Is Paris Burning?

Infobox_Film
name = Is Paris Burning?
""'(Paris, brûle-t-il ?)


caption= Original movie poster
starring = Kirk Douglas
Glenn Ford
Gert Fröbe
Yves Montand
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Robert Stack
director = René Clément
producer = Paul Graetz
writer = Gore Vidal
Francis Ford Coppola
music = Maurice Jarre
cinematography = Marcel Grignon
editing = Robert Lawrence
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = flagicon|France 26 October 1966
flagicon|USA 10 November 1966
runtime = 173 min
country = France
USA
awards =
language = French
English
imdb_id = 060814

"Is Paris Burning?" (French: "Paris brûle-t-il?") is a 1966 Franco-American film dealing with the 1944 liberation of Paris by rival branches of the French Resistance (communist and gaullist) and the Free French Forces.

Plot

The title is Hitler's question to his chief of staff Alfred Jodl on the eve of the liberation of Paris (August 25): the military governor of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, had been ordered to destroy Paris rather than let it fall undamaged into the hands of the Allies, but von Choltitz disobeyed.

The film follows historical events as Dwight Eisenhower, head of the Allied invasion, refuses to divert troops to liberate Paris. His hand is forced by the French military leader, Leclerc, and by a Resistance uprising in the city. Von Choltitz keeps details of the uprising from the German high command in an effort to save the city being destroyed in retaliation. The film follows his turmoil as a soldier and as the man who doesn't wish to be seen by history as the cause of a beautiful city's destruction. In this he is helped by the intervention of the Swedish consul.

The film looks not only at the taking of Paris by French and American troops but at rivalries within the Resistance. Of the two main sections, the branch loyal to General de Gaulle was against an uprising by the Resistance while the branch linked to the communists believed action was necessary. De Gaulle tried to overcome communist influence during and after Liberation, believing the communists planned to take control of the city and then of France.

About

It is based on a best-selling book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre and was directed by René Clément, from a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola. The music is by Maurice Jarre. It later had words added by Maurice Vidalin and became a patriotic anthem sung by Mireille Mathieu under the title "Paris en colère".

The film stars Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Gert Fröbe, Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins, Robert Stack, Charles Boyer, Yves Montand, Leslie Caron, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Simone Signoret and Alain Delon. It was fimed in 180 sites. Claude Rich plays two parts: General Leclerc, with moustache, and Lt Pierre de la Fouchardière, without moustache. He is credited at the end only with the part of Leclerc. His role as the young lieutenant is not by chance; Claude Rich, as a teenager, was watching soldiers in the street when the real-life Pierre de la Fouchardière called him into a building to protect him.

Box office receipts were disappointing, perhaps because the film is difficult to follow without knowledge of the story. The scenes showing infighting among the French Resistance are especially likely to baffle the casual viewer.

Cast

* Jean-Paul Belmondo - Morandot/Pierreflot
* Charles Boyer - Monod
* Gert Fröbe - Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz
* Leslie Caron - Françoise Labe
* George Chakiris - G.I. in Tank
* Jean-Pierre Cassel - Lt. Henri Karcher
* Anthony Perkins - Sgt. Warren
* Kirk Douglas - Gen. George Patton
* Simone Signoret - Cafe Proprietress
* Orson Welles - Consul Raoul Nordling
* Glenn Ford - Gen. Omar Bradley
* Yves Montand - Marcel Bizien
* Robert Stack - Gen. Edwin Sibert
* Marie Versini - Claire Morandat
* Skip Ward - GI with Warren
* Bruno Cremer - Col. Henri Rol-Tanguy
* Claude Dauphin - Colonel Lebel
* Pierre Dux - Parodi/Cerat
* Billy Frick - Adolf Hitler
* Daniel Gélin - Yves Bayet
* Michel Piccoli - Edgar Pisani
* Sacha Pitoëff - Frédéric Joliot-Curie
* Claude Rich - Gen. Jacques Leclerc
* Jean-Louis Trintignant - Capt. Serge
* Pierre Vaneck - Maj. Roger Gallois
* Alain Delon - Jacques Chaban-Delmas
* Ernst F. Furbringer - von Boineburg
* Jean-Pierre Zola - Cpl. Mayer
* Pascal Fardoulis - Gilet
* Jo Warfield - Major with Chaban-Delmas
* Henia Suchar - Prefecture Switchboard Operator
* Clara Gansard - Wife of Col. Rol
* Joelle Latour - Young Girl with Warren
* Michel Puterflam - Laffont
* Felix Marten - Landrieu
* Roger Lumont - "Jade Amicol"
* Jean-Pierre Honore - Alain Perpezat
* Karl-Otto Alberty - SS tapisserie de Bayeux
* Aime DeMarch - Roland Pre
* Hubert DeLapparent - Huissier Matignon
* Pierre Mirat - Cafe Proprietor
* Jean Negroni - Villon
* Peter Neusser - SS tapisserie de Bayeux
* Konrad Georg - Von Model
* Claus Holm - Huhm
* Joachim Hansen - Commandant prison de Fresnes
* Georges Géret - Cmdr. George
* Peter Jacob - Gen. Burgdorf
* Billy Kearns - Patton Aide
* Michel Lonsdale - Jacques Debu-Bridel
* Pierre Collet - Policier resistant
* Georges Claisse - Intern with Monod
* Bernard Fresson - Liaison Agent
* Michel Etcheverry - Prefet Luizet
* Paul Crauchet - Le cure
* Suzy Delair - A Parisienne
* Jean Valmont - F.F.I. bazooka
* Serge Rousseau - Col. Fabien
* Albert Remy - Le Gendarme
* Wolfgang Preiss - Capt. Ebernach
* Georges Staquet - Capt. Dronne
* Jean-Michel Rouziere - Monsieur au chien
* Helmut Schneider - German metro Adjutant
* Maria Machado - Stella
* Günter Meisner - Commandant SS Pantin
* E.G. Marshall - Intelligence Officer Powell
* Georges Poujouly - Landrieux
* Del Negro - Officer with Chaban-Delmas
* Hannes Messemer - General Alfred Jodl
* Harry Meyen - Lieutenant von Arnim

Trivia

*Spoofed in MAD Magazine in 1967 as "Is Paris Boring?"
*Referenced in The Sopranos episode Cold Stones
*In the video game , there's also a level called "Is Paris Burning?"

ee also

* "The Longest Day"
* "Battle of Britain"
* "Patton"