Paree, Paree (1934)

This was only the third short that Bob Hope made in the start of his film career in 1934. It's interesting that he has second billing here. Of this entire small cast, he is the only one who went on to stardom or even any kind of film career at all. Only Charles Collins of this cast had more than half a dozen shorts, and his 14 appearances were mostly shorts or uncredited roles. Other reviewers give the background on this short. It has some songs from Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical, "Fifty Million Frenchmen." Hope sings the hit song, "You Do Something to Me." One other thing that struck me about this entertaining film is the choreography with a dance troupe listed as The Climas. No other information about this group is readily available, but they do some dance and choreography numbers that remind one of the lush Busby Berkeley films of the past. This is a mini version of the Broadway play, and Hope's Peter Forbes wins a bet with his wealthy friend, Baxter (Charles Collins) that he can woo LuLu to the altar within a month. The hitch is that he must do so without his bankroll, so he turns his wallet and cash over to Baxter. Baxter bets his motor boat against Peter's best polo pony. Peter wastes no time and asks Lulu point blank if she will marry him. Having broken the ice so quickly, and convincing her that he's not a "maniac," he soon wins her heart and hand and the bet. The quality of this short isn't very good. It has an interesting and diverse plot. A fight scene in the Café de la Moir has a close-up of the bartender. If that isn't Claudette Colbert in a cameo, it's a woman who could pass for her double or twin sister. This is a fun little musical comedy extra that came on a DVD of "Silk Stockings." See the Quotes section in the IMDb Web page on the film for some funny lines.

I would not say that Bob Hope was a major star on Broadway, that eluded him until he got into films, but he was a prominent Broadway performer during the Thirties before he went to Hollywood for The Big Broadcast of 1938. This short was made in New York probably between his run in Roberta and Say When. What Paree, Paree is is a condensed version of the Cole Porter Broadway show Fifty Million Frenchmen. The soundtrack includes You Do Something To Me, Find me a Primitive Man, You've Got That Thing, and the title song all from the stage production of Fifty Million Frenchmen.This short while it lacks a lot of production values is a marvelous opportunity to see something of a photographed Broadway show of the time. In that it's like The Marx Brothers Cocoanuts or Animal Crackers.Bob Hope was not in the original Broadway cast of Fifty Million Frenchmen, but Cole Porter would provide him with a great duet with Ethel Merman in Hope's last Broadway appearance a few years later in Red, Hot, and Blue. He introduced It's Delovely with her from that show which did lead to his Hollywood contract.Now that would be great if someone preserved them on film singing It's Delovely.

Netflix should mention this short feature on the info for Silk Stockings. Superior in every way to that over-produced fluff. This had much better Cole Porter songs and lots more energy. Silk Stockings turned out to be a big disappointment. Fred was getting too old for this sort of thing, though the dances and Cyd are lovely. I will be on the watch for the Garbo--Melvyn Douglas version of Ninotchka. Was Peter Lorre ill during the making of Silk Stockings--he seems to be very passive in the more active numbers and with less lines? Very glad that I ran across Paree--Paree by pure accident. Made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable. Bob Hope, as a simple "song and dance man' is pure joy.

You can find this on the DVD of "Silk Stockings" to which it is much superior. Apparently, this is a quickie film of part of a successful show. The songs are inventive and have much more energy than Porter's later work. The musical numbers are pretty standard fare for the time, which means pretty good.Two things worked for me: the story was complete enough to support the songs but simple enough to grasp in a few moments. When the thing was over, I wanted more which is how it should be.The other thing: in such projects, at least one number has to grab me, really grab me for the thing to work. In this one, there's a scene where Bob spends time with the girl he has bet he can marry. He "sweeps her off her feet." The song is forgettable, but the languid energy of her dance really was impressive: no fancy choreography, in fact it looks as if she just made it up that morning. But it came across as natural, almost real.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.