Searching for french movies shot in Paris and its suburb, I discovered "l'Effet d'un Rayon de Soleil (sur Paris)" ("Effect of a Ray of Sunshine on Paris") directed by Jean Gourguet and released in April 1929.
And what a wonderful surprise : parisians come out from work and prepare their week-end in suburb to eat, drink, dance and go for a stroll. And we, spectators from 2014, discover from 1929 old Paris (Opera, Saint-Lazare, boulevards, entrances of the city, ... with old cars, carts, buses, bikes, ...) and old suburb (with exceptional views of the antique dance hall "Chez Gégène" and Jointville-le-Pont and other places that have disappeared) with a lot of fun sequences. We only wish the movie would be longer. Every movie shot on location is a documentary of its period, showing places that sometimes have never been photographed, or that have changed or disappeared. And director Jean Gourguet shot most of his next movies on location (Paris, Troyes, Burgundy, Loire, ...). If you catch the french DVD with his movie "les Premiers Outrages", you will find an excellent documentary on his fascinating career with lot of witnesses (directed with talent by Christophe Bier).
Robert and Curt Siodmack, E G Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann (helped by screenwriter Billy Wilder and cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan) directed in Germany (maybe a few months later than "Effect of a Ray of Sunshine on Paris") "People Sunday", on the same subject shot in Berlin.
And what a wonderful surprise : parisians come out from work and prepare their week-end in suburb to eat, drink, dance and go for a stroll. And we, spectators from 2014, discover from 1929 old Paris (Opera, Saint-Lazare, boulevards, entrances of the city, ... with old cars, carts, buses, bikes, ...) and old suburb (with exceptional views of the antique dance hall "Chez Gégène" and Jointville-le-Pont and other places that have disappeared) with a lot of fun sequences. We only wish the movie would be longer. Every movie shot on location is a documentary of its period, showing places that sometimes have never been photographed, or that have changed or disappeared. And director Jean Gourguet shot most of his next movies on location (Paris, Troyes, Burgundy, Loire, ...). If you catch the french DVD with his movie "les Premiers Outrages", you will find an excellent documentary on his fascinating career with lot of witnesses (directed with talent by Christophe Bier).
Robert and Curt Siodmack, E G Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann (helped by screenwriter Billy Wilder and cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan) directed in Germany (maybe a few months later than "Effect of a Ray of Sunshine on Paris") "People Sunday", on the same subject shot in Berlin.
