Reviews (1)

There's Nothin' Like A Dame
This version was part of a PBS series and features the Dame
herself. She even uses a four letter word (not the "F" one)
and comes across well. She is our last true star and this
is a fine tribute to her. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Beautiful,Sensuous,Handsome,Sexy!!
In this video are the "Beautiful People" and the "Dream Machines" of Hollywood.They are the "Hollywood Sex Symbols" from"Theda Bara"(The Original Vamp) to the reknowned "Elizabeth Taylor".Featured also are Rudolph Valentino,Clark Gable,Mae West,Rita Hayworth,Sophia Loren,Tyrone Power,Cary Grant,Paul Newman,Jayne Mansfield,Elvis Presley,Brigette Bardot,Robert Redford and the incomparable and legendary Marilyn Monroe which makes"Hollywood Sex Symbols" a sexy,sensuous must see delight!!

good
goo ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Some Things Never Change
I just saw for the first time ever this movie made in 1950; directed by Vincente Minnelli; and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. Ms. Taylor was only 18 when she made this film and was frightening and eternally beautiful. She is so petite that she almost could adorn her own wedding cake. The movie, however, as the title implies, belongs to Mr. Tracy who plays her father who cannot bear to see his little daughter grow up and get married. There is a lot of most fathers in Mr. Tracy's character. He has some great lines and some funny scenes and endears himself to us with his gentle humor-- the footage where he gets stuck in his kitchen making drinks and doesn't get to make a speech about his beloved daughter, just to point out one delightful instance. He is such a bungler-- can't get to Ms. Taylor at the wedding reception to bid her goodbye either.

I did not find this 54 year-old movie dated at all. Some things never change. Love may be eternal and most families the world over act pretty much the same when it comes to seeing their children leave home.

Takes the Cake--Wait There is No Cake.
There is a reason that Spencer Tracy was one of Hollywood's most acclaimed actors. He could pull off any role and make it believable. He was one of the great everymen of his day. Watch, for instance, FATHER OF THE BRIDE and you will find yourself thinking of your own father, grandfather, uncle, or perhaps even yourself.

In the film, based off the novel by Edward Streetcar, Tracy plays Stanley Banks, an upper middle class lawyer who has his nerves put to wits ends when he learns nonchalantly over dinner one evening that his only daughter, Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) has just become engaged. His life is turned upside down in a few brief moments, as the simple thing he thought of as love turns into a nightmare called a wedding. Yet as much as things change, he learns that nothing really changes at all.

This original film version of Streetcar's novel stays true to the source and (as much as I love the remake) in many ways is far more entertaining than the Steve Martin version. The movie has dated some, yet it remains as enduring as ever. Watch it and laugh, maybe cry, then--if you can--give Dad a call.

The original is still the best
I must say that this is far more charming and sentimental than the remake. The relationships presented here seem more real and less scripted.

Tracy and Taylor have an unmatched chemistry as father and daughter that actually stretched into real life, lasting until his death.

Minelli's direction brings real verve to the story without resorting to cheap physical humor. I love the verbal repartee and the cadre of classic Hollywood actors.

The DVD itself is a good transfer both in video and audio. I enjoyed the extras as well, although I couldn't seem to get audio on the two newsreels included.

A great trip down the aisle and memory lane.

A great family film...Better than the Remake...
Spencer Tracy is perfect in his role as the father of the bride. The love for his daughter played by Elizabeth Taylor rings so true in this film. Spencer Tracey gives one of the best comedic performances I have ever seen.

Joan Bennet is also excellent as the mother of the bride.

This comedy is never over the top and the characters seem very real. There are some good laughs.

The upper middle class home and lifestyle reminds me of the book "The Way We Never Were" and at the same times makes me nostagic for the 1950s.

If Elizabeth Taylor's character's call to her dad at the end of film doesn't choke you up then you are made of wood!

Get this film.

This is a classic!
If you're looking for a comedy classic with good acting and a few nuggets of truth, this would be a good bet. Spencer Tracy is delightful as a befuddled, confused, and out-of-his-depth father, trying to survive the announcement, planning, and actual wedding ceremony of his beloved daugher to a man who has taken his place as #1 in her life. He is a typical 50's father-gruff and at times uncommunicative, but always loving. Elizabeth Taylor is cast as the naive and passionate daughter, but she is overshadowed by both Tracy and Joan Bennett as his understanding and long-suffering wife. This is a real tour de force for Tracy and is a delight after all these years. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Fine Elizabeth Taylor Performance In Excellent Romance Story
"The Last Time I Saw Paris", was a very important film in a number of ways for Elizabeth Taylor and she herself has commented in interviews that it was the first of her adult acting roles where she had a character to work with that wasn't just surface glamour but had deeper more interesting dimensions to it. Certainly her character of Helen Wills does reveal a new depth in her acting and most certainly helped pave the way for her great triumphs in the coming years in top class films like "Giant", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that elevated her to super stardom. Interestingly this was Elizabeth's second teaming with leading man Van Johnson having already worked with him in a trite little comedy called "The Big Hangover". This time around Elizabeth Taylor is first billed in the credits over veteran MGM performer Johnson which illustrates clearly her growing worth with MGM who were now seriously grooming her for more meaty adult roles.

Based on a short story called "Babylon Revisited" by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, the screen writers have fashioned a tragically poignant love story that tells the story of two star crossed lovers who seemed to have "missed the boat", in obtaining a meaning in their lives in Post War Paris. Van Johnson plays Charles Wills a young reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" in Paris. He secretly dreams of writing the great novel that is in his head and in the midst of the celebrations for VE Day he encounters two very different sisters, Helen Ellswirth a flighty, beautiful fun loving girl not used to any responsibilty and her older sister Marion (Donna Reed),the down to earth emotionally repressed one. Both women are like night and day and while Marion falls for Charles it is Helen who captures his eye and his heart. They marry and Charles enters the unorthodox world of the Ellswirth family presided over by Helen and Marion's lovable but laid back father James (Walter Pidgeon in a delightful performance). They lead the gilded life of young carefree Americans in Paris and eventually have a daughter Vicki however as time goes on and the book rejections pile up for Charles the glow goes out of their marriage and the two begin to drift apart. Continually rejected by her increasingly embittered husband, Helen captures the attention of free loading tennis pro Paul Lane (Roger Moore) while Charles, beginning to slide into a drinking problem finds himself attracted to the carefree life offered by socialite Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor), another member of the lost generation aimlessly wandering through life's pleasures. All looks lost for the couple who have gone off in different directions and it takes a tragedy where Helen dies of pheumonia and Vicki is placed in the custody of an embittered Marion and her husband Claude (George Dolenz) for Charles to start to pick up the pieces of his life again. The story concludes with a sober Charles returning to all the old scenes of his former happiness with Helen in Paris in an effort to reclaim his daughter and begin afresh.

