A Scandal in Paris

A Scandal in Paris
Vidocq admires Therese while sneaking back into the chateau after the jewel robbery.
Directed by	Douglas Sirk
Screenplay by	Ellis St. Joseph
Story by	the memoirs of Eugène François Vidocq
Produced by	Arnold Pressburger
Starring	George Sanders Signe Hasso Carole Landis Akim Tamiroff
Narrated by	George Sanders
Cinematography	Guy Roe Eugen Schüfftan
Edited by	Albrecht Joseph
Music by	Hanns Eisler
Production company	Arnold Pressburger Films
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	July 19, 1946 (1946-07-19) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

A Scandal in Paris is a 1946 American biographical film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Signe Hasso and Carole Landis. It loosely depicts the life of Eugène François Vidocq, a French criminal who reformed and became a famous French Prefect of Police during the Napoleonic era.

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Plot

The rogue (George Sanders) who would later call himself Eugène François Vidocq is born in a prison cell, the twelfth child of a woman who steals a loaf of bread each time she needs shelter to give birth. As the boy grows into a man, he is constantly in and out of jail. As the story begins, he and his cutpurse cellmate and associate, Emile Vernet (Akim Tamiroff), escape using a file hidden in a birthday cake provided by Vernet's aunt Ernestine (Gisela Werbisek).

While making their way to Paris, they are hired to pose for a painter (Fritz Leiber), Vidocq as Saint George and Vernet as the dragon. As the church painting nears completion, the pair steal the horse on which Vidocq is posing. In Paris, Uncle Hugo (Vladimir Sokoloff), the head of Vernet's criminal family, decides the safest place for the fugitives is in the army. He has a forger relative provide Vidocq with a fake commission as Lieutenant "Rousseau." While in Marseille, waiting to ship out to serve in Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, Vidocq encounters a singer named Loretta (Carole Landis). She is intrigued with him, while he is more attracted to her ruby garter. Accompanying her when she goes to meet her boring admirer Richet (Gene Lockhart), Vidocq manages to steal the garter.

After two years, Vidocq and Vernet leave the army. Returning to Paris, they make a detour around the church adorned by their likenesses. They come across the jewel-laden Marquise De Pierremont (Alma Kruger). Vidocq wrangles an invitation to her chateau after retrieving her pet monkey from a cemetery (where he also claims to be a relation of a Vidocq buried there). He is a bit alarmed when he discovers that his intended victim's son-in-law is the Minister of Police (Alan Napier), but also enchanted by the official's daughter Therese (Signe Hasso). Unbeknownst to him, she has fallen in love with the image of Saint George, and is greatly disturbed by the painting's uncanny resemblance to their guest. Vidocq and Vernet steal and hide the Marquise's jewels, intending to return for them later.

However, when the minister fires Richet, who is now his chief of police, for not recovering the jewels, Vidocq devises a much grander scheme. Through "deduction", he leads the minister to the hiding place of the jewels, and wins for himself Richet's old job. In that capacity, he gets Vernet's entire band of criminal relatives hired at the Bank of Paris, which he intends to rob.

A complication arises when he bumps into Loretta, who turns out to have married Richet. After learning his new identity, Loretta blackmails Vidocq into resuming their relationship. Vidocq tells Vernet to go ahead with the robbery that night. That day, he goes out walking with Therese and her younger sister Mimi. When they are alone, Therese informs him that she has figured out that he stole the jewels. However, she does not care. She is quite willing to follow him, even if it means embarking on a life of crime. Meanwhile, a jealous Richet bursts in on Loretta as his wife waits for Vidocq at a hat store. Richet threatens to kill himself. Instead, in a fit of anger brought on by Loretta's cold response, he shoots and kills her.

With that impediment out of the way, Vidocq informs Vernet's family that he has changed his mind; he will hunt them down if they go through with the robbery. Nearly everyone is content with their new jobs at the bank - except Vernet, who ambushes his former friend, forcing Vidocq to kill him. Vidocq confesses his past crimes to the minister and the Marquise. Because he has truly repented and changed, he is forgiven by all of the De Pierremonts and welcomed into the family as he marries Therese.