An American in Paris 1951
I have been watching some classic movies lately using Screen Passes from people with great libraries of movies. I was looking forward to An American in Paris after watching some of the extras from Singin' in the Rain and wanting to see Gene Kelly’s other masterpiece, made the year before, both movies appearing in the 1998 AFI list of top 100 movies ever made. After such a buildup I was a little disappointed with this movie, though it definitely has its charms. There is less song and dance in the movie, just a few mostly small numbers until you get to the giant spectacle at the end. A lot of the movie depends on Leslie Caron, who has a tiny waist and dances well, but isn’t really that pretty or a particularly good actress at this point. She was only nineteen when she made the movie and the part is kind of challenging given that she goes from being annoyed with Gene Kelly’s unwanted advances to suddenly being receptive. Her motivations are not clear either, though eventually we find out a little more about her dilemma. Still, she is primarily a trophy, albeit one who looks like she is about fourteen years old to Gene Kelly, who is twice her age and who shuns a woman who is only twelve years younger than he is. A couple of side characters get decent sized production numbers to themselves even though their characters don’t have big parts. Really almost nobody has big parts because there is hardly any plot or character development. Then there is the giant production at the end which is so grand, colorful, and expensive that it demands praise. It has impressive scale, but the music and dancing are dwarfed by the sets when it works out better the other way around. I did enjoy seeing Oscar Levant who is basically playing himself, a wisecracking concert pianist. It is a good movie and Gene Kelly is fun to watch, so ultimately this review is still positive, but the movie didn’t live up to the hype for me.
Written: 30 Sep 2021
Owned on: Digital