Several first-rate farceurs are saddled with inconsequential material in this tepid, disappointing comedy.
Six disparate travelers fly to Paris for a weekend jaunt and find various adventures. Naive English rose Claire Bloom finds first romance with middle-aged lady killer Claude Dauphin; art lover Margaret Rutherford buys a fake Mona Lisa and winds up preferring it to the original; marching band member Ronald Shiner has a close encounter with a prostitute; Scotsman James Copeland picks up a pert French girl, then suspects her of snatching his wallet; pompous Jimmy Edwards spends the entire weekend downing ale in a British pub. And, best of all, treasury minister Alastair Sim goes on a drinking binge with a recalcitrant Russian official and teaches him the pleasures of the word 'yes.' In this one instance, the material rises to meet the actor with hilarious results. (The highpoint comes when a cockeyed Sim attempts to negotiate an economic treaty while swilling Vodka and pawing a Russian chanteuse.)
The rest of the cast aren't so fortunate, left to founder on Parisian locations at the mercy of writer Anatole de Grunwald's toothless whimsy and Gordon Parry's unimaginative direction. The filmmakers deserve to be charged with criminal negligence.
With Richard Wattis, Stringer Davis, and in throwaway bits, Gregoire Aislan and Luis de Funes.
Six disparate travelers fly to Paris for a weekend jaunt and find various adventures. Naive English rose Claire Bloom finds first romance with middle-aged lady killer Claude Dauphin; art lover Margaret Rutherford buys a fake Mona Lisa and winds up preferring it to the original; marching band member Ronald Shiner has a close encounter with a prostitute; Scotsman James Copeland picks up a pert French girl, then suspects her of snatching his wallet; pompous Jimmy Edwards spends the entire weekend downing ale in a British pub. And, best of all, treasury minister Alastair Sim goes on a drinking binge with a recalcitrant Russian official and teaches him the pleasures of the word 'yes.' In this one instance, the material rises to meet the actor with hilarious results. (The highpoint comes when a cockeyed Sim attempts to negotiate an economic treaty while swilling Vodka and pawing a Russian chanteuse.)
The rest of the cast aren't so fortunate, left to founder on Parisian locations at the mercy of writer Anatole de Grunwald's toothless whimsy and Gordon Parry's unimaginative direction. The filmmakers deserve to be charged with criminal negligence.
With Richard Wattis, Stringer Davis, and in throwaway bits, Gregoire Aislan and Luis de Funes.