Paris Holiday
| Paris Holiday | |
|---|---|
Film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Gerd Oswald |
| Produced by | Bob Hope C.R. Foster-Kemp (associate) |
| Written by | Bob Hope (story) Edmund Beloin Dean Riesner |
| Starring |
Bob Hope Fernandel Anita Ekberg Martha Hyer |
| Music by | Joseph J. Lilley (score) Jimmy Van Heusen (song-music) Sammy Cahn (song-lyrics) |
| Cinematography | Roger Hubert |
| Edited by | Ellsworth Hoagland |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
|
Release date
|
February 27 1958 (World Premiere, London) March 28, 1958 (Los Angeles) |
|
Running time
|
103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Paris Holiday is a 1958 comedy film starring Bob Hope, which was directed by Gerd Oswald, and written by Edmund Beloin, who was Hope's attorney, and Dean Riesner from a story by Hope. The film also features French comedian Fernandel, Anita Ekberg and Martha Hyer, and a rare appearance by writer/director Preston Sturges. The film was shot in Technirama and Technicolor in Paris and in the French village of Gambais.
Popular American comedian Bob Hunter (Bob Hope), star of stage, movies and television, boards the luxury liner SS Île de France to travel to France, only to find his French counterpart, Fernydel (Fernandel) is on the ship as well. Also on board are elegant blonde diplomat Ann McCall (Martha Hyer), whom Bob would like to get to know better, and stunning Zara Brown (Anita Ekberg), the agent for a French criminal organization which suspects that Bob is carrying an incriminating manuscript. While Bob pursues Ann, with Fernydel's help, Zara repeatedly searches Bob's stateroom, causing problems when Ann sees her leaving after a search.
When he reaches Paris, Bob visits Serge Vitry (Preston Sturges), a writer whose script Bob has come to purchase, but is told that Vitry is no longer interested in comedy: he is writing a true-life drama which he is going to produce himself. Bob pleads for a look, and is told where he can get a translated copy. A series of suspicious accidents and mishaps then leads to Bob being arrested as a suspect in the murder of Serge, but he is rescued by the American ambassador (André Morell) and Inspector Dupont (Yves Brainville), who tell him that Serge used his manuscript to reveal the identities of counterfeiters who had infiltrated their way into high offices in the French government, which is why he was murdered. The two men ask Bob to serve as bait to flush out the criminals. Bob agrees, but only because Ann's life is also in danger. Helped by Ann, Fernandel, and villainess-turned-heroine Zara, Bob is chased all over Paris by the underworld, at one point winding up in a mental asylum for safekeeping. It all ends with an escape by helicopter piloted by Fernandel (actually John Crewdson) reading a book of flight instructions, capture of a group of assassins, then a parade for Bob, Fernandel and Ann, who are heroes.
...
Wikipedia