The film may be viewed by some as glossy romance and not much more however it is the sensible writing and outstanding acting by the principles that bring it to life. Elizabeth Taylor as stated displays a new maturity to her acting here and her chemistry with a very different performer as Van Johnson is surpringly honest and touching in particular in the more emotionally charged second half of the film. Van Johnson in a more mature role than usual delivers some of his best work in my belief and shows that he can be effective in poignant drama such as here. Donna Reed plays against her usual type as the embittered sister who misses out on the real love of her life and being normally associated with sweet characters her performance here does come across as quite startling. Walter Pidgeon, succeeds in stealing every scene he is in in a terrific later day performance. His carefree and perpetually broke aristocrat is a delightful character and he makes the most of his screen time. He displays a wonderful chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor and the two seem like two peas in a pod, both free spirits, in the opening scenes of the film. Pidgeon had already played Taylor's father once before in one of his teamings with Greer Garson in "Julia Misbehaves", in 1947. Eva Gabor rounds out the cast and displays her often underestimated talent in the role of the glamourous man trap who drifts from one husband to the next with little concern. Her ultimately sad character epitomises the "lost generation" that Fitzgerald captured so well in his short stories. Being after all a romance the film has a beautiful visual look to it with terrific on location photography around Paris used for many of Van Johnson's exterior shots. The recreation of the VE Day celebrations where real footage is intermingled with studio created scenes is first rate and really sets an accurate picture of the time and the place. Ably directed by Richard Brooks, the sterling work he got from Elizabeth Taylor here was bettered again by their next teaming in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", for which Elizabeth received an Oscar nomination.

For lovers of romance in beautiful locations, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", is wonderful entertainment however this film is more than just that. It vividly recreates the feeling of a time in our fairly recent history and of the people who seemingly lost their way amid all the effort and heartbreak of reestablishing their lives in a post war world. Elizabeth Taylor went on to top stardom after this role and much of the credit for this film's quality acting wise must go to her. Highly recommended.

How Original--A Frustrated Writer!
Uh-oh, here we go again with the "if only I could write the novel that's in me" character, this time played by Van Johnson, who can't really seem to make a go of his marriage to free-spirited Elizabeth Taylor. He drinks, she's a little too free-spirited. Had a hard time believing he would start to mess around with that Gabor woman when there's a Liz in his life. Walter Pidgeon shambles about as Liz's dad, Donna Reed looks pained and pinched as Liz's sister who sort of lost Van to Liz. Cloying child actress as the daughter of Van and Liz annoying. There's also something about the quality of the film they've been showing on NYC's Channel 13/PBS that makes me wonder whether it was recovered from a safe on the Andrea Doria.

I hope this was "The Last Time I Saw" this movie.

From Victory to Success
This film is a beautiful achievement about several issues. First about WW2, the liberation of Paris and the role the Americans played in that event. Some Americans stayed behind and made Paris their « capital », their regular living quarters because of the artistic and easygoing atmosphere of the city, because of what they thought was the permanent celebrating calvacade. No surprise that George fell into the trap, married a young beauty and tried to live up to this city. But he failed. And that is the second achievement. It is a perfect love affair and lifelong love for a woman that he idolizes and yet is unable to equal and even to come close to. He fails his own love and he destroys himself in alcohol to forget his failure. She will die because of it, leaving him and their daughter stranded behind. This is a lesson about achieving anything in life : achievement is a lot harder than striving for it, a lot more haphazard and unguaranteed and when the illusion disappears there is nothing left but frustration and selfdestruction. Then George is torn apart by his love for the departed woman, his wife, and his guilt about it, the jealousy of her sister who grabs the daughter and gets a court order to take care of her, and his desire to recuperate his daughter that finds a similar desire in the girl who wants to live with her daddy. The sister will have to realize that she is chastizing him for her own sister's death, for her own rejection as a possible wife and for her incapability to have a child of her own with her own husband. The end of this film is an absolute tear-shedding scene that should rip the heart of any viewer apart. An amazing Elizabeth Taylor is enhancing the film with the art of one of the best actresses of those times.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

An Actress Comes of Age
Here in The Last Time I Saw Paris an interesting thing happens. Elizabeth Taylor becomes a woman. Before this picture there were really only two other outstanding performances by Miss Taylor. Or I should say where she was allowed to rise above the material. The first being of course the rhapsodic National Velvet and the second the astonishing A Place In The Sun. The films in between those and The Last Time I Saw Paris were mostly along the "Isn't she beautiful?" line of movie making, and, why not? That was the main engine of most Hollywood star vehicles of the day. A Star didn't have to be a talent. But it was essential to possess a presence that reached out from the screen and touched the audience in a primal way. Miss Taylor had that in spades but she had much more that was often eclipsed in the dazzling explosion of her extraordinary almost alien beauty.
But here in the hands of director Richard Brooks (who would later lead her to her triumph in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) Miss Taylor finds a new level in her abilities as an actress. Her Helen is a woman of many layers and dark corners, of mercurial flights and deep sadness. Elizabeth at the tender age of 22 grasps all the aspects of this tragic woman and illuminates not only the screen with them but the whole enterprise as well. She shows us where she, as an actress is going in the future. And who she will become in her later films, one of the best screen actresses of the twentieth century. This is the real beginning of the Elizabeth Taylor of legend. She fills the role as no one of her generation could. Never again after this film would she sleepwalk through a film, a beautiful shadow to dream over.
She is aided in what is perhaps one of Van Johnson's best performances. Donna Reed scores high in the role of Helen's bitter sister and Walter Pidgon is a delight as her roguish father. A standout cameo is presented by Eva Gabor, (not Zsa Zsa) the only one of the famous sisters who had any real talent. The only false performance in the film comes from child actress Sandy Descher. When you compare her forced and overly cute performance to that of the child Elizabeth Taylor in "Jane Eyre" then you see what a treasure Miss Taylor has always been.
There is something so essentially wonderful in this gem from MGM and it is this. The Last Time I Saw Pairs is the perfect example of the last flowering in the 50's of the "woman's picture". Films where women could be multi faceted and complex and drive the story on under their own steam as whole human beings. This is a window to the 50's and a style of filmmaking that seems gone forever, great stories of strong women who fill the screen with power and grace. But with "Far From Heaven" and "The Hours" I may be wrong about forever.
I recommend this admittedly dated but charming film for anyone who wants to see what screen acting is all about. It is about thinking and Miss Taylor is a master at the craft.

I enjoyed the paris backdrops not much else
Cute and funny when it needs to be. Too drippy and inane when it tries to be sentimental.

Van Johnson is a WW2 correspondent who manages to fall in love with Elizabeth Taylor, in a more amazing move Elizabeth Taylor falls in love with Van Johnson! Walter Pigeon appears as the eccentric father of the bride and Donna Reed is the older sister who tries to run the family with good sense and is often rebuffed.

When everyone is poor and struggling things hold together but when the family falls into money then everything crashes down. The journalist proves he doesn't have the great American novel (or great Paris novel wither in him). Each struggles with problems and they slowly drift apart. He to the bottle and she to another man.

