It's a fact that Hitler actually wanted to blow up Paris and gave orders of it, as the ultimate confirmation of himself as the worst of losers. The circumstances around this were carefully investigated by the journalists Dominique LaPierre and Larry Collins, which resulted in their first major book, with this title. It's a very panoramic documentary which unfortunately gets muddled in its vast conglomeration of facts and episodes, and the film suffers from the same dispersion. There is no real structure and unity, but episodes, characters, events and intrigues are just heaped upon each other like on a junk tower of Babel. Nevertheless, it is well worth seeing and read, and like in "The Longest Day" four years earlier all the world's best actors are participating and showing off as well as they can, although here they are almost only French (apart from Orson Welles, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Perkins, Glenn Ford, Robert Stack and a few others) while you sadly miss the almost architectural overview and epic unity of the D-day epic.What spoils the show furthermore is the almost parodic martial music by Maurice Jarre. It's exaggeratedly noisy, and if it's made like this to ridicule the Germans and their militarism it misses its purpose, since the Germans don't get much of a say. Only towards the end the music becomes more natural, as with the fall of Paris it transforms into more French agreeability. The dominating march making so much noise through two thirds of the film is like a mixture of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and Berlioz at his worst, as if all the war noise of guns, cannons and bazookas was not enough but had to be underlined.The director is René Clement, who a few years earlier had made the best Ripley film "Plein soleil" with Alain Delon, who is also prominent here with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Jean-Pierre Cassel and Gerd Froebe are here again counterparts like in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" just before. But the main asset of the film is the authentic documentary material, which serves to underline the great liberation of Paris, which is reconstructed as a constantly accelerating party, which it probably was in reality, wonderfully accentuated by the introduction of typically French waltz music as the liberation reaches the center with the final humiliation of the Germans. Gerd Froebe makes a very interesting portrayal of the German general in charge who apparently was one of the few realists in the German army, recognizing defeat before everybody else and admitting to Hitler being insane in a moment of sad resignation, thinking of his family first as he surrenders to the allies.Orson Welles as the Swedish consul who does what he can to save prisoners and Paris is convincingly Swedish in his quiet persistence, while the strongest impression is made by Kirk Douglas as Patton. His moment is brief but monumentally eloquent in Spartan soldier's code.The film should actually be called "The Feast of Paris", because that's what it is all about: Paris is being celebrated as never before or after, which the final sequence in colour underscores in triumphant final liberation.

Is Paris Burning is the description of the fall of Paris, and Hitler's order in such an event to destroy the city. It is a detailed description, giving point of perspectives from all participants, from German Commander Choltitz, French Resistance Leader Rol and the advancing Allied Army. Thus it is quite long, approaching almost three hours, and feels like a combination of a drama and documentary. Even though some events and actions may be disputed, it feels plausible. And if you like me, like war movies Is Paris Burning is interesting despite its length. It actually never became dull, but not really entertaining either because of the documentarian feel. There was little suspense or surprising developments. We just tagged along with the story, with neither we or characters being able to change anything.It is quite interesting that the movie was filmed quite recent after the fact, when measured up with seriousness and the trauma of the event. Also that German officers are portrayed by Germans, most notably Fröbe. Also check the trivia why it was filmed in black and white.The movie is also augmented by its cast list, it is almost worth watching because of it, which among many others include Alain Delon, Kirk Douglas, Orson Welles, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anthony Perkins, Yves Montand , Jean Pierre Cassel and along with Fröbe (Goldfinger) Michel Lonsdale (Sir Hugo Drax (Moonraker)) is the second Bond villain to appear. Also written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola.5/10

Don't waste your time. This is a movie about WWII from the French perspective so I wasn't completely shocked when it depicts the French as the sole liberators of Paris from "those damned Nazis". I was very disappointed in the portrayal of Americans as reluctant combatants that couldn't fight if not urged on by the French!SPOILERSSPOILERSAt one point, a French General wants to know why an underling hasn't cleaned himself up because "we have to look good liberating Paris!" Another great scene is when a fire team barges into an elderly Parisian woman's living room to fire down on some Germans. She calmly sits sipping tea while the firing is going on around her. Oh, those brave Parisians! The fire team leader then thanks the lady and orders his men to pick up their spent shell casings.As I said before, don't waste your time (unless your French and you like fairy tales)!

I made my first trip to Paris this past year. There are remembrances of World War Two on nearly every street corner, plaques with the names of resistance fighters who died during the war and during the Liberation. And France's military history is also on display, from monuments to Louis XIII, to Napoleon, and to their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. As Americans we forget sometimes that the French army lost millions during World War One, and struggled with how to fight the Second World War. Losing Paris was a humiliating defeat that the Free French army needed desperately to avenge. This film does a pretty engaging job of telling the story from a French point of view. Like many war films from the time it's a little too long, some celebrity cameos are miscast, and some facts and events are abridged. But unlike some other films from the period, it has some humor, and some great pathos. There's also great footage of the real liberation intercut with the narrative. If you've ever been to Paris, it's a beautiful travelogue of all the famous public spaces, seen through eyes from 1945 and 1966. I can only imagine seeing it in widescreen, and I hope to get a non-dubbed version soon.