The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
“They had Paris, and they threw it away.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
MGM's Technicolor adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited" pairs Van Johnson's struggling writer with Elizabeth Taylor's luminous Helen amid the champagne haze of liberated Paris. Richard Brooks directs a melodrama of squandered love and second chances. Taylor, at the height of her early beauty, dominates the screen.
Cast
About the Director
Richard Brooks — Richard Brooks reshaped Fitzgerald's bleak story of regret into a glossy MGM romance with a more hopeful ending, leaning on Paris locations and Technicolor spectacle.
Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story
The film fell into the US public domain through a defective copyright notice: prints bore the Roman numerals MCMXLIV (1944) instead of 1954, starting the clock ten years early. MGM never renewed, and the film entered the public domain in 1972.
Behind the Scenes
Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1931 short story "Babylon Revisited," it was one of Elizabeth Taylor's signature mid-1950s vehicles and remains widely circulated precisely because of its accidental public-domain status.
Did You Know?
- The Roman-numeral copyright error is a textbook example of a studio film losing protection by accident.
- Roger Moore appears in an early small role.
- The title comes from the Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein II standard.
Reception & Legacy
Reviews were lukewarm, with critics finding the melodrama overwrought, though Taylor's star power was widely praised. It has since become a perennial of public-domain film collections.
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