Then things turn sappy and sentimental and whatever charm this movie has evaporates rapidly. All the characters are so self centered I thought at first I was watching a "Thirty-Something" flashback set in the 40s. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Tracy returns in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place. Joan Bennett as his wife Elllie and Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma. A cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach, albeit with a slightly different topic. It seems Stanely is no more interested in becoming a grandfather than he was in letting his daughter get married. Still, there are nice moments between Tracy and Taylor, who always called the actor "Pops" until the day he died. This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II."

Tracy returns in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place. Joan Bennett as his wife Elllie and Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma. A cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach albeit with a slightly different topic. Still, there are nice moments between Tracy and Taylor, who always called the actor "Pops" until the day he died. This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II."

Decent sequel but ultimately forgettable
I'm sure it seemed a good thing to do -- follow up on the success of "Father of the Bride" with a chapter two. There are a few fun moments here and it is nice to see the entire cast reunited, but the sequel lacks the strength of the original. It's decent but far from memorable.

In this case, the Steve Martin remake, which diverges almost completely from the plot of the original (for good reasons), is more enjoyable. I found the end of this version, with Stanley misplacing the baby, a bit dark and not treated comically enough.

Many reviewers have lamented the poor sound quality of the DVD. Well, with a decent sound system it ends up sounding like most VHS copies. What is more embarrassing, at least on this DVD packaging are errors in the trivia game -- they don't even get Ellie's name right! Did they even watch this movie?

I'd actually like to see this reissued with a decent sound-track someday, but there are more important older movies to be revived first...

Spencer Tracy in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of 1950's "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father, of course, is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place, and even when the baby arrives and insists on crying every time he is in Stanley's arms, his worst fears seem to be confirmed.

Joan Bennett as his beautiful and encouraging wife Elllie, along with Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents, all do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma, but Tracy's best moments are when he his daughter comes over to see "Pops" (Taylor called Tracy "Pops" the rest of his life and treated him like a real father figure). "Father's Little Dividend" is a cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach, albeit with a slightly different topic. Even Tracy's performance really comes across as being a little less of the same as the original.

This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett once again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II," which puts some twists on the story that offer some further complications.

Use your cash as toilet paper.
If you are thinking of getting this dvd, you might as well use your cash as toilet paper, because that is what you will be getting when you buy this, if you get my drift. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Tracy returns in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place. Joan Bennett as his wife Elllie and Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma. A cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach, albeit with a slightly different topic. It seems Stanely is no more interested in becoming a grandfather than he was in letting his daughter get married. Still, there are nice moments between Tracy and Taylor, who always called the actor "Pops" until the day he died. This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II."

Tracy returns in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place. Joan Bennett as his wife Elllie and Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma. A cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach albeit with a slightly different topic. Still, there are nice moments between Tracy and Taylor, who always called the actor "Pops" until the day he died. This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II."

Decent sequel but ultimately forgettable
I'm sure it seemed a good thing to do -- follow up on the success of "Father of the Bride" with a chapter two. There are a few fun moments here and it is nice to see the entire cast reunited, but the sequel lacks the strength of the original. It's decent but far from memorable.

In this case, the Steve Martin remake, which diverges almost completely from the plot of the original (for good reasons), is more enjoyable. I found the end of this version, with Stanley misplacing the baby, a bit dark and not treated comically enough.

Many reviewers have lamented the poor sound quality of the DVD. Well, with a decent sound system it ends up sounding like most VHS copies. What is more embarrassing, at least on this DVD packaging are errors in the trivia game -- they don't even get Ellie's name right! Did they even watch this movie?

I'd actually like to see this reissued with a decent sound-track someday, but there are more important older movies to be revived first...

Spencer Tracy in a quickie sequel to "Father of the Bride"
After the success of 1950's "Father of the Bride," M-G-M produced this sequel the following year. This time around Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) and son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) are going to have a baby. Father, of course, is no more thrilled with the idea of being a grandfather than he was about Kay getting married in the first place, and even when the baby arrives and insists on crying every time he is in Stanley's arms, his worst fears seem to be confirmed.

Joan Bennett as his beautiful and encouraging wife Elllie, along with Billie Burke and Moroni Olsen as the other soon-to-be grandparents, all do their best to help poor Stanley through this latest trauma, but Tracy's best moments are when he his daughter comes over to see "Pops" (Taylor called Tracy "Pops" the rest of his life and treated him like a real father figure). "Father's Little Dividend" is a cute film, but certainly not as charming as the original, mainly because it is taking the same approach, albeit with a slightly different topic. Even Tracy's performance really comes across as being a little less of the same as the original.

This 1951 film was also directed by Vincent Minnelli and Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett once again did the screenplay using the characters first created in Edward Streeter's novel. "Father's Little Dividend" was remade, in a round about way, in the recent Steve Martin vehicle "Father of the Bride II," which puts some twists on the story that offer some further complications.

Use your cash as toilet paper.
If you are thinking of getting this dvd, you might as well use your cash as toilet paper, because that is what you will be getting when you buy this, if you get my drift. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Fine Elizabeth Taylor Performance In Excellent Romance Story
"The Last Time I Saw Paris", was a very important film in a number of ways for Elizabeth Taylor and she herself has commented in interviews that it was the first of her adult acting roles where she had a character to work with that wasn't just surface glamour but had deeper more interesting dimensions to it. Certainly her character of Helen Wills does reveal a new depth in her acting and most certainly helped pave the way for her great triumphs in the coming years in top class films like "Giant", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that elevated her to super stardom. Interestingly this was Elizabeth's second teaming with leading man Van Johnson having already worked with him in a trite little comedy called "The Big Hangover". This time around Elizabeth Taylor is first billed in the credits over veteran MGM performer Johnson which illustrates clearly her growing worth with MGM who were now seriously grooming her for more meaty adult roles.

Based on a short story called "Babylon Revisited" by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, the screen writers have fashioned a tragically poignant love story that tells the story of two star crossed lovers who seemed to have "missed the boat", in obtaining a meaning in their lives in Post War Paris. Van Johnson plays Charles Wills a young reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" in Paris. He secretly dreams of writing the great novel that is in his head and in the midst of the celebrations for VE Day he encounters two very different sisters, Helen Ellswirth a flighty, beautiful fun loving girl not used to any responsibilty and her older sister Marion (Donna Reed),the down to earth emotionally repressed one. Both women are like night and day and while Marion falls for Charles it is Helen who captures his eye and his heart. They marry and Charles enters the unorthodox world of the Ellswirth family presided over by Helen and Marion's lovable but laid back father James (Walter Pidgeon in a delightful performance). They lead the gilded life of young carefree Americans in Paris and eventually have a daughter Vicki however as time goes on and the book rejections pile up for Charles the glow goes out of their marriage and the two begin to drift apart. Continually rejected by her increasingly embittered husband, Helen captures the attention of free loading tennis pro Paul Lane (Roger Moore) while Charles, beginning to slide into a drinking problem finds himself attracted to the carefree life offered by socialite Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor), another member of the lost generation aimlessly wandering through life's pleasures. All looks lost for the couple who have gone off in different directions and it takes a tragedy where Helen dies of pheumonia and Vicki is placed in the custody of an embittered Marion and her husband Claude (George Dolenz) for Charles to start to pick up the pieces of his life again. The story concludes with a sober Charles returning to all the old scenes of his former happiness with Helen in Paris in an effort to reclaim his daughter and begin afresh.

