A quartet of light hearted stories (each about 20 minutes) linked by the same Parisian gown that makes the rounds for four different ladies hoping this low cut, upper body enhancement will help them hook a man. The film is done on the cheap with, at times, threadbare sets, and is most noteworthy for its primarily veteran cast in need of work.
Eva Gabor comes off reasonably well in the opening episode, trying her best to catch turban wearing Maharajah Tom Conway (!?!), the latter looking even more bored than usual. Gabor charges the dress to one of her (unsuspecting) admirers, but gets short changed herself when Conway sets his eyes on a ravishing Laurette Luez in a casino.
Next on the hit list is Paulette Goddard as the secretary of a lawyer (Leif Erickson), hoping to lure him away from his shrewish wife by getting him to take her to dinner while she wears that dress. A decidedly lightweight episode, Goddard is game but looking past her feisty, vivacious prime, though still able to show off a pair of attractive legs as bait for the lawyer.
The third episode involves Marilyn Maxwell as the wife of a salesman hoping to use the attraction of that dress on her husband's retiring boss (Cecil Kellaway), so that he will appoint hubby as his replacement. Maxwell, by the way, receives top billing in this film, a sad comment on the decline of Goddard's career, since she was once a far bigger Hollywood star than Maxwell could ever possibly be. A frail looking Florence Bates appears as Kellaway's wife in what turned out to be her last film role.
The final story features, as opposed to the veterans, up-and-coming Barbara Lawrence as a young woman seeking to use that dress to get her non committing boyfriend (Robert Hutton) to finally pop the big question to her. This episode is primarily set in Romanoff's Restaurant in LA, with curtains and paper mache "walls" serving as a set, as well as a grim reminder of just how cheap the budget of this film must have been. Of note, though, Prince Michael Romanoff makes an appearance himself here, playing the role of matchmaker. El Brendel briefly turns up, too, as Lawrence's father.
A minor time waster, it's always a little sad to see film veterans forced to collect their paychecks with such meager material. Paris Model (the title referring to the dress, not a person) gets the occasional broadcast on Turner Classic Movies.
