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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
I have to take exception to your comments, 31 December 2005

Author: mikaldhuber from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I love this movie. I don't know what your problem with Ms. Caron is, nor how you could ever suggest she's not good-looking at all, as you did. Sure, she's not the finest singer or dancer, but she sure ain't chopped liver! The woman who plays Milo is just too sad, reminds me very much of a woman I had a very brief affair with. Her situation is so well sketched that you pick up on her character in a very few scenes- especially the scene driving back from the cafe in Montmartre where she is obviously quite hurt by Jerry's callous disregard for her.

The only problem I have with this film at all is that Gene Kelley is referred to as a "young man" when he is most certainly not. Or only relatively, at any rate. The music is some of the finest jazz I've ever heard. (Funny that Kelly plays a character named Jerry Mulligan, since Gerry Mulligan is a very well-known jazz artist!) If I were rating this, it would receive four out of five stars.

It's only to be hoped that Musicals will one day return to the screen in large numbers...but I rather doubt they will!

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic Pretentious "Art", 2 November 2005

Author: Holdjerhorses from USA

Yes, AAIP is a film classic. Yes, it's got the Gershwins' wonderful music. Yes it's got Gene Kelly, and Vincente Minnelli directing. Yes, it introduces Leslie Caron. And the show-stopping "I Got Rhythm" with Kelly and the kids. And the interminable "ballet" at the end. Yes, it's supposed to pass for High Art.

So was "The Pirate" -- another Kelly / Minnelli collaboration that sank under its own pretension.

Delightful moments, beautiful music and sets and costumes do not a movie make.

Despite everybody's best intentions, AAIP plods along from one set piece to another, with Caron and Kelly self-consciously depicting "young love" as if that exalted state had ANYTHING to do with semi-formal ballet. They can't even walk hand-in-hand along the Seine without looking like recent graduates of the French National Ballet Academy.

Their every move is choreographed to within an inch of its life -- leaving no room for genuine spontaneity or surprise.

Minnelli's direction here is derivative -- and nowhere approaches the genius of "The Red Shoes," which he and Kelly reportedly screened to convince the studio to finance this "dance" picture.

Take his introduction of Leslie Caron to films. Camera pans to a mirror on a cafe wall, where Miss Caron basically reprises Vera-Ellen's introduction as Miss Turnstyles in "On the Town" -- to less effect, despite the number's concluding split-screen wave-at-the-camera cutesiness. Despite this segment's supposed display of Lise's (Caron's) many facets, she still comes off like a ballet dancer wearing different costumes instead of actually dancing "differently."

Dance styles -- ballet, jazz, ballroom -- are completely different, and require completely different attitudes and muscles. Few are able to master them all. Kelly could and did. Caron couldn't and didn't. Even the brilliant Cyd Charisse, in her "jazz" and romantic numbers, appeared to be more a classically trained dancer who was "slumming." Neither she nor, certainly, Caron, can cut loose with the uninhibited joie-de-vivre of, say Ginger Rogers. Then again, Miss Rogers was no ballerina. (Which may explain why she was more popular and enduring, both as dancer and actress, than either Charisse or Caron. Try imagining Charisse or Caron dancing "The Carioca" or "The Continental" with Astaire -- still today far more riveting showpieces than the equally lengthy yet stilted and lifeless ballet that ends AAIP.)

If it's High Art in a dance film you're seeking, that's "The Red Shoes."

If it's electrifying dance entertainment you want, that's Astaire and Rogers in anything.

If it's "moments" of wonderful dance sequences you're after, cull through the careers of Kelly (particularly "Singin' in the Rain) or Charisse (especially "Silk Stockings").

All are terrific dancers. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges.

Yet there's something to be said for popular taste, particularly in movies. And there's a reason Astaire and Rogers will forever outshine all the others. They were SO GOOD that they made their intricate dance routines seem completely spur-of-the-moment. They were never self-conscious, either as actors or dancers. They weren't trying to "impress" themselves or us, unlike everybody else mentioned.

They just did. They couldn't help themselves (or so they made it seem.)

There's nothing wrong with "highbrow." See "The Red Shoes." But AAIP is simply not in the same league.

No audience member ever checked his wristwatch during "The Carioca."

AAIP's concluding ballet utterly fails to be as emotionally involving or relevant. Instead, it's an exercise in flawless choreography and execution by two supremely controlled "dancers."

Astaire and Rogers, on the other hand, were equally supremely controlled dancers talented and savvy enough to subordinate their flawless choreography and execution to the sheer JOY their characters (and they) felt. Human beings first: dancers second. Or so they made it seem.