The film may be viewed by some as glossy romance and not much more however it is the sensible writing and outstanding acting by the principles that bring it to life. Elizabeth Taylor as stated displays a new maturity to her acting here and her chemistry with a very different performer as Van Johnson is surpringly honest and touching in particular in the more emotionally charged second half of the film. Van Johnson in a more mature role than usual delivers some of his best work in my belief and shows that he can be effective in poignant drama such as here. Donna Reed plays against her usual type as the embittered sister who misses out on the real love of her life and being normally associated with sweet characters her performance here does come across as quite startling. Walter Pidgeon, succeeds in stealing every scene he is in in a terrific later day performance. His carefree and perpetually broke aristocrat is a delightful character and he makes the most of his screen time. He displays a wonderful chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor and the two seem like two peas in a pod, both free spirits, in the opening scenes of the film. Pidgeon had already played Taylor's father once before in one of his teamings with Greer Garson in "Julia Misbehaves", in 1947. Eva Gabor rounds out the cast and displays her often underestimated talent in the role of the glamourous man trap who drifts from one husband to the next with little concern. Her ultimately sad character epitomises the "lost generation" that Fitzgerald captured so well in his short stories. Being after all a romance the film has a beautiful visual look to it with terrific on location photography around Paris used for many of Van Johnson's exterior shots. The recreation of the VE Day celebrations where real footage is intermingled with studio created scenes is first rate and really sets an accurate picture of the time and the place. Ably directed by Richard Brooks, the sterling work he got from Elizabeth Taylor here was bettered again by their next teaming in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", for which Elizabeth received an Oscar nomination.

For lovers of romance in beautiful locations, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", is wonderful entertainment however this film is more than just that. It vividly recreates the feeling of a time in our fairly recent history and of the people who seemingly lost their way amid all the effort and heartbreak of reestablishing their lives in a post war world. Elizabeth Taylor went on to top stardom after this role and much of the credit for this film's quality acting wise must go to her. Highly recommended.

How Original--A Frustrated Writer!
Uh-oh, here we go again with the "if only I could write the novel that's in me" character, this time played by Van Johnson, who can't really seem to make a go of his marriage to free-spirited Elizabeth Taylor. He drinks, she's a little too free-spirited. Had a hard time believing he would start to mess around with that Gabor woman when there's a Liz in his life. Walter Pidgeon shambles about as Liz's dad, Donna Reed looks pained and pinched as Liz's sister who sort of lost Van to Liz. Cloying child actress as the daughter of Van and Liz annoying. There's also something about the quality of the film they've been showing on NYC's Channel 13/PBS that makes me wonder whether it was recovered from a safe on the Andrea Doria.

I hope this was "The Last Time I Saw" this movie.

From Victory to Success
This film is a beautiful achievement about several issues. First about WW2, the liberation of Paris and the role the Americans played in that event. Some Americans stayed behind and made Paris their « capital », their regular living quarters because of the artistic and easygoing atmosphere of the city, because of what they thought was the permanent celebrating calvacade. No surprise that George fell into the trap, married a young beauty and tried to live up to this city. But he failed. And that is the second achievement. It is a perfect love affair and lifelong love for a woman that he idolizes and yet is unable to equal and even to come close to. He fails his own love and he destroys himself in alcohol to forget his failure. She will die because of it, leaving him and their daughter stranded behind. This is a lesson about achieving anything in life : achievement is a lot harder than striving for it, a lot more haphazard and unguaranteed and when the illusion disappears there is nothing left but frustration and selfdestruction. Then George is torn apart by his love for the departed woman, his wife, and his guilt about it, the jealousy of her sister who grabs the daughter and gets a court order to take care of her, and his desire to recuperate his daughter that finds a similar desire in the girl who wants to live with her daddy. The sister will have to realize that she is chastizing him for her own sister's death, for her own rejection as a possible wife and for her incapability to have a child of her own with her own husband. The end of this film is an absolute tear-shedding scene that should rip the heart of any viewer apart. An amazing Elizabeth Taylor is enhancing the film with the art of one of the best actresses of those times.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

An Actress Comes of Age
Here in The Last Time I Saw Paris an interesting thing happens. Elizabeth Taylor becomes a woman. Before this picture there were really only two other outstanding performances by Miss Taylor. Or I should say where she was allowed to rise above the material. The first being of course the rhapsodic National Velvet and the second the astonishing A Place In The Sun. The films in between those and The Last Time I Saw Paris were mostly along the "Isn't she beautiful?" line of movie making, and, why not? That was the main engine of most Hollywood star vehicles of the day. A Star didn't have to be a talent. But it was essential to possess a presence that reached out from the screen and touched the audience in a primal way. Miss Taylor had that in spades but she had much more that was often eclipsed in the dazzling explosion of her extraordinary almost alien beauty.
But here in the hands of director Richard Brooks (who would later lead her to her triumph in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) Miss Taylor finds a new level in her abilities as an actress. Her Helen is a woman of many layers and dark corners, of mercurial flights and deep sadness. Elizabeth at the tender age of 22 grasps all the aspects of this tragic woman and illuminates not only the screen with them but the whole enterprise as well. She shows us where she, as an actress is going in the future. And who she will become in her later films, one of the best screen actresses of the twentieth century. This is the real beginning of the Elizabeth Taylor of legend. She fills the role as no one of her generation could. Never again after this film would she sleepwalk through a film, a beautiful shadow to dream over.
She is aided in what is perhaps one of Van Johnson's best performances. Donna Reed scores high in the role of Helen's bitter sister and Walter Pidgon is a delight as her roguish father. A standout cameo is presented by Eva Gabor, (not Zsa Zsa) the only one of the famous sisters who had any real talent. The only false performance in the film comes from child actress Sandy Descher. When you compare her forced and overly cute performance to that of the child Elizabeth Taylor in "Jane Eyre" then you see what a treasure Miss Taylor has always been.
There is something so essentially wonderful in this gem from MGM and it is this. The Last Time I Saw Pairs is the perfect example of the last flowering in the 50's of the "woman's picture". Films where women could be multi faceted and complex and drive the story on under their own steam as whole human beings. This is a window to the 50's and a style of filmmaking that seems gone forever, great stories of strong women who fill the screen with power and grace. But with "Far From Heaven" and "The Hours" I may be wrong about forever.
I recommend this admittedly dated but charming film for anyone who wants to see what screen acting is all about. It is about thinking and Miss Taylor is a master at the craft.

