by Hal Erickson
synopsis
This jerry-built Allied Artists musical is also known as Showtime, Fresh From Paris. The film's plot is constructed around a single evening's performance at Hollywood's Moulin Rouge (don't expect the level of nudity you'd see in real Parisian show). Forrest Tucker plays a threadbare entrepreneur who wants to open up his own dinner theatre. His "angel" is Lloyd Corrigan, ostensibly an eccentric millionaire but actually merely eccentric. The singing Whiting sisters-Margaret and Barbara--slightly overshadow the film's "official" leading lady Martha Hyer. Most of the onstage acts are surprisingly tame, notably the Sportsmen Quartet. Filmed in a fast five days, Paris Follies of 1956 could not help but make back its cost within a week.
characteristics
- Stage
- Nightclub
- Scam
- Cabaret
- Swindle
- Financial
- Con-artist
- Con-game
- Con/scam