Paris – When it Sizzles (1964)

Director: Richard Quine

Cast: William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, Grégoire Aslan

Synopsis: With the help of his pretty assistant, a troubled screenwriter strives to complete a movie script in 48 hours.

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A self-referential look at the construction and techniques used in the writing of a film isn’t a bad idea for a movie, but couching it in a frothy, light romantic comedy robs Paris – When it Sizzles of much of its insight.   Where a grizzled William Holden (Network, Damien: Omen II) – only 45, but heavy boozing had already put a decade on his features – turns his script around within 48 hours on-screen, the real film’s script seems to fall apart like a precocious child that has simply lost interest.   A painfully thin Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Wait Until Dark) is winsome, but both she and Holden struggle to make anything worthwhile out of the material they’re given to work with.   There are a few sharp insights and a number of in-jokes and cameos – including an extended one from Tony Curtis, who manages to perk things up whenever he’s on-screen.   A failure to be sure – but quite an interesting one.

(Reviewed 14th January 2012)