I enjoyed the paris backdrops not much else
Cute and funny when it needs to be. Too drippy and inane when it tries to be sentimental.

Van Johnson is a WW2 correspondent who manages to fall in love with Elizabeth Taylor, in a more amazing move Elizabeth Taylor falls in love with Van Johnson! Walter Pigeon appears as the eccentric father of the bride and Donna Reed is the older sister who tries to run the family with good sense and is often rebuffed.

When everyone is poor and struggling things hold together but when the family falls into money then everything crashes down. The journalist proves he doesn't have the great American novel (or great Paris novel wither in him). Each struggles with problems and they slowly drift apart. He to the bottle and she to another man.

Then things turn sappy and sentimental and whatever charm this movie has evaporates rapidly. All the characters are so self centered I thought at first I was watching a "Thirty-Something" flashback set in the 40s. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Timeless "Boy And His Dog", Story That Will Touch Your Heart
Here we have the "ultimate", Lassie experience with the classic film that first introduced this famous Collie to moviegoers in 1943. Film and TV audiences ever since have had an ongoing love affair with this beautiful dog that always seemed to understand humans better than they often did themselves. It was these "human", qualities that Lassie seemed to possess that made her so endearing to audiences and which made her a movie icon. I know I grew up watching the Lassie television series starring child actor Tommy Rettig however it is this beautiful movie which shows Lassie in her prime, full of love for her master, tremendous strength of character often under difficult circumstances, and a touching warmth that made her almost human and was guaranteed to tug at the heart strings. "Lassie Come Home", provided yet another stunning showcase for child actor Roddy McDowall as Lassie's devoted master Joe and was also very significant in marking the MGM debut of an incredibly beautiful 10 year old Elizabeth Taylor as Priscilla thus beginning the long career of this legendary actress.

Originally there were not high hopes for this "dog picture", as it was termed, so much so that the film was relegated to MGM's "B" department as a minor feature to possibly please wartime audiences. Strangely for a second string film it was shot in colour which was a blessing as it greatly enhanced the story of a Collie's efforts to cross a whole country to return to her master. The immortal story of Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) whose love aand devotion to his pet Collie Lassie is mutually shared is just as touching now as it was for war time audiences. Joe is the only son of struggling family head Sam Carraclough (Donald Crisp)who is currently out of work. Along with his wife (Elsa Lanchester) everyday is a trail to put food on the table and as their financial situation worsens they are forced to sell Lassie to the local Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce) who lives at the nearby manor with his little granddaughter Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor). Lassie however missing Joe makes numerous attempts to escape from the kennel at the Manor. Taken by the Duke to Scotland Priscilla can see how unhappy Lassie is away from her real master and she allows Lassie to escape and return home to Yorkshire where she belongs. However the long journey home proves to be an exhausting and at times terrifying one for Lassie. She has to endure frightening electrical storms and having to swim across fast moving rivers in her quest to return home. Injured in a fight with a hunting dog where she is shot at for tresspassing Lassie now near death from exhaustion and hunger is taken in by a kindly elderly couple and nursed back to health. The old woman, (Dame May Whitty), grows very attached to Lassie but rightly senses that she is in the middle of a journey of some kind which she must now resume. Lassie next encounters a lovable travelling salesman Rowlie (Edmund Gwenn), who with his little dog Toots temporarily takes Lassie along on his selling travels. Tragedy strikes however when Rowlie is robbed and Toots is killed and finally Rowlie also senses that Lassie must go on to what she needs to do. Finally Lassie makes it back home to Joe and his family and when the Duke and Priscilla visit they can see that Lassie is where she belongs with her loving family. All ends happily when the Duke offers Sam a job caring for the dogs at the Manor.

First class entertainment is the only way to describe "Lassie Come Home". Based on the equally loved novel by war veteran Eric Knight the films rich "English", feel despite being filmed in the United States due to the war is typical MGM and was what studio head Louis B. Mayer loved to see in his movies. Inspired by the huge success of other "English", themed movies such as the classic "Mrs. Miniver", it went on to enjoy huge success at the Box Office. Certainly apart from Lassie's obvious screen appeal the cast of "Lassie Come Home", is a memorable one. Donald Crisp and Elsa Lanchester as Joe's devoted parents who are tortured by the necessity of selling their son's dog in order to survive are heartbreakingly sincere in their playing. Nigel Bruce and Edmund Gwenn in their respective roles provide the necessary local feel to this story so totally associated with the British Isles. Elizabeth Taylor even at this early age shows a delightfully enchanting screen presence that enabled her to mature into one of Hollywood's greatest adult legends and here her beauty even as a 10 year old is startling. She was selected for the role due to her still present English accent as like Roddy McDowall she was a recent evacuee from war torn London. Director Fred M. Wilcox who is perhaps best remembered nowadays for his direction of the sci fi classic "Forbidden Planet", shows a particular flair in directing the younger members of the cast such as the still largely inexperienced Elizabeth Taylor. The films has a beautiful musical score and also boasts "A" grade cinematography, that gives the film a rich authentic English feel to it. "Lassie Come Home", has something for all viewers to cherish and if you are someone that thinks sentiment should be seen more often in movies like myself, then you can't go past this great film.

Wholesome and moving family entertainment is not common nowadays and it seems hard to imagine in our present movie culture a dog like Lassie becoming a star in her own right as she did in 1943 with this film. "Lassie Come Home",is guaranteed to move even the hardest cynic with its simple message of the devoted love that exists between a person and their dog. You dont have to even been a dog lover to enjoy this film as the wonderful characters, excellent photography and great acting by veteran performers and the younger cast members alike make this a classic not to be missed. Treat yourself to a viewing of this superb film soon and you will see why the legend of Lassie has endured for over 60 years.

What Love and Devotion mean to a boy and his dog!
This movie was such a treasure for me to watch. What Love and devotion R.M. and Lassie had for each other. Roddy was so cute when he was a little boy and Liz Taylor was just as beautiful as she is today! It is great that they grew up to be friends! The movie made me cry but I knew Lassie would come home! Roddy McDowall is the BEST actor to me from just a little boy till he left this world behind! I will Love and miss him allways, LOVE YOU R.M., Anna Marie

The Love of a Dog for a Boy
This is a superb film, taken nearly word-for-word from Eric Knight's novel about the faithful collie who travels a thousand miles from northern Scotland to England to return to the boy she loves. Lassie is neither Superdog or magically endowed, just following ancient instincts and the love in her heart. The entire cast is marvelous, the color brings the countryside to life, and small scenes will tear your heart out, including Dame May Whitty as a lonely old lady willing to let Lassie go rather than have her fret.

That was then, this is now
And I love this movie now as much as I did back then! Wonderful cast, wonderful acting, and awesome-beyond-compare plot. You just don't get good movies about dogs nowadays. This is a classic.

