Rating of
3.5/4
Review - An American in Paris (1951)
Delorted - wrote on 12/03/07
Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) was an American painter living in Paris, with an amorous publicist, Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), helping him along. Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) was a young woman who was in love with singer Henri Baurel (Georges Guétary). When these two meet, however, their relationships are troubled in the Best Picture winning film, "An American in Paris."
I love seeing movie musicals that were specifically written for the big screen. Seeing a Broadway show acted out on film is fine, but when somebody writes a musical that is made only for film, I really respect that. "An American in Paris" is actually based on a composition from the late 20's, but it's still original and exciting.
I'm not a big fan of singing-and-dancing musicals, as I may have mentioned before. I've always thought the dancing worked well on stage but just doesn't translate well on film. "West Side Story" was an exception, at least for half of the film, but this isn't. In fact, the last eighteen minutes of this film is a ballet that doesn't seem to make any sense. The music is great, the choreography is incredible, but it just doesn't seem to fit right. Maybe it's just me, but since it's my review, it's relevant.
The music in the entire film is really great. The songs are original and fun, albeit typical for the era. The acting alone isn't too incredible, and apparently the Academy saw this because the movie wasn't nominated for any acting Oscars. I do have to mention that this was the movie debut for Leslie Caron, one of my personal favorite musical ladies.
"An American in Paris" is a sweet, fun musical that does rank up there among the best, but if you aren't a fan of ballet, you might get pretty bored.
Acting: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Video/Editing: 9/10
Audio/Music: 8/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Final Score: 8.2/10
