The Rage of Paris

This a quick, fun, little-known movie with some cute performances from some Hollywood stalwarts like Helen Broderick and Mischa Auer and starring the underrated Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the gorgeous Danielle Darrieux.  Micha Auer was the the mother's 'protege' in My Man Godfrey and Helen Broderick has been the wisecracking 'aunt' or friend in countless movies like this one including Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  Louis Hayward is also here in what would have been the Bob Cummings role as a rich, but not too bright, playboy.

The plot is wafer thin and sounds awfully familiar, but the execution here is so precise and the whole thing floats along so quickly that one doesn't really have time to think about whether it all makes sense.   Danielle is a poor but honest French girl stuck in NY after losing her chorus job.  She tries to be a model and embarrassingly mistakes Doug Fairbanks, a wealthy businessman, for a photographer.  Subsequently she is befriended by Helen Broderick who suggests she masquerade as the "rage of Parisian society" to catch a rich husband.  Unfortunately, the man they choose, Hayward, is a friend of Fairbanks, who remembers Danielle all too well from when she tried to pose in his office.  His efforts to expose her make up the rest of the plot with of course the usual result, and all ends happily for this French "Cinderella". 
Doug Fairbanks Jr., perhaps remembered more for his swashbuckling in the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda and some others roles, made excellent use of 1938, making not only this picture but Joy of Living with Irene Dunne and Having Wonderful Time with Ginger Rogers.  All three are delightful period romantic comedies, and he shines in all of them.   The late 30's was the classic romantic screwball comedy heyday and most people who know a little about this period are familiar with Bringing up Baby or My Man Godfrey.  If you like those movies you will like the ones I write about in this blog and you will probably enjoy The Rage of Paris.