review for A Scandal in Paris on AllMovie

A Scandal in Paris is a film that seems to divide partisans of director Douglas Sirk. Many find it vastly inferior to his trademark 1950s glossy melodramas that managed to entertain while simultaneously subverting and critiquing the mores of the era. Others feel Scandal is worthy of greater respect, that it is a much more complex piece of work than it is appears. Certainly, Scandal will be a departure for those who know Sirk only from his later melodramas. It's interesting to see him working in a period piece, and with a script that, while flawed, is filled with dialogue and language that is distinctly of a higher order. Scandal deserves many points for its observations on the dual impulses of man, the inclination to be both a St. George and a dragon. If this point is perhaps belabored on occasion, it still comes across powerfully. Sirk's pacing is a tad off in Scandal, but his visual flair is intact; the Carole Landis introductory number is both hot and ironic, in a way that only Sirk could manage. George Sanders is marvelous as the cad who changes his ways to keep a woman of purity from changing hers. No one could handle this kind of dialogue with his style and flair. Landis and Signe Hasso are also quite good, and the cast as a whole is fine. While not to everyone's taste, Scandal is a good film that Sirk fans especially should see so that they can judge it for thsmevles.