Boum sur Paris (1954)
Directed by Maurice de Canonge

Film Review

The plot looks like something an unimaginative five year old might have dreamed up.  The direction is at best amateurish, the performances borderline mediocre.  But who cares about any of this when singing legends Charles Trenet, Édith Piaf, Mouloudji and Juliette Gréco are on hand to distract us from this Grade A fiasco with some of their best numbers?  Top billing goes to Jacques Pills, a likeable singer who, despite around a dozen film appearances, failed to make it as an actor (his most memorable film is Jean Boyer's Prends la route (1936), in which he starred with his singing partner Georges Tabet). By force of personality, Pills just about holds this film together, with a little help from an eye-catching Danielle Godet and constantly amusing Armand Bernard.

Of the 'big beasts' who show up for our entertainment, Édith Piaf is the only one who gets to play an active part in the plot, sharing an unusual duet with Pills and narrowly avoiding being blasted to kingdom come by a deadly bottle of perfume.  Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck are cheekily slotted in (possibly without their knowledge), along with Charles Boyer and Martine Carole, making this one of the most star-studded films ever to be put before a French cinema audience.  It's all as crazy at it sounds and the formula - a series of musical numbers linked by the flimsiest of narratives - is one that was oft repeated in the 1950s. Other examples of this ilk include Paris chante toujours! (1951) and La Route du bonheur (1953). Without Piaf, Trenet and co., Boum sur Paris would have been an absolutely a terrible film - their scintillating presence just about makes up for the complete absence of a plot and makes this a fair tribute to the golden age of the French music hall.

Film Synopsis

Gilbert Sestrières works in a laboratory that simultaneously manufactures a leading brand of perfume, named Boum, whilst developing a new and incredibly powerful form of explosive.  A sample of the latter ends up in a bottle of the former and, through a series of mishaps, is soon being delivered to a music hall where it is offered as a prize, along with a genuine bottle of Boum.  Assisted by his girlfriend Hélène and private detective Calchas, Gilbert spends the next few days zigzagging his way across Paris in a desperate attempt to recover the explosive before someone opens the bottle and blows up half of the city...