Excellent overall--but one scene upsetting to 4-yr old
We enjoyed the movie overall, but one scene was very upsetting to my sensitive 4-year old girl. One of the villains kills a dog friend of Lassie's with a stick. The scene itself was not that violent, but the fact that the dog was killed upset my daughter a great deal. If we had known about this scene, we could have prepared her for it (or fast forwarded it). ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Fine Elizabeth Taylor Performance In Excellent Romance Story
"The Last Time I Saw Paris", was a very important film in a number of ways for Elizabeth Taylor and she herself has commented in interviews that it was the first of her adult acting roles where she had a character to work with that wasn't just surface glamour but had deeper more interesting dimensions to it. Certainly her character of Helen Wills does reveal a new depth in her acting and most certainly helped pave the way for her great triumphs in the coming years in top class films like "Giant", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that elevated her to super stardom. Interestingly this was Elizabeth's second teaming with leading man Van Johnson having already worked with him in a trite little comedy called "The Big Hangover". This time around Elizabeth Taylor is first billed in the credits over veteran MGM performer Johnson which illustrates clearly her growing worth with MGM who were now seriously grooming her for more meaty adult roles.

Based on a short story called "Babylon Revisited" by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, the screen writers have fashioned a tragically poignant love story that tells the story of two star crossed lovers who seemed to have "missed the boat", in obtaining a meaning in their lives in Post War Paris. Van Johnson plays Charles Wills a young reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" in Paris. He secretly dreams of writing the great novel that is in his head and in the midst of the celebrations for VE Day he encounters two very different sisters, Helen Ellswirth a flighty, beautiful fun loving girl not used to any responsibilty and her older sister Marion (Donna Reed),the down to earth emotionally repressed one. Both women are like night and day and while Marion falls for Charles it is Helen who captures his eye and his heart. They marry and Charles enters the unorthodox world of the Ellswirth family presided over by Helen and Marion's lovable but laid back father James (Walter Pidgeon in a delightful performance). They lead the gilded life of young carefree Americans in Paris and eventually have a daughter Vicki however as time goes on and the book rejections pile up for Charles the glow goes out of their marriage and the two begin to drift apart. Continually rejected by her increasingly embittered husband, Helen captures the attention of free loading tennis pro Paul Lane (Roger Moore) while Charles, beginning to slide into a drinking problem finds himself attracted to the carefree life offered by socialite Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor), another member of the lost generation aimlessly wandering through life's pleasures. All looks lost for the couple who have gone off in different directions and it takes a tragedy where Helen dies of pheumonia and Vicki is placed in the custody of an embittered Marion and her husband Claude (George Dolenz) for Charles to start to pick up the pieces of his life again. The story concludes with a sober Charles returning to all the old scenes of his former happiness with Helen in Paris in an effort to reclaim his daughter and begin afresh.

The film may be viewed by some as glossy romance and not much more however it is the sensible writing and outstanding acting by the principles that bring it to life. Elizabeth Taylor as stated displays a new maturity to her acting here and her chemistry with a very different performer as Van Johnson is surpringly honest and touching in particular in the more emotionally charged second half of the film. Van Johnson in a more mature role than usual delivers some of his best work in my belief and shows that he can be effective in poignant drama such as here. Donna Reed plays against her usual type as the embittered sister who misses out on the real love of her life and being normally associated with sweet characters her performance here does come across as quite startling. Walter Pidgeon, succeeds in stealing every scene he is in in a terrific later day performance. His carefree and perpetually broke aristocrat is a delightful character and he makes the most of his screen time. He displays a wonderful chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor and the two seem like two peas in a pod, both free spirits, in the opening scenes of the film. Pidgeon had already played Taylor's father once before in one of his teamings with Greer Garson in "Julia Misbehaves", in 1947. Eva Gabor rounds out the cast and displays her often underestimated talent in the role of the glamourous man trap who drifts from one husband to the next with little concern. Her ultimately sad character epitomises the "lost generation" that Fitzgerald captured so well in his short stories. Being after all a romance the film has a beautiful visual look to it with terrific on location photography around Paris used for many of Van Johnson's exterior shots. The recreation of the VE Day celebrations where real footage is intermingled with studio created scenes is first rate and really sets an accurate picture of the time and the place. Ably directed by Richard Brooks, the sterling work he got from Elizabeth Taylor here was bettered again by their next teaming in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", for which Elizabeth received an Oscar nomination.

For lovers of romance in beautiful locations, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", is wonderful entertainment however this film is more than just that. It vividly recreates the feeling of a time in our fairly recent history and of the people who seemingly lost their way amid all the effort and heartbreak of reestablishing their lives in a post war world. Elizabeth Taylor went on to top stardom after this role and much of the credit for this film's quality acting wise must go to her. Highly recommended.

How Original--A Frustrated Writer!
Uh-oh, here we go again with the "if only I could write the novel that's in me" character, this time played by Van Johnson, who can't really seem to make a go of his marriage to free-spirited Elizabeth Taylor. He drinks, she's a little too free-spirited. Had a hard time believing he would start to mess around with that Gabor woman when there's a Liz in his life. Walter Pidgeon shambles about as Liz's dad, Donna Reed looks pained and pinched as Liz's sister who sort of lost Van to Liz. Cloying child actress as the daughter of Van and Liz annoying. There's also something about the quality of the film they've been showing on NYC's Channel 13/PBS that makes me wonder whether it was recovered from a safe on the Andrea Doria.

I hope this was "The Last Time I Saw" this movie.

From Victory to Success
This film is a beautiful achievement about several issues. First about WW2, the liberation of Paris and the role the Americans played in that event. Some Americans stayed behind and made Paris their « capital », their regular living quarters because of the artistic and easygoing atmosphere of the city, because of what they thought was the permanent celebrating calvacade. No surprise that George fell into the trap, married a young beauty and tried to live up to this city. But he failed. And that is the second achievement. It is a perfect love affair and lifelong love for a woman that he idolizes and yet is unable to equal and even to come close to. He fails his own love and he destroys himself in alcohol to forget his failure. She will die because of it, leaving him and their daughter stranded behind. This is a lesson about achieving anything in life : achievement is a lot harder than striving for it, a lot more haphazard and unguaranteed and when the illusion disappears there is nothing left but frustration and selfdestruction. Then George is torn apart by his love for the departed woman, his wife, and his guilt about it, the jealousy of her sister who grabs the daughter and gets a court order to take care of her, and his desire to recuperate his daughter that finds a similar desire in the girl who wants to live with her daddy. The sister will have to realize that she is chastizing him for her own sister's death, for her own rejection as a possible wife and for her incapability to have a child of her own with her own husband. The end of this film is an absolute tear-shedding scene that should rip the heart of any viewer apart. An amazing Elizabeth Taylor is enhancing the film with the art of one of the best actresses of those times.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

