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Is Paris Burning? (Paris brûle-t-il?) (1966)

Starring Claude Dauphin, Gert Fröbe, Kirk Douglas, and Orson Welles.  Cinematography by Marcel Grignon.  Edited by Robert Lawrence.  Produced by Paul Graetz.  Written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola. Directed by René Clément.

Paris, 1945.  The German Nazi army controls the city, but it is starting to slip out of their grasp.  Many small pockets of resistance have begun to develop which is complicated by the fact that their overall position in the Second World War taken a turn for the worst. 

The film follows select members of these resistance groups as they plot their liberation and plea for Allied assistance.  Many of the intense political deliberations and the military strategies are also portrayed.  In an act of desperation, the Germans decide to lay waste the city by destroying the majority of its most significant landmarks, but when the order to detonate these sites is given, General Dietrich von Cholitz defiantly disobeys.

From his amazing skills as a screenwriter, Francis Ford Coppola had earned himself a three year contract with Seven Arts Productions.  In 1966 he was offered a job to be one of the ten writers to work on their film adaptation of the novel Paris brûle-t-il? (Is Paris Burning?) by Dominique LaPierre and Larry Collins.  So he, his pregnant wife, and his young son packed up and flew over to France where the script was being written.  Creative differences emerged and Coppola was eventually forced to quit the production, though in the end only he and Gore Vidal received a screen credit.

Is Paris Burning? has a lot of redeeming qualities.  The fantastic battle sequences were either lifted from actual footage from the war or were flawlessly recreated.  This gives the film the feel of a documentary at times which is sort of expected, due to director René Clément’s background in the art. 

It also is not lacking for star power.  Some of the biggest French, German, and American stars at the time participated in various roles throughout the project.  But where Is Paris Burning? struggles is in it’s extraordinary length and lack of enthusiasm.  Many of the actors literally seem bored to be there and I can attest that I was too.  And the film was also very poorly dubbed which can be distracting and confusing at times.  But any World War II enthusiast should appreciate at least one viewing in a lifetime.

Budget:  $???

Total US Gross:  $???

Genre:  War

Runtime:  173 Minutes

US Release Date:  11/10/66

Aspect Ratio:  2.35:1

Awards: 

Academy Awards: 
Nominated for best art direction/set decoration and best black and white cinematography. 

Golden Globes: 
Nominated for best original score.

Tagline:  “Burn Paris!” Was The Order That Had Come Shrieking Over The Phone.

Quote:  “Is Paris burning?”

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