April in Paris

Easily the worst film Doris Day ever made. She plays a brassy show girl from New York who is mistakenly invited to represent the USA at a cultural shindig in Paris. The stuff-shirt dope who made the error is played by Ray Bolger (nearly 20 years Day's senior). Neither Day nor Bolger manage to stay in character.

Title song aside, all the other songs stink. Claude Daupin occupies a dumb subplot about a Frenchman trying to get home without any money to pay for a passage on the ocean liner ... even though he's a famous impresario. Paul Harvey plays the senior US official and Eve Miller (she's terrible) plays his daughter who's supposedly engaged to Bolger.

Day and Bolger did not get along during production and it shows. Even under the best of circumstances, it's unlikely there would have been any chemistry between them. Bolger had a reputation for upstaging his fellow performers and acting like a prima donna. Having said that, it's amazing how many off-key notes he hits in his opening song-and-dance number. Painful.

Bolger had made a hit on Broadway with 1948's "Where's Charley?" and he starred in the film version the same year he made this film with Day. It was his last starring role in a film.

The cheesy sets and lackluster supporting cast add to the misery. Director David Butler, who had been an actor in silent films, directed Day in several other films with much better results. Bolger seems to be the fly in the ointment.