A Scandal in Paris (1946) DVD

A rediscovered American classic from legendary director Douglas Sirk (Imitation of Life, Written in the Wind), A Scandal in Paris is an irresistibly clever melodrama that observes the romantic and criminal pursuits of the debonair thief Francois Eugene Vidocq (George Sanders). Opening with Vidocq's birth in a French prison, A Scandal in Paris follows the cocksure criminal as he befriends a loyal pickpocket (Akim Tamiroff) and climbs to the height of Parisian society through deception, seduction and his devilishly clever wit. But once he becomes the chief of police and perpares to execute the heist of his career, he finds himself vulnerable to the charms of a quiet young woman. One of Sirk's first film after emigrating to America, A Scandal in Paris (aka Thieves Holiday) bears a distinctively European sensibility akin to the risque comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder. At the same time, it foreshadows the calculated melodrama and emotional extremes that would make Sirk famous in films such as Magnificent Obsession and All that Heaven Allows.