All the technical achievements of Kelly and Caron dancing against "artistic" hand-drawn backgrounds and sets can't begin to compare with the jolt Astair and Rogers first delivered on that gigantic art-deco nightclub set in "Flying Down to Rio" some 20 years earlier.

There's art and there's "art."

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Slightly overrated musical, 4 April 2003

Author: perfectbond

An American in Paris is another great showcase for Gene Kelly's wonderful talents. He doesn't disappoint. His dancing and singing (whether solo or in duet) are some of the best ever captured on film. The story, as is often the case in musicals, is not much more than a diversion until the next song and dance number comes up. A big problem I had with this film is Leslie Caron. She looked quite boyish and her big teeth and slight overbite don't exactly make her as glamourous as the role would suggest. Then again it's all in the eye of the beholder. The supporting cast is more than competent though except for occasionally dueting with Kelly they don't really do much. Overall, 7/10.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Gene Kelly-Leslie Caron dance up a storm in Paris, France, 12 July 2002

Author: larrysmile1 from Illinois

An American In Paris (1951)

Alan Jay Lerner wrote a classic simple story: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl loves boy. Girl is engaged to cabaret entertainer. Boy and fiance know each other but don't know that they love the same girl. Boy's vagabond friend knows predicament. Wealthy socialite is attracted to boy for professional and personal reasons. Who gets the girl?

Have you seen movies like this before? The reason to see this film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Story, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Scoring, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design is for the dancing of Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, and the colorful sets and costumes. Kelly rivals fellow dancer Fred Astaire and seems to put more dancing into all his films than Astaire. Astaire looks good in tails and top hat and plays a socialite well. Kelly is best as a regular guy in street dancing clothes that resemble French/Italian sailors on shore leave.

Eugene Curran Kelly was 39 years old when he meets Paris-born Leslie Claire Margaret Caron who was 20 years old. Kelly actually discovered her in Paris and placed her in her first film. In the story, Kelly was discharged from the US Army after WWII and stayed behind in Paris, France to become discovered as a painter. Leslie Caron is Lise, a perfume shop sales attendant who loves 36-year-old Egyptian-born Georges Guetary (real name: Lambros Worldou) who is a well-known stage performer al a Maurice Chevalier style. It's convenient that Guetary hid young Leslie from the Nazis for five years during WWII because her parents were French Resistance fighters. So, Caron feels she "owes" a debt of gratitude and consents to repay that debt by marrying Guetary. Does she "really" love Guetary or is it just misguided gratefulness?

Did all Frenchmen marry girls 20 years younger than themselves back during the 19th and 20th Century? Hollywood movies of the era seem to echo the Chevalier theme song, "Thank Heavens for Little Girls!"

Nina Foch (Netherlands-born: Nina Consuelo Maud Fock) was 27 years old but plays a role of a rich socialite probably in her early 40s. Ms. Foch is also known as Pharaoh's sister Bithiah who raises Moses as her own in the 1956 epic, The Ten Commandments. She has designs on painter Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) and will be his benefactor and sponsor his painting but expects "residuals" in return.

Pianist, composer, sharp-witted sarcastic comedy player Oscar Levant was 45 years old. He dreams of being a concert pianist but is lingering in Paris in a dream world. He plays great piano but some of his comedy between himself and Kelly is dated and corny.

Noel Neill was 31 years old when Kelly scripted her to play an art student admiring Kelly's painting for sale on the streets of Paris. She has an "uncredited" role as all the other contract players have. You will remember Ms. Neill as the TV Lois Lane for the George Reeves Superman series. Ms. Neill replaced Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane and left acting when the Superman series ended in 1957.

Watch this film for the marvelous dancing of Leslie Caron. She is pretty, limber, and dances in solo and duet well. She speaks English well for being French-born and only 20 years old. Today, she is 71 and still has that cutie face! Cinematography is by Gene Kelly. He directed all the dancing numbers for this film. Notice that he mostly wears "4-inch" high water trousers during most of his dancing. This helps show off his white socks and dancing shoes. It also seems to give Kelly the appearance of being taller than his is.

Director Vincente Minnelli was 33 years old and is reputed to put a Dream Scene in all his movies. Minnelli married July (The Wizard of Oz) Garland and is the real-life father of singer-dancer-actress Liza (Cabaret/New York, New York) Minnelli.

The final dance production number (An American in Paris) is a dream sequence show casing Kelly and Caron in multiple costumes set against stereotypical and colorful backgrounds of Paris, France. The dancing is great and serves to put motion to George Gershwin's rhapsody, An American in Paris, that ends the film. Caron dances on her toes as a ballerina as well as in interpretive sequences. Wonderful.

