It does have one scene of note. Pons plays an opera singer hiding out with a jazz band. The band knows nothing of her identity. She sabotages their singer (Lucille Ball in an early role) and is forced to go on stage as a substitute. Well, she only knows opera; the band only knows jazz. She sings "The Blue Danube" with both her and the band segueing from classical singing to jazz and back. It's a really delightful number, very inventive. If the movie is ever on TCM or AMC, it's work a look just for that
16 Reviews
an opera singer is a runaway bride
blanche-215 August 2014
I wish I had a time machine and could go back to the old Met and hear some of these singers like Galli-Curci and Lily Pons, who had voices the size of gnats. Nowadays a straight coloratura would never be given Violetta to sing. I'm not even sure one would sing Lucia. They still sing Gilda, and by Act II, it looks like a silent movie. as no one can hear them.
Anyway, Lily Pons was a huge international breakout opera star who made three films for RKO in the '30s. She also did advertisements and gave concerts. Here, she plays a singer, Nikki Martin, a Parisian without a passport who takes off on her wedding day and winds up meeting musician Windy McLean (Gene Raymond) who plays with a band, the 'McLean Wildcats.' Nikki falls for him and stows away on the ship that takes him and his band back to America. Authorities find her, lock her up, and fire the band, which was supposed to play on the ship. Nikki escapes once the ship reaches New York and turns up at the Wildcats' apartment.
Windy's girlfriend, Clair (Lucille Ball) arrives and has a job for them at a roadhouse, which gets them out of town and away from the authorities, who want to bring them to justice for hiding Nikki. When Clair is injured, Nikki becomes very popular as the band's singer. Clair reports them, and soon, they're on the run again.
The band players (Jack Oakie, Hermann Bing, and Mischa Auer) are funny and lively. The film contains lots of music of all kinds. At the end, Pons sings one of her signature roles, Rosina in "The Barber of Seville." Today that role is sung by a mezzo-soprano.
Pons had excellent coloratura technique (but no trill) and, like most female singers of that era, backed off the high notes. It has to do with their training and the type of sound that was considered acceptable. She had a high F and was known for Lakme, an opera which isn't done much anymore.
This is an entertaining film that gives one a chance to see one a really big opera star of the day, during a time when opera was much more a part of the culture. Pons sang into her seventies and, even when I was a child, was still very well known.
Anyway, Lily Pons was a huge international breakout opera star who made three films for RKO in the '30s. She also did advertisements and gave concerts. Here, she plays a singer, Nikki Martin, a Parisian without a passport who takes off on her wedding day and winds up meeting musician Windy McLean (Gene Raymond) who plays with a band, the 'McLean Wildcats.' Nikki falls for him and stows away on the ship that takes him and his band back to America. Authorities find her, lock her up, and fire the band, which was supposed to play on the ship. Nikki escapes once the ship reaches New York and turns up at the Wildcats' apartment.
Windy's girlfriend, Clair (Lucille Ball) arrives and has a job for them at a roadhouse, which gets them out of town and away from the authorities, who want to bring them to justice for hiding Nikki. When Clair is injured, Nikki becomes very popular as the band's singer. Clair reports them, and soon, they're on the run again.
The band players (Jack Oakie, Hermann Bing, and Mischa Auer) are funny and lively. The film contains lots of music of all kinds. At the end, Pons sings one of her signature roles, Rosina in "The Barber of Seville." Today that role is sung by a mezzo-soprano.
Pons had excellent coloratura technique (but no trill) and, like most female singers of that era, backed off the high notes. It has to do with their training and the type of sound that was considered acceptable. She had a high F and was known for Lakme, an opera which isn't done much anymore.
This is an entertaining film that gives one a chance to see one a really big opera star of the day, during a time when opera was much more a part of the culture. Pons sang into her seventies and, even when I was a child, was still very well known.
