Idol of Paris

1948 British film

1948 (1948)

Running time

106 minCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudgetless than £100,000^[1]^[2]

Idol of Paris is a 1948 film based on the novel Paiva, Queen of Love by Alfred Schirokauer, about a mid-19th century French courtesan Theresa who sleeps her way from poverty to the top of Second Empire society. It was an attempt by its makers to imitate the success of the Gainsborough melodramas.

Plot

In the 1860s, a woman rises from poverty to become the toast of Paris.

Cast

Beryl Baxter – Theresa
Michael Rennie – Hertz, one of Theresa's lovers
Christine Norden – Cora Pearl
Miles Malleson – Offenbach
Andrew Osborn – Antoine
Andrew Cruickshank – Prince Nicholas
Kenneth Kent – Emperor Napoleon
Margaretta Scott – Empress Eugenie
Patti Morgan – Bellanger
Genine Graham – Barucci
Henry Oscar – Lachman
Sybille Binder – Mrs. Lachman
Leslie Perrins – Count Paiva
Campbell Cotts – George Tremer Sr.
John Penrose – George Cremer Jr.
April Stride as Countess de Molney
Donald Gray as Police Inspector
June Holden as Marie
Frederick Bradshaw as Chamberlain
Marianne Stone as Theresa's Secretary

Production

The film was produced by Maurice Ostrer who moved into independent production after leaving Gainsborough Pictures. He set up his own company, Premier Productions, and made the film in association with R. J. Minney and Leslie Arliss who had all collaborated on The Wicked Lady.^[3]

Filing started in August 1947. It was shot at MGM's British studios.^[4]

The cast includes Australian Patti Morgan, who Ostrer put under a seven-year contract.^[5]^[6]

Reception

Critical

Reviews were very bad.^[7]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "the film is over-exaggerated in every detail and will appeal only to the very unsophisticated."^[8]

Variety said Ostrer "forgot that recent successful mellers leaned on stars for clicks with this 'first independent production. He boasts that the team that made his "Wicked Lady" has turned out this picture, but he has no James Mason and no Margaret Lockwood to carry the burden of an ill- written, corny script., Instead, he has comparative newcomers, who unfortunately do not merit leads in an ambitious picture. Its boxoffice prospects are dim. It would be a waste to export it to America."^[9]

Box office

The movie was not a financial success and led to Maurice Ostrer quitting the film business for good. He cancelled plans to make a film Wild Marriage and dropped eight artists who he had under contract.^[10]

The careers of Leslie Arliss and Beryl Baxter never recovered either.^[11]^[1]^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b Maurice Ostrer Archived 13 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine at Britmovie
^ Robert Murphy, Gainsborough's Producers
^ "Film role for Sydney model". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 31 August 1947. p. 36. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Trove.
^ "BRITISH FILMS". The Sun. No. 2317. Sydney. 7 September 1947. p. 19. Retrieved 13 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Film Contract For Australian Girl". The Central Queensland Herald. 16 October 1947. p. 29. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Trove.
^ "Patti Morgan has a start on road to film fame". The Australian Women's Weekly. 28 June 1947. p. 17. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Trove.
^ "Mary Armitage's FILM CLOSE-UPS". The Mail. Adelaide. 20 March 1948. p. 3 (SUNDAY MAGAZINE). Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Trove.
^ "Idol of Paris". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 15, no. 169. London. 1 January 1948. p. 30.
^ "Idol of Paris". Variety. 10 March 1948. p. 22.
^ "Sydney model loses job when Ostrer shuts down". The Mail. Adelaide. 30 October 1948. p. 3 (SUNDAY MAGAZINE). Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Trove.
^ Murphy, Robert (2003). Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48. Routledge. pp. 120–121. ISBN 9781134901500.
^ Maurice Ostrer at BFI Screenonline