This is a good movie. I saw this film on a big movie house screen. Television does not do justice to the colorful costumes and background sets as the Technicolor movie film permits. That's why at least one old-fashioned single screen movie theater must be rebuilt in each metropolitan area. A box cinema multiplex just can't do justice to these classical films.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best..., 13 January 2002

Author: aquon from Vancouver, BC

One of the best movies ever. You don't even have to watch it, just buy the DVD/tape, play it and just listen to the music. The more I watch this movie, the better it is. I can find no fault with this film whatsoever, other than the fact that the DVD version I have is not in letterbox (widescreen), but I don't think the original movie was filmed that way.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
An Enjoyable Musical, 23 July 2000

Author: AL01-3 from USA

If I were to pick my favorite film genre, musicals would not be it, but I really enjoyed this movie. It was funny, entertaining and full of expertly done music and dance sequences.

In this film, Jerry Mulligan, played by Gene Kelly, is a struggling artist in Paris. He attracts the attention of a wealthy older women who offers to be his patron. She's interested in his work but takes an even stronger interest in him personally. Jerry goes along with this arrangement until he falls in love with another women, who also happens to be dating one of his friend's acquaintances.

This is a good movie, but some of the day dream sequences seem like filler material that don't add to the plot or the overall enjoyment of the film. The ending sequence in particular is too long and should have been shortened.

Overall, this is a very good movie that has a lot of entertainment value and other than a few sequences, I can't really find much fault with it. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys musicals or classic films.

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
One of my favorites, 15 October 1999

Author: BobS-6 from College Park, MD

I was in high school when this movie came out and I think I saw it 5 times the first year. I thought it was terrific. No one like Gene Kelly! Leslie Caron was the first movie star I had a "crush" on! Its been a while since I've seen it on TV, but I would see it again. I don't usually care for musicals, but this one I loved!

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful Cinematography, 27 July 1999

Author: anonymous from NYC

I like this musical. The art direction is first-rate; not surprising with Minnelli as director. "Stairway to Paradise" is my favorite number because it emanates from a stage number, not from forced emotions. The ballet is overblown, unfortunately, which leads me to my main criticism of this film- the lack of soul or spirit. Every detail is realized, sometimes impressively, but it lacks spontaneity and vigor to make it really fly.

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1 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
George Gershwin, 4 September 2006

Author: janetfjones from United States

The composer's name George Gershwin for the music of this musical should jump out at you on your site. It is really hard to find and other names are being intimated as the composer. Your site should honor George Gershin's genius with a more high-profile acknowledgment in your site. Gershwin died at an early age, but, he still left many great music compositions. He is a classical as his music has withstood the test of time. If you omitted the music of Gershwin from "An American in Paris", there would not be much left of the movie. The music makes the movie. We have few genuine 20th century composers from America. His is the most recognizable music of the 0th century composers.

Thank you-Janet Jones

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1 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Good, but why an overly long dance sequence?, 15 February 2006

Author: Incalculacable (vintagous@hotmail.com) from Perth, WA

Don't get me wrong by this title, I LOVED most of the dancing in this movie. I was very impressed by Lesie Caron's dancing (I still think she is not very pretty... but she has grown on me. Apart from her dancing, I don't really see the attraction with her. She's quite elf life), of course Gene Kelly's dancing (as usual) and all the singing and musical numbers. Apart from one. That one being the overly long and absolutely tedious dance number. My Mother and I were completely disinterested at it, so we fast forwarded it. It sounds so critical, but that's the way I felt! It was quite artsy-fartsy and far too long. Perhaps it would have been better split into parts. I much preferred the shorter ones like 'I Got Rhythm' and 'Stairway to Paradise' (one of my favourite songs now!). Despite the time and the monotony of it, I enjoyed watching the lavish costumes dance by me. But like I said, I found it unnecessary. I'm sure they wanted to show off - and they did - but it just didn't press my buttons. I know that I am not the only one.

Anyway, onto the positives. I really love how the movie starts - it just seemed so familiar, warm and friendly. Like Gene was actually talking to you.. a very good technique. It was an easy way of explaining the dialog. Gene Kelly's character is a poor painter living in Paris when his work gets discovered by a rich woman who offers to put them in a show. She falls for him but she has made a habit of 'taking in' artists etc and falling in love with them. Gene finds inspiration in a dancer (Leslie Caron) and falls for her - love at first sight. I don't think she's that attractive, but hey.

It's a good film, and yet the only thing I can think of is me fast forwarding that long, overdone dance sequence. But I did enjoy this movie. Recommended to everybody.

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