Silly but Charming
LeonardKniffel7 April 2020
Opera great Lily Pons plays a French singer who flees the altar looking for adventure and true love and ends up joining an American swing band (their hopped up version of "The Blue Danube" is a real treat). As charming as it is silly, the film is memorable for the way Pons bursts into song. Her version of "Una Voce Poco Fa" shows why she was such a magnificent stage presence. It's a shame that charisma did not quite make it on screen in the three movies she make for RKO (the other two being "I Dream Too Much" with Henry Fonda, 1935, and "Hitting a New High" 1937). Also notable is Lucille Ball's funny dance scene in which her character is sabotaged with soaped up dancing shoes, causing her to slip and fall every time she tries to dance; only a well trained dancer could have pulled it off.
Irresistibly Tuneful RKO Operetta Showcases Lily Pons
Kalaman23 September 2003
This is really a wonderful surprise, a charmingly contrived, irresistibly tune-filled operetta, made for RKO in 1936, directed by Leigh Jason. It was intended as a vehicle for its star, Lily Pons, playing the role of a Parisian opera star Nikki Martin that flees her wedding and becomes a stowaway hiding in a ship compartment occupied by an American Jazz band. Nikki meets and falls in love with the band leader Windy McLean (Gene Raymond) and she travels with his band from France to America.
Ms. Pons was a superior opera star of its time and "That Girl From Paris" is all hers, though other players, Jackie Oakie, Gene Raymond, Lucille Ball, Mischa Auer, Hermann Bing are all exceptionally good as well. Tall, willowy, coolly complacent (some would say stand-offish), Ms. Pons was no beauty like Jeanette MacDonald or Grace Moore, but she is endowed with an overpoweringly deep, searing opera voice that would put both Jeanette & Grace to shame. As much as the studio is promoting its opera star, RKO is also including as much classical & jazz music as possible and for this, it succeeds.
Much of the movie's charm & vivacity seems to run out of gas in the last fifteen minutes or so as the filmmakers try to endow the contrived scenario with a happy, forced ending, but everything before it was a sheer delight.
Ms. Pons was a superior opera star of its time and "That Girl From Paris" is all hers, though other players, Jackie Oakie, Gene Raymond, Lucille Ball, Mischa Auer, Hermann Bing are all exceptionally good as well. Tall, willowy, coolly complacent (some would say stand-offish), Ms. Pons was no beauty like Jeanette MacDonald or Grace Moore, but she is endowed with an overpoweringly deep, searing opera voice that would put both Jeanette & Grace to shame. As much as the studio is promoting its opera star, RKO is also including as much classical & jazz music as possible and for this, it succeeds.
Much of the movie's charm & vivacity seems to run out of gas in the last fifteen minutes or so as the filmmakers try to endow the contrived scenario with a happy, forced ending, but everything before it was a sheer delight.
this time girl chases boy.
ksf-22 July 2019
Gene Raymond, in a slightly different role....usually, he chases girl, uses trickery to date girl, girl treats him like dirt, and suddenly she can't live without him. Here, girl chases him! This one was oscar nominated, but before you get too excited, it was only for best sound recording. At the opening, french girl Nikki abandons her groom, and drives away, singing like mad. Lily Pons, the famed coloratura, according to her bio on imdb. every couple minutes, she breaks into song, which gets SO annoying, since its so florid and so high. now the whole crowd is singing along, and playing a game where they pass the cork from nose to nose... must be a french thang. This was one of only FOUR acting roles for Pons, as she spent most of her time performing. Jack Oakie is the wacky sidekick. and Jimmy Dorsey is one of the band members, according to the cast list. Lucy is "Claire" ! so much time spent hiding the girl. and more singing at the highest octave possible. ouch. On the plus side, there are some clever gags in here. Lucy does her pratfalls, while the guys try to hide the stow-away, and the restaurant owner cleverly mixes up his english, Marx Brothers style. and a fun song "Our nephew from Nice". I would have preferred more plot and less singing by Pons, but they didn't ask me. It's not bad. Not Great, but not bad. Directed by Leigh Jason. Jason had also directed one of my favorite films "The Bride Walks Out", hilarious film, also with Gene Raymond.
A funny movie, if you ignore the star
richard-178726 February 2017
What works in this movie is the comedy of the four men, especially Jack Oakie but also Micha Auer, Frank Jenks, and Gene Raymond - and, in her soapy dance number, of Lucile Ball. Both when they play swing and when they crack jokes, they're funny, and often very funny. I just watched the movie again on TCM, and I came to the conclusion that this could have been a very fine comedy if Pons and much of her music had been replaced by someone else. But she not only does not add to this picture, her moments on screen often detract. And that is a real shame, because other than her, there is a lot to like here.
