SO THIS IS PARIS
Starring Patsy Ruth Miller, Monte Blue and Lilyan Tashman
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October, 1926

Herr Lubitsch has descended to the American level, and given us a picture as full of forced situations, crude humor and poor taste as our very worst native product. He has even sunk a little below the American standard of light comedy which has been raised considerably in the past year. "So This Is Paris" is a social comedy, a quadrangle, a light affair of marriage and flirtation and jealously, which must depend entirely on the clever handling of situations for its humor and interest. It aspires to equal "The Marriage Circle" in complexity and ingenuity. But it does not do this. Where Lubitsch was risqué, he is now merely vulgar.

There are some interesting technical effects in the dance sequence, and one or two bright moments when you smile in spite of yourself. Monte Blue, who has behaved like a gentleman in so many Lubitsch pictures, reverts to type under the influence of Lilyan Tashman. And Patsy Ruth Miller, however, behaves credibly and with appeal in a dreadful role. This is, as the title indicates, a tale of Paris. But Lubitsch sets out to tell it with a most terribly American cast, and a set of slangy subtitles calculated to destroy the last shred of illusion. Even to one who has never been there, it is quite obvious that this is not Paris.


Video source: Grapevine, Foothill, Critic's Choice, Facets, Glenn Video

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