Silver Screenings

Have you attended a theatre or cabaret show in Paris?

We, sadly, have not. That was something we missed on a trip to Paris many years ago, even though there was much else to enjoy.

We were reminiscing about that trip the other day when we re-watched the Doris Day musical April in Paris (1952).

Day stars as a chorus girl who is mistakenly offered a trip to the City of Lights to represent the United States at a theatre festival. This festival is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State – your American tax dollars at work – and les célébrations open with a series of speeches(!). Who knew the best way to celebrate theatre, in Paris, is with lectures?

Anyhoo, the film goes to great lengths to explain why such a prestigious invitation ends up in Doris Day’s hands, and the explanation is as far-fetched as you might expect. But it doesn’t matter. The goal of this film is to put Doris Day in lovely gowns, and to have her sing in front of colourful sets.

There must also be a boyfriend, and Warner Bros. hired Ray Bolger, whom you may remember as the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Bolger plays a nerdy, hapless government employee who mistakenly sends the invite to Day, withdraws it, then changes his mind again when his boss tells him to. After all the brouhaha is settled, Bolger and boss accompany Day to Europe.

Day and Bolger fall in love during the voyage, which, understandably, doesn’t sit well with Bolger’s fiancé (the boss’s daughter). If you can believe it, Day and the fiancé develop a hostility so acute they actually fight over him.

They fight over Ray Bolger.

We know. It all seems a bit ridiculous.

Our recent viewing was the first time we watched this movie in its entirety, because every other time we tried to screen it, we couldn’t stand to finish it.

April in Paris is one of those movies that grows on a person, and we’ve developed a reluctant appreciation for it.

Here are our original objections to the film:

• Day and Bolger are an unlikely couple with little chemistry.
• Day is a bit too wholesome for the role of a chorus girl, especially one nicknamed “Dynamite.”
• The characters spend hardly any time in Paris.
• It has a flimsy, ludicrous premise.

Our objections still stand, but when we watched this film again, we noticed how much work and care filmmakers hand-spun into it. This production is a fluffy confection, but the song and dance routines are really good.

There are also some very funny lines. For example, Bolger’s boss says, in reference to his daughter, “Never underestimate the power of a woman who wants to be First Lady.”

In another scene, a tipsy Day and Bolger dance in the ship’s kitchen, and she makes a sly observation.
Day: “I didn’t know they danced like that in the State Department.”
Bolger: “It depends on what kind of a state you’re in.”

By the end of the film, we don’t care if Day and Bolger get married. Frankly, we think Day has better chemistry with the debonair Claude Dauphin, but we don’t make the decisions Around Here.

However, Bolger has a clever sequence where he dances with life-sized portraits of U.S. Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Bolger is positioned between the two painted figures, who spring to life, and the three of them hoof it in unison. It’s become one of our favourite scenes in the film.

One of Day’s truly remarkable moments occurs early on, when her Parisian invitation is rescinded. She had the feeling the invite might have been a mistake, nevertheless the news is still a stinging rebuke. She launches into the song, “April in Paris,” her heart heavy with loss and What Might Have Been.

April in Paris wasn’t as cheerful behind the scenes as it was on screen. There were conflicts between Bolger and director David Butler, and Day later said it was one of the few Warner Bros. films on which she didn’t enjoy working.

However, choreographer Donald Sadler said he loved collaborating with Day. She was a true product of the studio, he said, “where sometimes [the actors] would just go on the set, improvise the number, and shoot it.”¹

“Of all the stars and principals I’ve ever danced with, I think she was one of the most gifted,” said Sadler. “I don’t think she ever had any idea of how great she was.”²

Even though Bolger was accused of trying to steal scenes from Day, this is her movie; her charisma effortlessly outshines everyone else. We have always felt Doris Day is a joy to watch on screen.

Which is why April in Paris, for all its flaws, has grown on us.

How about you? Is there a movie that you once despised, but have now come to appreciate?

This post is part of THE IT GREW ON ME BLOGATHON, hosted by Taking Up Room.

April in Paris starring Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin. Directed by David Butler. Written by Jack Rose & Melville Shavelson. Warner Bros., 1952, Colour, 100 mins.

Source

¹TCM. (Retrieved August 5, 2026.) April in Paris, by Jeremy Arnold.
²Ibid.