Paris when it sizzles

Richard Benson is an aging screenwriter and a cynical lush who has been commissioned to write a screenplay for Alexander Meyerheimer, a powerful Hollywood producer. Benson has spent several paid weeks in France drinking and carousing, and so far has only managed to conjure up the opening credits. Benson engages the services of typist Gabrielle Simpson to assist with the task of writing the script, which is due in two days. As Gabrielle and Richard brainstorm ideas for the film the various scenarios and plot contrivances that they conjure up are played before the audience, making “Paris when it sizzles”, the classic film within a film. The two collaborators run the gamut of movie character cliche - playboy, gangster, ingenue, vampire, femme fatale, the hooker with the heart of gold - imagining themselves in the key roles. Set in Paris, the film sends up techniques such as the dissolve, the cross and double cross, and the final kiss that seduces filmgoers as well as having digs at the French New wave and method acting. Despite being a romantic comedy, “Paris when it sizzles” takes a rather cynical view of the filmmaking business. Features cameos from Marlene Dietrich and Tony Curtis.