An Actress Comes of Age
Here in The Last Time I Saw Paris an interesting thing happens. Elizabeth Taylor becomes a woman. Before this picture there were really only two other outstanding performances by Miss Taylor. Or I should say where she was allowed to rise above the material. The first being of course the rhapsodic National Velvet and the second the astonishing A Place In The Sun. The films in between those and The Last Time I Saw Paris were mostly along the "Isn't she beautiful?" line of movie making, and, why not? That was the main engine of most Hollywood star vehicles of the day. A Star didn't have to be a talent. But it was essential to possess a presence that reached out from the screen and touched the audience in a primal way. Miss Taylor had that in spades but she had much more that was often eclipsed in the dazzling explosion of her extraordinary almost alien beauty.
But here in the hands of director Richard Brooks (who would later lead her to her triumph in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) Miss Taylor finds a new level in her abilities as an actress. Her Helen is a woman of many layers and dark corners, of mercurial flights and deep sadness. Elizabeth at the tender age of 22 grasps all the aspects of this tragic woman and illuminates not only the screen with them but the whole enterprise as well. She shows us where she, as an actress is going in the future. And who she will become in her later films, one of the best screen actresses of the twentieth century. This is the real beginning of the Elizabeth Taylor of legend. She fills the role as no one of her generation could. Never again after this film would she sleepwalk through a film, a beautiful shadow to dream over.
She is aided in what is perhaps one of Van Johnson's best performances. Donna Reed scores high in the role of Helen's bitter sister and Walter Pidgon is a delight as her roguish father. A standout cameo is presented by Eva Gabor, (not Zsa Zsa) the only one of the famous sisters who had any real talent. The only false performance in the film comes from child actress Sandy Descher. When you compare her forced and overly cute performance to that of the child Elizabeth Taylor in "Jane Eyre" then you see what a treasure Miss Taylor has always been.
There is something so essentially wonderful in this gem from MGM and it is this. The Last Time I Saw Pairs is the perfect example of the last flowering in the 50's of the "woman's picture". Films where women could be multi faceted and complex and drive the story on under their own steam as whole human beings. This is a window to the 50's and a style of filmmaking that seems gone forever, great stories of strong women who fill the screen with power and grace. But with "Far From Heaven" and "The Hours" I may be wrong about forever.
I recommend this admittedly dated but charming film for anyone who wants to see what screen acting is all about. It is about thinking and Miss Taylor is a master at the craft.

I enjoyed the paris backdrops not much else
Cute and funny when it needs to be. Too drippy and inane when it tries to be sentimental.

Van Johnson is a WW2 correspondent who manages to fall in love with Elizabeth Taylor, in a more amazing move Elizabeth Taylor falls in love with Van Johnson! Walter Pigeon appears as the eccentric father of the bride and Donna Reed is the older sister who tries to run the family with good sense and is often rebuffed.

When everyone is poor and struggling things hold together but when the family falls into money then everything crashes down. The journalist proves he doesn't have the great American novel (or great Paris novel wither in him). Each struggles with problems and they slowly drift apart. He to the bottle and she to another man.

Then things turn sappy and sentimental and whatever charm this movie has evaporates rapidly. All the characters are so self centered I thought at first I was watching a "Thirty-Something" flashback set in the 40s. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Bravo, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth Taylor had some of her best roles playing Tennessee Williams heroines in films such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), and the bizarre, campy, yet underrated "Boom!" (1968). In this 1989 TV film version of Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth," Taylor had another great role, giving an excellent, incisive performance as fading, sad, fabulous, ultimately triumphant actress Alexandra Del Lago, aka, The Princess Kosmonopolis. Directed by Nicholas Roeg, Taylor made this film at a point in her career when she had pretty much forgone both acting and Hollywood, yet ironically gives the somewhat desperate, youth and career obsessed Alexandra an air of strength and dignity. Mark Harmon, portraying the young stud Chance Wayne with whom Alexandra hooks up when she temporarily flees Hollywood, also gives a very good performance, although Aiden Quinn would have been a more inspired, sexier choice for this role, a part originally played by Paul Newman in the original 1959 Broadway production as well as Richard Brooks' 1962 film version.

Watching Taylor's performance as Alexandra, one realizes how gifted and talented an actress she is, and wishes she would return to acting, finding another great role like Alexandra. Bravo, Elizabeth! We miss you. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Beautiful,Sensuous,Handsome,Sexy!!
In this video are the "Beautiful People" and the "Dream Machines" of Hollywood.They are the "Hollywood Sex Symbols" from"Theda Bara"(The Original Vamp) to the reknowned "Elizabeth Taylor".Featured also are Rudolph Valentino,Clark Gable,Mae West,Rita Hayworth,Sophia Loren,Tyrone Power,Cary Grant,Paul Newman,Jayne Mansfield,Elvis Presley,Brigette Bardot,Robert Redford and the incomparable and legendary Marilyn Monroe which makes"Hollywood Sex Symbols" a sexy,sensuous must see delight!!

good
goo ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Fine Elizabeth Taylor Performance In Excellent Romance Story
"The Last Time I Saw Paris", was a very important film in a number of ways for Elizabeth Taylor and she herself has commented in interviews that it was the first of her adult acting roles where she had a character to work with that wasn't just surface glamour but had deeper more interesting dimensions to it. Certainly her character of Helen Wills does reveal a new depth in her acting and most certainly helped pave the way for her great triumphs in the coming years in top class films like "Giant", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" that elevated her to super stardom. Interestingly this was Elizabeth's second teaming with leading man Van Johnson having already worked with him in a trite little comedy called "The Big Hangover". This time around Elizabeth Taylor is first billed in the credits over veteran MGM performer Johnson which illustrates clearly her growing worth with MGM who were now seriously grooming her for more meaty adult roles.

Based on a short story called "Babylon Revisited" by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, the screen writers have fashioned a tragically poignant love story that tells the story of two star crossed lovers who seemed to have "missed the boat", in obtaining a meaning in their lives in Post War Paris. Van Johnson plays Charles Wills a young reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" in Paris. He secretly dreams of writing the great novel that is in his head and in the midst of the celebrations for VE Day he encounters two very different sisters, Helen Ellswirth a flighty, beautiful fun loving girl not used to any responsibilty and her older sister Marion (Donna Reed),the down to earth emotionally repressed one. Both women are like night and day and while Marion falls for Charles it is Helen who captures his eye and his heart. They marry and Charles enters the unorthodox world of the Ellswirth family presided over by Helen and Marion's lovable but laid back father James (Walter Pidgeon in a delightful performance). They lead the gilded life of young carefree Americans in Paris and eventually have a daughter Vicki however as time goes on and the book rejections pile up for Charles the glow goes out of their marriage and the two begin to drift apart. Continually rejected by her increasingly embittered husband, Helen captures the attention of free loading tennis pro Paul Lane (Roger Moore) while Charles, beginning to slide into a drinking problem finds himself attracted to the carefree life offered by socialite Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor), another member of the lost generation aimlessly wandering through life's pleasures. All looks lost for the couple who have gone off in different directions and it takes a tragedy where Helen dies of pheumonia and Vicki is placed in the custody of an embittered Marion and her husband Claude (George Dolenz) for Charles to start to pick up the pieces of his life again. The story concludes with a sober Charles returning to all the old scenes of his former happiness with Helen in Paris in an effort to reclaim his daughter and begin afresh.

