Ethel Jackson (Day) a chorus girl who is accidentally appointed as a cultural representative by State DeptEthel Jackson (Doris Day) is a common chorus girl. Accidentally, she's appointed a cultural ambassador by an idiotic representative of the State Department (Ray Bolger). I say idiotic because he's supposed to offer this to Ethel Barrymore...and mixed the letter up with another-- and thus Ms. Jackson is going to Europe to represent the United States.The film's idea isn't bad and Miss Day is pretty good. So why the low score? Two problems: Ray Bolger is rather obnoxious in the lead and wanted him to just go away and the other is that the film simply wasn't very entertaining. This film clearly is a very minor effort by Warner Brothers. Had it been written better, had less dance numbers and Bolger's character been less abrasive and annoying, I could have recommended it.

Before seeing April in Paris I saw a fair few bad things written about it, about Ray Bolger being miscast, the story being disposable and the songs being weak. As someone who liked Doris Day, I went ahead and watched it anyhow. The criticisms are understandable actually, but April in Paris is not as bad as it has been made out to be and is hardly a film without redeeming qualities. Ray Bolger is not really the ideal lead role for Day, he was a likable comic actor when his skills were used well but he is too old here and is more supporting comic role actor than leading man. He and Day don't have very much chemistry either, or one that is completely natural. The story is toilet-paper-thin and contrived- true that not many musicals of that particular time had particularly great stories, but there are not many that are as redundant as the story here- and while there are nice snappy moments the wit and satire in the script isn't sharp enough. April in Paris doesn't look too bad though, one does wish that real Parisian locations and more Parisian fashions were seen and some of the sets are on the garish side but the photography is still attractive and Day's dresses are lovely. The songs are definitely not weak either, "I'm Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight", "April in Paris" and "That's What Makes Paris Par-ee" are simply beautiful songs and while not quite as great the other songs work. While Bolger is not leading man material and his strengths are not really used, his dancing is very light-as-a-feather and he looks very comfortable doing it. Charles Dauphin is charming too, while the choreography and dance routines are at least well-staged and put you in a good mood. Day is the best thing about the film, her singing is just enchantingly beautiful, she's completely at ease and she lights up the screen in everything she does from smiling, dancing, singing and acting. Overall, not a great film but while the criticisms are valid it is better than given credit for and Day is fabulous. 6/10 Bethany Cox

There are two less than ideal teamings here, one on screen - Doris Day/Ray Bolger and one off Vernon Duke/Sammy Cahn. One reviewer I have just read made the ridiculous claim that Duke and Cahn were resident tune-smiths at Warners. To paraphrase the late Robert Robinson were that Duke was. Duke in fact was the major selling point (plus the giveaway price) for my purchasing this DVD. One of the greatest - and unluckiest - he had ten flops in a row on Broadway - of the major composers he wrote a handful of all-time great standards not least of which was April In Paris (others: I Can't Get Started, Autumn In New York, Taking A Chance On Love, What Is There To Say) and was incapable of writing a bad melody, so seven relatively obscure Duke melodies is a real find. Alas, the usually facile Sammy Cahn, who had more partners than Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, Tommy Manville and Liz Taylor combined, couldn't come up with a single non-pedestrian lyric. As for the story, forget it; okay, it's a musical but even when Fred Astaire was NOT playing a dancer from the get go he was usually established as a character with an INTEREST in dance unlike Ray Bolger here, who is set up carefully as stodginess personified and THEN on a dime, turns into an accomplished dancer albeit a bad nowhere to Kelly, who himself is a bad nowhere to Astaire. Just about watchable.

Of all the major Hollywood studios, Warner Brothers were always the most cheese-paring. All of their musicals -- except the wonderful 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' and some later adaptations of Broadway musicals -- are marred by extremely low budgets and obvious economy measures. 'April in Paris' is one of several Warners musicals featuring an established popular ditty (with a stiff price-tag for performance rights) as the movie's title song, buttressed by some very forgettable songs by resident Warners tunesmiths. Except for one high-spirited and high-kicking number called 'Ring the Bell Tonight', only the E.Y. Harburg/Vernon Duke title song is memorable here.Doris Day amazes me, not only for her unearthly beauty and her quiet sex appeal, and for her underrated acting ability, but also for her musical talents. I've read that Day originally trained as a dancer, but switched to a career as a vocalist after she was injured in a car accident. Her singing voice is so clear and beautiful, I've difficulty believing that singing was her second choice of career. And, as she proves here, she has no physical handicap as a dancer ... unless you count the dull choreography of LeRoy Prinz.Ray Bolger is an interesting choice of romantic leads for Day, but the two of them don't really team very well. Here, he plays a character very similar to the one played by Donald O'Connor in 'Are You with It?': a repressed wonk who turns out to be a superb dancer. Bolger (an underrated actor) is quite good in his straight scenes here as a harried bureaucrat, a less nelly version of Edward Everett Horton ... but that character just doesn't match up with Bolger's dazzling dance numbers. Bolger's Massachusetts accent is much more obvious here than in any of his other films. Bolger was sometimes required to play epicene men, as in the Broadway musical 'By Jupiter'. Here, he's impressively virile, as he strips off his dinner jacket and lights into some rapid-fire nerve taps far more proficient than Ann Miller's.I always enjoy watching Bolger dance. Here, regrettably -- blame it on LeRoy Prinz -- Bolger doesn't do anything he hasn't done better in several better musicals, except for a brief trick shot in which he dances between two full-length portraits of Washington and Lincoln (also played by Bolger) who dance along with him. I was impressed with a brief pas de deux between Bolger and Day, in which she dances conventionally but manages to keep up with Bolger while he does his usual "Where's Charley?" moves.The contrived plot line requires Bolger and Day to mistakenly believe they're married to each other. Two Frenchmen perform the wedding service without actually being qualified for that job. This being a Hollywood film of the 1950s, it's imperative that the fake marriage remain unconsummated, so the two Frenchmen then have conscience pangs and sabotage the marital bed so that no sex can take place ... instead of simply admitting their deception. Speaking of 1950s morals: this movie's dialogue features several occurrences of the word 'gay' in its innocent sense.Two of my least favourite movie clichés are: every building in Washington DC is directly across the street from the Capitol, and every location in Paris has a clear view of the Eiffel Tower. We get both of those clichés in this movie. On the positive side, we get a brief appearance by character actor Shepard Menken as a Parisian waiter. Actress Eve Miller does her best in an unplayable role as Day's rival. Eve Miller's acting career never quite caught on; she suicided shortly after her fiftieth birthday.The movie's weird plot gives us Claude Dauphin as an omniscient Frenchman. A gag sequence requires that Ray Bolger's hat be several sizes too large ... but later the same chapeau fits him perfectly, and later still it's too large again when the scriptwriter recycles the gag. This movie is more than competently directed by the underrated David Butler, but matters are not helped by a script which requires Day's and Bolger's characters to be unable to make up their minds about deeply important issues such as love and career. Still, as enjoyable froth, I'll rate 'April in Paris' 7 out of 10.