Don’t get the mistaken impression that Paris When It Sizzles is strictly a madcap romantic comedy. There are more serious issues in this film than boy meets girl, etc. In between all the fluff and glamorous gowns designed by French couturier Hubert de Givenchy, the story takes a close look at alcoholism and how it affects the main character.

In a rare film appearance, actor/playwright/songwriter Noel Coward plays the funny Alexander Meyerheim, a Hollywood film producer. He ill-advisedly hires Richard Benson, a drunken screenwriter played by handsome William Holden, to write the latest script for a new movie. Coward practically invented “camp” as shown in the many funny plays he wrote and film roles he played during his heyday. He hasn’t a great deal to do here, but when he’s on screen, he steals the show with the agility of a real acting pro.

Benson is a playboy, and instead of hunkering down in his Paris garret apartment to write the script, he has been carousing with “les dames” and drinking up as much of the alcohol stock in French warehouses as possible. The deadline approaches in a mere two days, and Benson panics when he realizes he hasn’t written a word. What to do, what to do? Naturally, he hires a temporary secretary in the form of the very beautiful Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn). She will have to type so furiously as Benson dictates that the typewriter will catch on fire.

The film is a clever spoof of the movie industry itself, and several references are made to earlier pictures the two stars made themselves. The movie is a movie-within-a-movie as the story unfolds about how the script is being written by Benson. And the events that transpire between the screenwriter and the secretary are fleshed out concerning what the intended movie will be when finished. The two leading stars get very chummy, indeed. It may sound a bit convoluted, but it isn’t. Plus, it’s done in an amusing way. Holden shows what a consummate actor he was, handling pages and pages of dialogue with nary a slip, and Hepburn displays her flair for comedy in a delightful way.

Tony Curtis, at the height of his handsomeness and popularity, plays a self-loving actor. He also shows a great flair for comedy, as he proved earlier in Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe in 1959. Curtis was adept at making fun of his own image and he plays two characters---himself as the actor and as a French police inspector. He brightens his small, but significant, part of the story.

Another star who pops up in a cameo is the very glamorous Marlene Dietrich, who emerges from a Rolls Royce looking like a goddess dressed all in white. Her famous legs are given a loving kiss by Charles Lang’s color cameras. And Miss Hepburn’s then-husband, actor Mel Ferrer dresses up for a costume party. Both Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire sing songs that make the story even more dreamy.

Yes, the film ends up as a bit of a fluffy bon-bon to please die-hard movie fans. But it’s all done in fun and gives those of us who adore movie glamour just enough of a taste to want more. The film was directed by Richard Quine.

Paris When It Sizzles is now available on a Paramount Home Entertainment DVD.