239. An American In Paris (1951)

Directed By Vincente Minnelli

Synopsis

Quite simple really, there's this American painter who lives in the Left Bank in Paris. He falls in love with this girl, but she is engaged to marry another man. Eventually he gets the girl.

Review

As you can see by the synopsis this is not a film that you really watch for the human drama of it, or for the deep characterizations. You watch it because it is fun, it has great music, great choreography and some of the best production values ever.

This is the musical with probably the best soundtrack of all time, all the tracks here are part of The Great American Songbook, these are some of George and Ira Gershwin's best compositions, both in terms of the songs and the great symphonic suite during the final sequence.

And this final sequence is amazing, for almost 20 minutes there is no dialogue, only the amazing Gene Kelly dancing around mock-ups of Paris and music playing, the choreography is excellent, and the music mimics the sounds of the town and the emotions of the main character perfectly, by the end of it you almost feel the need to applaud.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The story of the film is interspersed with show-stopping dance numbers choreographed by Gene Kelly and set to popular Gershwin tunes. Songs and music include "I Got Rhythm," "I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise," "'S Wonderful," and "Our Love is Here to Stay". The climax is "The American in Paris" ballet, an 18 minute dance featuring Kelly and Caron set to Gershwin's An American in Paris. The ballet alone cost more than half a million dollars, a staggering sum at the time.

Making Of: