The first disappointment is not to have been able to see the movie in an original French version. When you know the real voices of Cremer, Delon,Dux, etc, you're exasperated from the very first minute. I watched the movie on YouTube. And I stopped one third from the end when Bradley gives Leclerc the go to liberate Paris.There are also huge missing and errors. Nordling had a heart attack on August 22nd and his brother Rolf met Bradley the next day to get Leclerc . Others claim it was Gallois? Who tells the truth especially at the time the book was written and the film shot? But of course we all know of the antagonism between the Communist resistance and the other side! Thank god the communists did not win in the end to take power as they would surely have if permitted. De Gaulle was there to prevent such an eventuality. I doubt unless Morandat gave the information to the production, that he did not know where Matignon was located.No, although René Clément is a great director, I don't think this is a masterpiece, and this major event of Paris history remained to be treated with more accuracy and it would not need 3 so long hours to digest. A French movie has been released this year (2014) Diplomatie ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3129564/ ) which I have not seen fearing that again it was betraying history. It would appear that it presents the decision not to burn Paris in a 24 hours period. Only those having seen the movie can answer the question. It is certain that it took more than that to make Von Choltitz take his decision.The best review of René CLément's movie is probably the one of SgtSlaughter on this site. He clearly exposes why it is so important in our history (I'm French and living in Paris since 1953). I'm not surprised to see that there are no reviews by french people here, the movie doesn't deserve it.

Director Rene Clement's 1966 film, the all-star extravaganza "Is Paris Burning?" regarding the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation in 1944, makes for an interesting movie even if it is top-heavy with every well-known French actor and actress of that era and some obvious miscasting (Kirk Douglas just doesn't cut it as General Patton). That said, the story itself is one that should be familiar to every American school-age kid and all knowledgeable adults. The fact that it isn't speaks volumes about our own educational system. The title "Is Paris Burning?" refers to Adolph Hitler's ranting and raving into the phone at General Choltitz, the German commander of the city played by Bert Frobe (Mr. "Goldfinger" himself). The film does an exceptional job of portraying Choltitz's decidedly mixed feelings about whether he should obey Hitler's order to destroy the city or preserve his own reputation for posterity. He made the right choice. The rest of the cast holds up well and does justice to the serious material and historical events. They include Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, Leslie Caron, Glenn Ford (as General Omar Bradley) and many other familiar names and faces. As for the real General Choltitz, he forever fancied himself a hero in the eyes of the "liberators" even though his decision was based mainly on saving his own skin. There's no doubt that Choltitz would've been hanged (or worse) if he had followed orders. But being the loyal German soldier that he was, Choltitz did not hang up on Hitler that fateful day. He merely left the phone off the hook and took a nice stroll.

I've never been a big fan of big star cameos but I always overlook this fromage cinematique every time I watch this film. I first saw this film on TV after having recently returned from a visit in and around Paris on business. Maurice Jarre's (Lawrence of Arabia) militaristic heavy beat of marching drums crowds the plaintive theme music as arrogant looking German victors roll down the Champs Elysee to the utter horror and humiliation of the populace.Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) is perfect as a member of the evil Master Race who dominate the city, and is the best actor in the film by far. He looked as much like the real-life General Von Coltitz as Kirk Douglas did General Patton. But Frobe's stern yet surprisingly sensitive portrayal of Von Coltitz is as brilliant and as sympathetic a performance as you will ever see of a portrait of a Wehrmacht officer.Jarre's soaring theme music "The Paris Waltz" at the end of the film, with the liberation of Paris, the film changes from an oppressive black and white to a spectacular segue to glorious color. It is as sublimely joyous and unabashedly sincerely emotional a moment in cinema as any I have ever experienced. I cannot imagine anyone who has been to the City of Light feeling anything but jubilation and appreciation in watching this film despite it's minor flaws.My feeling after the film concluded was this; what a profound loss it would have been if Paris was indeed reduced to ashes. General Von Coltitz' humanity in refusing Hitler's Satanic order was a coupe de grace that history will probably forget. What a shame.

Big-budgeted multi-story retelling of the liberation of Paris in 1944.Some spoilers aheadMovie starts off with firmly stating who the bad guys are (as if we didn't know) showing the German occupation forces at their most brutal : sending of wagon loads of prisoners to the concentration camps and the cold-blooded killing of dozens of young resistance fighters.Movie structure consists of two main segments, first the Parisian uprising then followed by the actual liberation by Free French and US troops. Due to the many characters and storyplots it all comes over rather incoherent and sometimes muddled as often quite important characters appear and disappear without no particular reason. Every major French star of the sixties is in this. Delon( as the later famous politician Chaban-Delmas), Belmondo (who still can't keep a straight face) but also Michel Piccoli, Claude Rich, JP Cassel, Yves Montand (as a tank driver) and so on. Some US actors get also thrown in but, besides Orson Welles, they have really no more then an extended cameo appearance. The one pivotal character, who also holds together the 2 main segments of the movie is General Von Choltitz, the German governor of Paris,excellently portrayed by Gerd Froebe. Von choltitz is right in their-from the start and keeps being on the screen continuously until the very last minutes, his surrender of course. By the way, the screenplay (based on the bestseller of Collins/Lapierre)was written by none other then Francis Ford Coppola and Gore Vidal.But this is of course mainly a French show, besides the actors it has a French producer and a French director and last but not least Paris itself, so there is quite a lot of French flagwaving going on, giving the impression that 95 % of the Parisians were in the "Resistance'. In reality it was more of the opposite, at least until the liberation. Keep also in mind that a few months prior to these events large numbers of Parisians were cheering Marechal Pétain, the leader of the Vichy collaboration government. But despite all its many plot lines and overall length it is competently directed and features quite some well-staged and realistic battle scenes, from numerous firefights in the Parisian streets, blowing up German vehicles, tanks crashing into each other and culminating in the storming of the German 'Kommandantur'. All in all, this is like "The Longest day" 'à la française', featuring many stars and stories, filmed in black-and-white, in 70 mm (it really needs to be seen on the big screen) and essentially a propaganda piece on one of the few exploits of the French during WWII.(I saw the letterboxed version on French TV with everybody speaking French. The best version is of course with everybody speaking their own language.