I enjoy Pons' operatic recordings, and have most of them, but she doesn't work well in this movie. She had neither the personality nor - to be honest - the looks of Jeannette MacDonald or Grace Moore, and at this point she was still having real problems with the English language. A comedy with a lead who isn't good with the language is a real problem. Contrast her with Herman Bing, who misused English to comic effect, and you see the difference. She was no dancer, at least in this movie, either. Her one real talent, that for which she was famous at the Met, was her high notes.
That causes problems in a movie made for a general audience. She is too often given music to show off her very high notes and her staccati. At the Met audiences appreciate that sort of thing, but it seems misplaced in what was meant to be a general audience movie. She should have been given more lyrical music, less fireworks. Think of Jeannette MacDonald singing "San Francisco" in the movie of the same name, which came out the year before, or Grace Moore singing "Ciriciribin" - much less "Minnie the Moocher" - and you see how such a soprano could have handled pop music effectively. Pons just doesn't seem at ease with it.
It's interesting to see how she performs "Una voce poco fa" in her Met Opera scene. If that's how she did the role on stage, she was not much of an actress even by the operatic standards of her day. She tilts her head to the music, and opens and closes her fan. That's about all there is to it. If you recall Risë Stevens doing the Habanera from Carmen in *Going My Way* you can see that more could have been done to make the scene interesting - if Pons had been willing.
This movie could also have used a better director, to make the comedy scenes even better, or perhaps to have helped Pons do a better job. I suppose RKO was not going to assign one of its better directors to this.
But the basic problem is that Pons was not movie material, at least not for this sort of general audience comedy. She doesn't sink the picture, but she doesn't add anything positive to it, either. On this latest watching, I do really feel that she messed up what could have been a fine film.
Footnote: The year after making this picture, the male lead, Gene Raymond, would marry Jeannette MacDonald, another lyric coloratura who was much better suited to the movies, and much better presented there.
I enjoy Pons' operatic recordings, and have most of them, but she doesn't work well in this movie. She had neither the personality nor - to be honest - the looks of Jeannette MacDonald or Grace Moore, and at this point she was still having real problems with the English language. A comedy with a lead who isn't good with the language is a real problem. Contrast her with Herman Bing, who misused English to comic effect, and you see the difference. She was no dancer, at least in this movie, either. Her one real talent, that for which she was famous at the Met, was her high notes.
That causes problems in a movie made for a general audience. She is too often given music to show off her very high notes and her staccati. At the Met audiences appreciate that sort of thing, but it seems misplaced in what was meant to be a general audience movie. She should have been given more lyrical music, less fireworks. Think of Jeannette MacDonald singing "San Francisco" in the movie of the same name, which came out the year before, or Grace Moore singing "Ciriciribin" - much less "Minnie the Moocher" - and you see how such a soprano could have handled pop music effectively. Pons just doesn't seem at ease with it.
It's interesting to see how she performs "Una voce poco fa" in her Met Opera scene. If that's how she did the role on stage, she was not much of an actress even by the operatic standards of her day. She tilts her head to the music, and opens and closes her fan. That's about all there is to it. If you recall Risë Stevens doing the Habanera from Carmen in *Going My Way* you can see that more could have been done to make the scene interesting - if Pons had been willing.
This movie could also have used a better director, to make the comedy scenes even better, or perhaps to have helped Pons do a better job. I suppose RKO was not going to assign one of its better directors to this.
But the basic problem is that Pons was not movie material, at least not for this sort of general audience comedy. She doesn't sink the picture, but she doesn't add anything positive to it, either. On this latest watching, I do really feel that she messed up what could have been a fine film.
Footnote: The year after making this picture, the male lead, Gene Raymond, would marry Jeannette MacDonald, another lyric coloratura who was much better suited to the movies, and much better presented there.
Poor Song Selection Dooms This Movie
tr-834953 July 2019
OK movie, but nowhere near as good as "I Dream Too Much" (1935). This one is too messy and the songs selected were not songs the general public could identify with. Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy only hit it big because they did "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", a popular song that everyone knew. That's what this movie is missing. All the operatic screaming up and down the octaves is not pleasant -- songs that the public knew or ones that had distinct popular melodies would have made her movies top drawer entertainment.
