''Innocents in Paris'' is a 1953 British-French

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

produced by

Romulus Films Sir John Woolf (15 March 1913, London – 28 June 1999, London) and his brother James Woolf (2 March 1920, London – 30 May 1966, Beverly Hills, California) were British film producers. John and James founded the production companies Romulus Fi ...

, directed by Gordon Parry and starring Alastair Sim,

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal North-Wes ...

Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award an ...

Margaret Rutherford Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, film and television. Rutherford came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's ''Blithe Spirit (1945 f ...

, Claude Dauphin, and Jimmy Edwards, and also featuring James Copeland. Popular French comedy actor

Louis de Funès Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in fi ...

appears as a taxi driver, and there are cameo appearances by

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to Union of South Africa, South Africa at an early age, before ...

and

Kenneth Williams Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 ''Carry ...

. The writer and producer was Anatole de Grunwald, born in Russia in 1910, who fled to Britain with his parents in 1917. He had a long career there as a writer and producer, including the films '' The Way to the Stars'', ''

The Winslow Boy ''The Winslow Boy'' is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Background Set against the strict cod ...

'', ''Doctor's Dilemma'', ''Libel'', and ''The Yellow Rolls-Royce''.

Plot

The film is a romantic comedy about a group of Britons flying out from The London Airport for a weekend in Paris in 1953 in a

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The ...

Airspeed Ambassador. An English diplomat (Sim) is on a working trip to obtain an agreement with his Russian counterpart (Illing); a

Royal Marine The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

bandsman (Shiner) has a night out on the tiles after winning a pool of the French currency held by all the Marines in his band; a young woman (Bloom) finds romance with an older Frenchman (Dauphin) who gives her a tour of Paris; an amateur artist (Rutherford) searches out fellow painters on the

Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

and in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

; a hearty Englishman (Edwards) spends the entire weekend in an English-style pub; and a

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...

veteran (Copeland) is an archetypal Scotsman in

kilt A kilt ( ) is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first r ...

and Tam o' Shanter who finds love with a young French woman (Gérard). The film displays the mores and manners of the British, and, to a lesser extent, the French, in the early nineteen-fifties. At this time, Britons were allowed to take only £25 out of the country, as £5 British cash and traveller's cheques, and there are several scenes showing how the travellers dealt with this. The film also features a Russian nightclub (of which there were several in Paris at the time), with Ludmila Lopato, a Russian

tzigane ''Tzigane'' is a rhapsodic composition by the French composer Maurice Ravel featuring a virtuosic violin part. The original instrumentation was for violin and piano (with optional luthéal attachment). The first performance took place in Londo ...

chanteuse Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Eng ...

, singing the original Russian version of the song that became " Those were the Days", which became a hit record for

Mary Hopkin Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single " Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be sign ...

Cast

* Alastair Sim: Sir Norman Baker *

: Dicky Bird *

: Susan Robbins *

: Gwladys Inglott * Claude Dauphin: Max de Lorne * Jimmy Edwards: Captain George Stilton * Mara Lane: Gloria Delaney * James Copeland: Andy MacGrégor "L'Écossais" * Gaby Bruyère: Josette * Monique Gérard: Raymonde *

Peter Illing Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor. Selected TV series * '' The Four Just Men'' (1959) as Dr Mozek * '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky * '' The Saint'' (1962 ...

: Panitov *

Colin Gordon Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor. Although primarily a stage actor he made numerous appearances on television and in cinema films, generally in comedies. His stage career was mainly in the West End, but he w ...

: Customs officer * Kenneth Kove: Bickerstaff *

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wr ...

: Stilton's friend *

Philip Stainton Philip Stainton (9 April 1908 – 1 August 1961) was an English actor. Stainton appeared in several Ealing comedies and major international movies. He specialized in playing friendly or exasperated uniformed policemen, but also appeared in ot ...

: Nobby Clarke * Peter Jones: Langton * Stringer Davis: Arbuthnot *

Richard Wattis Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffords ...

: Wilkinson, Sir Norman Baker's secretary * The Band of Plymouth Group Royal Marines *

: Célestin * Albert Dinan: Louvre doorman * Jean Richard * Maurice Baquet * Ludmilla Lopato: Chanteuse *

Georgette Anys Georgette Anys (15 July 1909 – 4 March 1993) was a French film and television actress. A character actress, she appeared mainly in French productions, but also some American films which were shot in Europe including Alfred Hitchcock's '' To Cat ...

: Madame Célestin * Polycarpe Pavloff * Irène de Strozzi *

Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan (born Krikor Kaloust Aslanian (); 28 March 1908 – 8 January 1982) was a Swiss-Armenian actor and musician. Early life He was born to an Armenian family in Switzerland or in Constantinople, according to different sources. He m ...

: Carpet seller * The Can-Can Dancers from The Moulin Rouge, Paris ;Uncredited (in alphabetical order) *

Reginald Beckwith William Reginald Beckwith (2 November 190826 June 1965) was an English film and television actor, who made over one hundred film and television appearances in his career. He died of a heart attack aged 56. Beckwith was also a film critic and ...

: Photographer *

Joan Benham Joan Benham (17 May 1918 – 13 June 1981) was an English actress best known for her portrayal of Lady Prudence Fairfax in the ITV period drama series '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. She was born in London and was the first cousin of Hollywood actr ...

: Receptionist * Max Dalban: Butcher *

: François *

Hamilton Keene Hamilton George Keene (15 November 1896 – 4 October 1975) was a British stage actor, stage and film actor.Edwards p.188 He appeared in more than thirty British films, originally in more prominent roles during the early 1930s and later in smalle ...

: Reporter *

: Lieutenant Whitlock *

Andreas Malandrinos Andreas Malandrinos (; 14 November 1888, in Greece – 11 July 1970, in Surrey) was a Greek-born actor who started appearing in British films from 1909, until his death 61 years later in Surrey, England. He was fluent in six languages and used ...

: French customs officer *

Bill Shine William Shine (born July 4, 1963) is a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in the First presidency of Donald Trump, first administration of President of the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump. He spent most of his ...

: Customs officer * Toke Townley: Airport porter *

: Window dresser at London Airport

References

External links

* {{Gordon Parry 1953 films 1953 comedy films Films directed by Gordon Parry Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris British comedy films Films with screenplays by Anatole de Grunwald Films produced by Anatole de Grunwald British black-and-white films Films scored by Joseph Kosma Films shot at Station Road Studios, Elstree 1950s English-language films 1950s British films