The film may be viewed by some as glossy romance and not much more however it is the sensible writing and outstanding acting by the principles that bring it to life. Elizabeth Taylor as stated displays a new maturity to her acting here and her chemistry with a very different performer as Van Johnson is surpringly honest and touching in particular in the more emotionally charged second half of the film. Van Johnson in a more mature role than usual delivers some of his best work in my belief and shows that he can be effective in poignant drama such as here. Donna Reed plays against her usual type as the embittered sister who misses out on the real love of her life and being normally associated with sweet characters her performance here does come across as quite startling. Walter Pidgeon, succeeds in stealing every scene he is in in a terrific later day performance. His carefree and perpetually broke aristocrat is a delightful character and he makes the most of his screen time. He displays a wonderful chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor and the two seem like two peas in a pod, both free spirits, in the opening scenes of the film. Pidgeon had already played Taylor's father once before in one of his teamings with Greer Garson in "Julia Misbehaves", in 1947. Eva Gabor rounds out the cast and displays her often underestimated talent in the role of the glamourous man trap who drifts from one husband to the next with little concern. Her ultimately sad character epitomises the "lost generation" that Fitzgerald captured so well in his short stories. Being after all a romance the film has a beautiful visual look to it with terrific on location photography around Paris used for many of Van Johnson's exterior shots. The recreation of the VE Day celebrations where real footage is intermingled with studio created scenes is first rate and really sets an accurate picture of the time and the place. Ably directed by Richard Brooks, the sterling work he got from Elizabeth Taylor here was bettered again by their next teaming in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", for which Elizabeth received an Oscar nomination.

For lovers of romance in beautiful locations, "The Last Time I Saw Paris", is wonderful entertainment however this film is more than just that. It vividly recreates the feeling of a time in our fairly recent history and of the people who seemingly lost their way amid all the effort and heartbreak of reestablishing their lives in a post war world. Elizabeth Taylor went on to top stardom after this role and much of the credit for this film's quality acting wise must go to her. Highly recommended.

How Original--A Frustrated Writer!
Uh-oh, here we go again with the "if only I could write the novel that's in me" character, this time played by Van Johnson, who can't really seem to make a go of his marriage to free-spirited Elizabeth Taylor. He drinks, she's a little too free-spirited. Had a hard time believing he would start to mess around with that Gabor woman when there's a Liz in his life. Walter Pidgeon shambles about as Liz's dad, Donna Reed looks pained and pinched as Liz's sister who sort of lost Van to Liz. Cloying child actress as the daughter of Van and Liz annoying. There's also something about the quality of the film they've been showing on NYC's Channel 13/PBS that makes me wonder whether it was recovered from a safe on the Andrea Doria.

I hope this was "The Last Time I Saw" this movie.

From Victory to Success
This film is a beautiful achievement about several issues. First about WW2, the liberation of Paris and the role the Americans played in that event. Some Americans stayed behind and made Paris their « capital », their regular living quarters because of the artistic and easygoing atmosphere of the city, because of what they thought was the permanent celebrating calvacade. No surprise that George fell into the trap, married a young beauty and tried to live up to this city. But he failed. And that is the second achievement. It is a perfect love affair and lifelong love for a woman that he idolizes and yet is unable to equal and even to come close to. He fails his own love and he destroys himself in alcohol to forget his failure. She will die because of it, leaving him and their daughter stranded behind. This is a lesson about achieving anything in life : achievement is a lot harder than striving for it, a lot more haphazard and unguaranteed and when the illusion disappears there is nothing left but frustration and selfdestruction. Then George is torn apart by his love for the departed woman, his wife, and his guilt about it, the jealousy of her sister who grabs the daughter and gets a court order to take care of her, and his desire to recuperate his daughter that finds a similar desire in the girl who wants to live with her daddy. The sister will have to realize that she is chastizing him for her own sister's death, for her own rejection as a possible wife and for her incapability to have a child of her own with her own husband. The end of this film is an absolute tear-shedding scene that should rip the heart of any viewer apart. An amazing Elizabeth Taylor is enhancing the film with the art of one of the best actresses of those times.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

An Actress Comes of Age
Here in The Last Time I Saw Paris an interesting thing happens. Elizabeth Taylor becomes a woman. Before this picture there were really only two other outstanding performances by Miss Taylor. Or I should say where she was allowed to rise above the material. The first being of course the rhapsodic National Velvet and the second the astonishing A Place In The Sun. The films in between those and The Last Time I Saw Paris were mostly along the "Isn't she beautiful?" line of movie making, and, why not? That was the main engine of most Hollywood star vehicles of the day. A Star didn't have to be a talent. But it was essential to possess a presence that reached out from the screen and touched the audience in a primal way. Miss Taylor had that in spades but she had much more that was often eclipsed in the dazzling explosion of her extraordinary almost alien beauty.
But here in the hands of director Richard Brooks (who would later lead her to her triumph in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) Miss Taylor finds a new level in her abilities as an actress. Her Helen is a woman of many layers and dark corners, of mercurial flights and deep sadness. Elizabeth at the tender age of 22 grasps all the aspects of this tragic woman and illuminates not only the screen with them but the whole enterprise as well. She shows us where she, as an actress is going in the future. And who she will become in her later films, one of the best screen actresses of the twentieth century. This is the real beginning of the Elizabeth Taylor of legend. She fills the role as no one of her generation could. Never again after this film would she sleepwalk through a film, a beautiful shadow to dream over.
She is aided in what is perhaps one of Van Johnson's best performances. Donna Reed scores high in the role of Helen's bitter sister and Walter Pidgon is a delight as her roguish father. A standout cameo is presented by Eva Gabor, (not Zsa Zsa) the only one of the famous sisters who had any real talent. The only false performance in the film comes from child actress Sandy Descher. When you compare her forced and overly cute performance to that of the child Elizabeth Taylor in "Jane Eyre" then you see what a treasure Miss Taylor has always been.
There is something so essentially wonderful in this gem from MGM and it is this. The Last Time I Saw Pairs is the perfect example of the last flowering in the 50's of the "woman's picture". Films where women could be multi faceted and complex and drive the story on under their own steam as whole human beings. This is a window to the 50's and a style of filmmaking that seems gone forever, great stories of strong women who fill the screen with power and grace. But with "Far From Heaven" and "The Hours" I may be wrong about forever.
I recommend this admittedly dated but charming film for anyone who wants to see what screen acting