An illegal alien at the Met
bkoganbing8 February 2016
If That Girl From Paris was made today there would be protesters at the screenings as Lily Pons is quite the illegal alien. I could just see the Donald leading a picket line protesting the fact that the heroine is a woman who stows away on ship to come to America and then is ready to get a marriage of convenience to stay here.
Not liking the arranged marriage she's been hammerlocked into Lily hooks up with a touring swing band consisting of Gene Raymond, Mischa Auer, Frank Jenks, and Jack Oakie. Of course all that doesn't sit well with Lucille Ball, affianced to Raymond and getting some of the best lines in the film.
Pons has some good numbers in all genres of music including a swing version of the Blue Danube Waltz and highlighting with her character's Metropolitan Opera debut in the Barber Of Seville.
This film was made right after Grace Moore scored such a success in One Night Of Love for Columbia Pictures. Studios went out and signed up opera singers, Lily Pons was RKO's catch. The vogue came and went quickly, this was Lily's second feature film after I Dream Too Much. She would do one more Hitting A New High and then she would return to the Metropolitan Opera for real.
But I'm glad some of these voices like Lily Pons recorded their art for posterity in films like That Girl From Paris.
Not liking the arranged marriage she's been hammerlocked into Lily hooks up with a touring swing band consisting of Gene Raymond, Mischa Auer, Frank Jenks, and Jack Oakie. Of course all that doesn't sit well with Lucille Ball, affianced to Raymond and getting some of the best lines in the film.
Pons has some good numbers in all genres of music including a swing version of the Blue Danube Waltz and highlighting with her character's Metropolitan Opera debut in the Barber Of Seville.
This film was made right after Grace Moore scored such a success in One Night Of Love for Columbia Pictures. Studios went out and signed up opera singers, Lily Pons was RKO's catch. The vogue came and went quickly, this was Lily's second feature film after I Dream Too Much. She would do one more Hitting A New High and then she would return to the Metropolitan Opera for real.
But I'm glad some of these voices like Lily Pons recorded their art for posterity in films like That Girl From Paris.
Mixed Music, Light on Logic.
WesternOne18 December 2021
T would seem they didn't really know what to do with Miss Pons, she, being a vivacious, scatterbrain French girl with a look and manner that would make her a character actress, sort of a shorter version of Fifi D'Orsay, except she's a trained opera star. Her fame came from grand opera and radio performances. So what to do with her? She has to be the star of the film, but how many french musicals have been done? How much American box office milage does grand opera promise?
So here, they get her out of France as fast as possible, and remove her from a stuffy high-brow opera-class environment, too, landing her amidst the all-American, low-brow milieu of a four man night club band featuring Jack Oakie. It's a remake of "Street Girl", which was the first Radio pictures production. Oakie more or less reprises his role here.
This affords Lily an oppurtunity to sing supposed jazz/swing music in the nightclub, with such numbers as a tricked up version of "The Blue Danube". And later, she gets a show at the Metropolitain Opera, and sings one of those sopranic arias that only snobs and foriegners want to hear. So there's something to not like for everyone.
But the worst part of this is the Gene Raymond character. He's the love focus for her, but throughout, he's a cold fish, with far more sarcastic remarks for her than tender ones. One never gets any romantic heat from them. He has to be literally bound and gagged to get him married to her. He's still protesting this at the strange fade out.
So here, they get her out of France as fast as possible, and remove her from a stuffy high-brow opera-class environment, too, landing her amidst the all-American, low-brow milieu of a four man night club band featuring Jack Oakie. It's a remake of "Street Girl", which was the first Radio pictures production. Oakie more or less reprises his role here.
This affords Lily an oppurtunity to sing supposed jazz/swing music in the nightclub, with such numbers as a tricked up version of "The Blue Danube". And later, she gets a show at the Metropolitain Opera, and sings one of those sopranic arias that only snobs and foriegners want to hear. So there's something to not like for everyone.
