''Palais Royale'' (alternative titles ''Smoke Screen'' or ''Smokescreen'') is a 1988 Canadian comedy film.

Plot

This dark crime comedy is set in 1959 where Gerald Price (

Matt Craven Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

) is a newcomer to Toronto. He competes with mobster Tony Dicarlo (

Kim Coates Kim F. Coates (born February 21, 1958) is a Canadian–American actor who has worked in both Canadian and American films and television series. He has worked on Broadway portraying Stanley Kowalski in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' and in the lead ...

) for the affections of Odessa Muldoon (

Kim Cattrall Kim Victoria Cattrall (; born 21 August 1956) is a British-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones on HBO's ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), for which she received five Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Awa ...

). Meanwhile, Michael Dattalico (

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

) is eager to expand his organized crime business in Toronto. Much of the action takes place in the art deco dance hall of the title, a historic building set on the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

Cast

as Odessa Muldoon *

as Gerald Price *

as Tony Dicarlo *

as Michael Dattalico * Henry Alessandroni as Dominic * Victor Ertmanis as Sal * David Fox as Bob *

Brian George Brian George (born 1 July 1952) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt in ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), the Indian gynecologist father of Raj Koothrappali in ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019 ...

as Gus * Sean Hewitt as Mr. Gillis * Michael Hogan as Sergeant Leonard * Helen Hughes as Mrs. McDermott * Sam Malkin as Sam * Dee McCafferty as Officer Nichol * Robin McCulloch as Rick * Mario Romano as Joey

Release

The film premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on 10 September 1988, then given a general Canadian release on 12 May 1989. The film was also released under the titles ''Smoke Screen'' or ''Smokescreen''.

Reception

'There is humour in ''Palais Royale'', if you don't mind Toronto in-jokes.' – Paul Townend, ''Cinema Canada''

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0095814, Palais Royale 1988 films Canadian crime comedy films Films set in Toronto English-language Canadian films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Martin Lavut 1980s Canadian films Canadian gangster films