(Review originally written at 30 March 2007)
This is your typical average overdone MGM drama, with a sappy story and a fluffy look and feel all over it. Nevertheless, everything in it is done well enough to make this a good (enough) genre movie to watch.
The movie is needlessly told as a flashback, which also makes us the viewers already aware of how the main story ends, in advance. Sometimes in cases this approach works well for a story but not for such a mediocre movie as this one I'm afraid.
In the midst of all the formulaic drama there are some fine actors in the movie, that get to shine. Elizabeth Taylor is really great and to me she was the one that truly carried the movie, though in screen time it is perhaps Van Johnson who plays the real main role of the movie. The movie also has a supporting cast to die for; Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor and even a young Roger Moore in his first real notable movie role. I just wish that some of the character development would had been better though. Also the 'relationship' between Charles Wills and Marion Ellswirth never gets developed well enough, though it plays an essential part in all of the drama in the movie, especially in the beginning and toward the ending of the movie.
The movie is really typical for MGM '50's standards, meaning that the drama is heavy but the approach of it isn't always. The movie at times tends to be more cheerful than dramatic, which isn't always for the movie its own benefits. Toward the end the drama thickens, which especially gives the movie its 'overdone' feeling, which also doesn't exactly make the movie more believable to watch. It's still a good enough drama to watch, just not one that will grab you.
The movie uses some fine settings. Of course Paris is the perfect backdrop for a romantic movie and they used some nice locations in the movie (not the Eiffel tower for a change, even though it's still featured on the movie its cover). Also the costumes are quite nice.
Good enough for its genre and MGM '50's standards but that doesn't exactly mean that it's a highly recommendable one though.
6/10
Watch trailer
This is your typical average overdone MGM drama, with a sappy story and a fluffy look and feel all over it. Nevertheless, everything in it is done well enough to make this a good (enough) genre movie to watch.
The movie is needlessly told as a flashback, which also makes us the viewers already aware of how the main story ends, in advance. Sometimes in cases this approach works well for a story but not for such a mediocre movie as this one I'm afraid.
In the midst of all the formulaic drama there are some fine actors in the movie, that get to shine. Elizabeth Taylor is really great and to me she was the one that truly carried the movie, though in screen time it is perhaps Van Johnson who plays the real main role of the movie. The movie also has a supporting cast to die for; Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor and even a young Roger Moore in his first real notable movie role. I just wish that some of the character development would had been better though. Also the 'relationship' between Charles Wills and Marion Ellswirth never gets developed well enough, though it plays an essential part in all of the drama in the movie, especially in the beginning and toward the ending of the movie.
The movie is really typical for MGM '50's standards, meaning that the drama is heavy but the approach of it isn't always. The movie at times tends to be more cheerful than dramatic, which isn't always for the movie its own benefits. Toward the end the drama thickens, which especially gives the movie its 'overdone' feeling, which also doesn't exactly make the movie more believable to watch. It's still a good enough drama to watch, just not one that will grab you.
The movie uses some fine settings. Of course Paris is the perfect backdrop for a romantic movie and they used some nice locations in the movie (not the Eiffel tower for a change, even though it's still featured on the movie its cover). Also the costumes are quite nice.
Good enough for its genre and MGM '50's standards but that doesn't exactly mean that it's a highly recommendable one though.
6/10
Watch trailer
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