But the worst part of this is the Gene Raymond character. He's the love focus for her, but throughout, he's a cold fish, with far more sarcastic remarks for her than tender ones. One never gets any romantic heat from them. He has to be literally bound and gagged to get him married to her. He's still protesting this at the strange fade out.
Ignore That Girl
cheekyfilm8 December 2021
To echo other reviews here, Lily Pons is the low point of the film. Her overacting and overbearing accent and inflection are insufferable. The comedy and characters surrounding her are much more interesting and memorable. The jokes are hit and miss, but more hit than miss (quite literally, lots of slapstick stuff here). If you can ignore Ms. Pons this is an okay sunday afternoon flick, but good luck...
An Entertaining 1930s Film
timothymcclenaghan5 November 2006
Don't be put off by other negative critiques. Forget that Lily Pons was a highly regarded opera singer, or that somehow she condescended to appear in a movie. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Pons was offered a great deal of money by RKO to make the three movies she made.
She gives a fine performance both acting and singing. The plot is typical 1930s fare, and I thought it amusing and better than average. I find Pons's characterization very charming.
As for Pons being tall and willowy, the lady was a petite 5 feet tall (see IMDb bio), but she sure had a superior voice in that little body. The "pop" tunes she was given to sing in this film were written with an operatic voice in mind, requiring a large range to sing.
No other mention has been given to Lucille Ball's very, very funny comedic dance. Her character is sabotaged with a pair of soaped-up dancing shoes, causing her to slip and fall every time she tries to dance. I've watched this over and over and I laugh out loud every time I see it. It takes a very good, well-trained dancer to be able to fall down as much and as well as she did.
She gives a fine performance both acting and singing. The plot is typical 1930s fare, and I thought it amusing and better than average. I find Pons's characterization very charming.
As for Pons being tall and willowy, the lady was a petite 5 feet tall (see IMDb bio), but she sure had a superior voice in that little body. The "pop" tunes she was given to sing in this film were written with an operatic voice in mind, requiring a large range to sing.
No other mention has been given to Lucille Ball's very, very funny comedic dance. Her character is sabotaged with a pair of soaped-up dancing shoes, causing her to slip and fall every time she tries to dance. I've watched this over and over and I laugh out loud every time I see it. It takes a very good, well-trained dancer to be able to fall down as much and as well as she did.
Pons' voice is simply painful to listen to throughout this film...so how did this film even get made?!
planktonrules2 July 2019
Back in the 1930s and 40s, quite a few studio execs thought it wise to sign the strangest actresses to starring contracts....so strange you wonder to day WHAT they were thinking. In an attempt to find 'the next Garbo', for example, a bevy of foreign ladies were signed to contracts although they could barely sing or act. And, a few really strange non-actresses were signed as well---such as the Olympic champion skater, Sonja Henie and a duo of opera singers, Colleen Moore and Lily Pons. Most of these discoveries turned out to be busts and today folks just shake their head at the studios for these oddball actresses.
Of the odd actresses, one of the oddest was Lily Pons. Not only was she French and had an accent so thick you could slice it, she also sang the highest pitch opera known to mankind. If she sang any higher, only dogs would have been able to hear her!! And, because it was so high pitched, it's simply painful to hear her sing...or talk. Fortunately, the famous singer only made four films...and "Theat Girl from Paris" is godawful....mostly because of Pons. Her character is spoiled, grating and difficult to watch unless you are deaf.
The story finds Suzette in the process of getting married. However, she doesn't love the man and is tired of him running her life...so she runs. Soon, inexplicably, she begins following and annoying Windy (Gene Raymond). In fact, she even stows away in the cabin he and his bandmates are sharing back to the States. Why they never turn her in for being a stowaway or for being an illegal alien in the US, I have no idea...especially since she keeps breaking into song...songs that could raise the dead because her voice was that piercing! Soon it becomes obvious she's fallen for Windy...though based on what you see, you have no idea why.
Let's face it....Pons might have been a nice person, but as an actress she was about as welcome as the plague! Audiences were not thrilled and her career (thankfully) was short in films. A painful movie to watch and not the least bit enjoyable. I rather felt sorry for Raymond and the rest of the cast being forced to work with her and endure her awfulness.
