her early scenes celebrating with her chorus friends and with the shipboard kitchen crew ("Don't stop!" she tells the fellas, "I'm tickin'!"). Unfortunately, she has to contend with rubber-faced, bug-eyed Ray Bolger in the romance department, and it's all Miss Day can do to keep her spirits up. Bolger never found stardom in the movies sans his Scarecrow character; he does a very fine solo dance routine early on, but otherwise comes across as a joyless sourpuss, snapping at underlings and mugging at the camera (no gentleman would ever try to upstage Doris Day!). Doris sings the title song very prettily, but the other tunes are fairly forgettable. As for the happy ending, I can only hope the filmmakers were joking and that Day's "Dynamite" Jackson lures a replacement suitor aboard the ship heading back to the U.S.A. ** from ****