An American in Paris (1951)

• Review: *** (out of ****)
• Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, George Gutary, Nina Foch
• Director: Vincente Minnelli
• Screenplay: Alan Jay Lerner
• Length: 113 min.
• MPAA Rating: Approved

A bohemian painter falls in love with the fiancée of anotherman leading to a song-and-dance routine apart from the film’s actual singingand dancing. An American in Paris starsGene Kelly and Leslie Caron in a sumptuous rendering of one of the world’s mostbeautiful cities.

The first thing that strikes you about An American in Paris is how vivid the colors are. Many of the colorpictures of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s were heavily blue and red tinted. Much ofthis had to do with the color film techniques of the period. However, American in Paris managed, in largepart, to play those tinges of color down. The yellows and greens are crisp andrich, the reds and blues aren’t washed out or pale like many earlier films.Overall, the film’s saving grace is its gracious use of color.

The plot is a little less dazzling. Kelly as theinspiration-starved painter Jerry Mulligan meets the gloriously rich MiloRoberts (Nina Foch) as he sets up his work for curbside exhibition. Her greatstyle and taste is apparent in her clothing and home furnishings. She choosesKelly to be her latest boy toy. Milo does herbest to convince him she loves him as an artist, but even to the somewhat naïveMulligan, the transparency is evident. Still, he likes being recognized as apainter and permits himself to be swept off his feet despite his ethicalobjections.

Milo’s amorous plans areoverturned upon the arrival of the beautiful dancer Lise Bouvier (Caron). Shesweeps Jerry off his feet and they begin a romantic love affair that isinconvenienced only by their secret relationship. Lise is affianced to HenriBaurel (Georges Guétary), a friend of Adam Cook (Oscar Levant) who rooms in thesame hostel and is friends with Jerry. The rivalry between Henri and Jerry remainsveiled for a large part of the film. Henri even tries to convince Jerry that hecan capture the woman’s heart. Adam catches on early but refrains frominterfering, though it obviously pains him to do so.

As musicals of the era often did, director Vincente Minnellispends long, laborious takes filming the dancing and singing of its stars.People expected to see Kelly dance and they got their wish in abundance. Atleast half of the film is spent with Kelly dancing to a musical number. Thedifference between this and other hammy productions is that the plot is atleast admirably interesting. Thanks in part to the terrific performances ofCaron, Foch and, especially, Kelly. Their characters are convincing andapproachable. You understand them so well that you can easily attach your ownfeelings to theirs and live your own life through them.

The biggest spectacle in the film is probably the mostworthwhile. Despite running for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, Kelly dancesthrough a dreamlike reality of Parisrendered beautifully by art directors Preston Ames and Cedric Gibbons. Usingfamed artist renderings of Parisian locations, Ames and Gibbons transport you to a surrealworld.

An American in Paris received an impressive six Academy Awards, competing directly with two otherpopular films of the time (A StreetcarNamed Desire and A Place in the Sun).That it came out with so many awards was testament to its terrific productionqualities. There were no acting nominations, but the film swept up technicalprizes left and right and even won the award for Best Picture. Its top awardwas a dubious prize as it is clear inferior to A Place in the Sun. Though this type of musical becomes somewhatfrustrating, dragging out production numbers to the point of being tedious, itis worth watching just to see the pageantry of the entire affair.

-Wesley Lovell (October 30, 2006)