Of the odd actresses, one of the oddest was Lily Pons. Not only was she French and had an accent so thick you could slice it, she also sang the highest pitch opera known to mankind. If she sang any higher, only dogs would have been able to hear her!! And, because it was so high pitched, it's simply painful to hear her sing...or talk. Fortunately, the famous singer only made four films...and "Theat Girl from Paris" is godawful....mostly because of Pons. Her character is spoiled, grating and difficult to watch unless you are deaf.
The story finds Suzette in the process of getting married. However, she doesn't love the man and is tired of him running her life...so she runs. Soon, inexplicably, she begins following and annoying Windy (Gene Raymond). In fact, she even stows away in the cabin he and his bandmates are sharing back to the States. Why they never turn her in for being a stowaway or for being an illegal alien in the US, I have no idea...especially since she keeps breaking into song...songs that could raise the dead because her voice was that piercing! Soon it becomes obvious she's fallen for Windy...though based on what you see, you have no idea why.
Let's face it....Pons might have been a nice person, but as an actress she was about as welcome as the plague! Audiences were not thrilled and her career (thankfully) was short in films. A painful movie to watch and not the least bit enjoyable. I rather felt sorry for Raymond and the rest of the cast being forced to work with her and endure her awfulness.
Questionable strategy
jaykay-1024 February 2005
Perhaps it made sense from a commercial standpoint: bringing a great lady of the opera, Lili Pons, to a level at which the public could more easily relate to her - perhaps even to identify with her in some respects. The result, ideally, would have been to create a leading lady in films who sang divinely as she was surrounded by "us." Miss Pons gave it her best try - here and elsewhere - but it just didn't work. Most unfortunately, the filmmakers effort to generate the common touch involved presenting her in the most commonplace outfits, makeup and coiffure, downplaying the "glamour" associated with grand opera. Supporting her with the buffoonery of Jack Oakie and his cohorts, having her hiding under blankets, climbing here and there, etc. doesn't register either. Though no beauty, Lili Pons can radiate elegance and charm (along with her great vocalizing), as she does, in full costume, when she sings "Una voce poco fa" in this picture. Her movies don't give us enough of the Lili Pons that made her a stage presence, and might have made her a screen presence. To have her play against (her own) type - here and elsewhere - was a mistake.
Lily is That Girl! Watch and Enjoy!
JLRMovieReviews25 February 2016
Lily Pons is "That Girl from Paris," a Paris opera singer, who is supposed to be getting married but runs from the altar because she doesn't love her rich socialite fiancé. She runs into Gene Raymond and instantly they create silly friction between them. But this film is zanily haphazard and fast-paced, with two flat tires, them singing while eating horse! and generally teasing each other. Then, she wants to sail on cruise ship to America, but things are never that easy. Due to complications, she has to be a stowaway and naturally tags along with Gene Raymond and his jazz/blues band. This moves very quickly and, if you're not paying attention, you'll wonder what just happened. The police are after her in America, because she entered the states illegally, and half the movie is about them hiding her and the other half is the romantic scenes between Lily and Gene. But band member Jack Oakie also has designs on her. The music is very delightful. I enjoyed the roof scene very much and also the song where they blended her style of singing with their music. Lucille Ball is the girl singer of the band, but of course Lily sees to it that Lucille can't perform, so she can. I had a great time and wish I watched this before now. Discover Lily Pons and "That Girl from Paris" today!
Completely Fake
mrdonleone12 April 2022
She sings. He talks. They quarrel. She sings again. In general this movie offers nothing we haven't seen again somewhere before; but it's done so lovely that everybody wants to keep on watching, and that is a true magic of the girl from Paris: it's completely fake.
A mix of showbiz musical meets Rogers & Hammerstein.
MyMovieTVRomance17 October 2021
Just gotta say, I thought this was an excellent movie! As a kid, I watched it many times, and what I love best about it is ho the musical numbers are a mix of those done in a Rogers and Hammerstein way that carries the story along, as well as those confined to the stage.
It's a very effective musical, perfect for genuine lovers of the genre- with nice touches of comedy and romance too.
My favorite part: the palm-reading song! :-)
It's a very effective musical, perfect for genuine lovers of the genre- with nice touches of comedy and romance too.
My favorite part: the palm-reading song! :-)
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