An American in Paris

1951 "What a joy! It's M-G-M's Technicolor musical!"
7.2| 1h53m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 26 September 1951 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.

Genre

Comedy, Music, Romance

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Director

Vincente Minnelli

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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An American in Paris Audience Reviews

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Nonureva Really Surprised!
Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
lasttimeisaw Another Oscar BEST PICTURE winner confected by Vincente Minnelli, the maker of GIGI (1958), comes a cropper as a fusty pomp through the test of time, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, a studio-bound pageant jovially trades on Gene Kelly's terpsichorean aptitude, Oscar Levant's pianistic virtuosity and Georges Guétary's mellow tenor, also introducing a barely 20-year-old Leslie Caron, who fares way better on pointe than acting love-torn between two men. The titular American is Jerry Mulligan (Kelly), an undiscovered painter trying his luck in Paris, who gets the patronage from a wealthy socialite Milo Roberts (Foch), but falls head over heels for an ingénue Lise Bouvier (Caron), who in truth is the girlfriend of a French cabaret singer Henri Baurel (Guétary), yet, Henri and Jerry have a common friend, the struggling concert pianist Adam Cook (Levant). Alan Jay Lerner's Oscar-winning script doesn't even try to juice up the love triangle, nor does it disperses comic relief whenever it sees fit, one glaring missing opportunity is when the three male friends share the same scene with Adam in the knowing that the other two are falling in love with the same girl, what does he do? Nothing but hangdog insouciance. More problematically is its salient demerit of flagrant misogyny and male's wish-fulfillment, earlier on, Jerry haughtily berates a young female student (Neill) who tries to assess his works, utterly dismisses her opinion as inconsequential, and when Milo comes to the picture, Foch was only 27-year-old then, but what the picture depicts her makes her look like a lonely, minted cougar salivating over Jerry with every step and gaze, later after being patronized with a kiss from her disillusion-stuck beau, she has to stomach a supercilious sideswipe from a floppy Adam and only thanks to Foch's majestic composure, the character narrowly escapes from being a total laughing stock, plus Jerry's rapturous infatuation with a mousy Caron over an apparently poised Milo makes it distastefully difficult to suspend our disbelief, and writs large Hollywood's morbid obsession with young girls. Fanfare reaches its apex in the climatic "The American in Paris Ballet", a 17 minute seamlessly choreographed sequence is spectacular with a capital S, yet, everything impresses for the eyes/ears only, a meretricious pomp punches far above its weight, and very likely, ranks in the lowest rung among the prestigious Oscar BEST PICTURE clique.
Kubrick 2002 This movie is made well but its really aging bad. It has random stupid dance numbers (one with Lise dancing in different costumers) and its honestly a big insult to see such a waste of talent (Gene Kelly). He is the highlight but take him out and the movies bad. Not a good movie. Made OK and Gene Kelly is enjoyable. Also they start with narration because they cant figure out how to show us stuff.
SnoopyStyle American ex GI Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) decides to stay in Paris after the war to be a painter. His neighbor friend Adam Cook (Oscar Levant) is a struggling songwriter pianist. Adam's longtime French singer associate Henri Baurel (Georges Guétary) tells him about a new young girlfriend. Wealthy older heiress Milo Roberts (Nina Foch) takes an interest in Jerry's art and Jerry himself. While trying to avoid her on a date, he starts flirting with Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron).There are iconic songs. The music is loverly. There is Gene Kelly dancing. This is a must for any song and dance fans. As a story and a romance, it takes awhile to heat up. Leslie Caron's character doesn't speak until after over thirty minutes. They need an early scene to develop more chemistry. It's not until their riverside dance in midpoint where their romance truly break through. That is probably the only minor failing and this is simply an icon that any film fan must see if only for the big dance number.
jacobs-greenwood "It's wonderful, it smarvelous", but it's also an average musical, though it does feature 44 (!) elaborate sets and did win six Oscars. It probably won Best Picture by benefiting from a split vote between A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and A Place in the Sun (1951).It does have a great, if long, dance sequence with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. And, Oscar Levant and Nina Foch do provide excellent support. Director Vincente Minnelli received his first nomination (he later won for Gigi (1958), another questionable Best Picture winner).Kelly is a struggling American artist, working in Paris, until he finds a "sugar daddy" (er, "sugar mommy"?) in Foch. He pals around with his piano playing friend (Levant), dancing and singing "I Got Rhythm" with street kids. His friend knows a singer (Georges Guétary) that's engaged to a pretty young thing (Caron). When Kelly meets her, he naturally falls in love. He then chases her, trying to "win" her away from her unawares fiancé, much to the dismay of Foch and his friend Levant. But, when the two dance, "c'est la vie"!Added to the National Film Registry in 1993. #68 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list. #39 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories list. "I Got Rhythm" is #32 on AFI's 100 Top Movie Songs of All Time. #9 on AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals list.