The balance, otherwise seen as the song and dance, manage to come along at the most inopportune times, and wear out their welcome at an excessively rapid rate.
An American in Paris (1951)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:46
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: The plot may be problematic, but such concerns are rendered superfluous by Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron's star power, the Gershwins' classic songs, and Vincente Minnelli's colorful, sympathetic direction.
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Synopsis: One of the greatest of 1950s screen musicals is a happy collaboration between the grace and athleticism of Gene Kelly and the colorful palette of director Vincente Minnelli. An American G.I.... One of the greatest of 1950s screen musicals is a happy collaboration between the grace and athleticism of Gene Kelly and the colorful palette of director Vincente Minnelli. An American G.I. lingers in Paris after the war to study painting and soon falls in love with Leslie Caron, an engaged demoiselle, much to the chagrin of his romance-minded benefactress. This classic musical boasts a 17-minute avant-garde ballet choreographed by Kelly to George Gershwin's unbeatable music. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS garnered eight Academy Award nominations and six wins, including Best Picture and Best Story and Screenplay. Kelly won a special Oscar for his inimitable achievements. [More]
Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary
Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, Nina Foch
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Producer: Arthur Freed
Composer: Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin
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Reviews for An American in Paris
The plot was showing signs of age far earlier than 1951, but everything else about An American in Paris more than compensates.
A grand show -- a brilliant combination of Hollywood's opulence and technical wizardry with the kind of taste and creativeness that most high-budgeted musicals notoriously lack.
Every five or ten minutes the audience is treated to a riveting dance number set to some of the greatest tunes of George and Ira Gershwin.
One of the great musicals; fantastic Gershwin music, and the ballet is a triumph. One of Vincente Minnelli's finest works.
...the picture takes on its glow of magic when Miss Caron is on the screen. When she isn't, it bumps along slowly as a patched-up, conventional musical show.
The combination of Kelly’s dance and charisma, Gershwin’s music and Minneli’s direction makes this a movie that’s hugely enjoyable, even for those who don’t generally look for movies that are packed with dancing.
George Guetary's singing scenes should have been left on the cutting room floor, but Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron are mesmerizing, and Oscar Levant is amusing as Jerry's piano playing buddy.
It is both comfortable entertainment and eye-popping cinema, with its dream ballet acting as a showcase for what the movie musical can really do.
The dazzling French fried musical is Hollywood's homage to Paris's joie de vivre.
While not nearly the musical it's cracked up to be, this 1951 film is absolutely required viewing for anyone who wants to see the studio system (MGM style) at its gaudiest, most Byzantine height.
A francophile and frustrated painter, Minnelli identifies completely with Kelly's American painter Jerry. Arguably no Hollywood director was as knowledgeable of French art as Minnelli, whose work evokes the light and color of his cherished painters.
t's a simple love story, but also a celebration of dance, music and art, embodied in the somewhat synthetic notion of Paris as the spiritual home of the arts, and the painterly aesthetic of the film as a whole.
A musical both ludicrously overpraised (especially in Hollywood) and underrated.
The An American in Paris ballet is a work of delirious filmmaking, jumping and dissolving from space to space, swirling around an area, dancers entering and leaving the frame in surprising ways.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
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