When I was watching GIGI a few days ago, I found myself wondering why Leslie Caron wasn’t in more movies. Now that I’ve seen AN AMERICAN IN PARIS I realize she WAS in more movies. I just haven’t seen them. She makes her screen debut in this one and again plays an innocent French girl, though without the lust for life that Gigi had.
But, the real star of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS is Gene Kelly, of course. This movie seems like it was almost a practice run for the great SINGIN IN THE RAIN – it has a similar love story, but the rest of the plot isn’t as interesting. It has good song and dance numbers, but not as amazing as the ones in SINGING IN THE RAIN.
Kelly stars as a struggling painter in Paris, an ex GI who never left France. He lives in a rooming house above a café with another ex-pat, an unemployed concert pianist (Oscar Levant). Sometimes their mutual friend, a successful night club singer and dancer (Georges Gueteray), drops in to slum it with them. Even though Kelly plays a painter, he spends most of his time dancing up and down the streets of Paris, engaging shop keepers, local kids, and his buddies in his mind-blowing tap routines.
It’s not long before Kelly is courted by an older woman (Nina Foch) who takes interest both in his art and his GREAT ASS. At least, I assume it must be his great ass. Who knows. In any case, she inserts herself into his life as his benefactor but clearly wants a little action on the side. Kelly’s on the fence about the whole thing, especially after running into the cute shop girl played by Leslie Caron, who has a secret of her own – she’s engaged to Gueteray’s character, Kelly’s buddy. Uh oh!
One of my favorite scenes is Kelly’s song and dance to “Who Could Ask for Anything More” where he teaches the English lyrics to a group of French kids. Kelly’s seemingly improvisational (though probably carefully choreographed) use of the normal every day set makes the dance exciting, but the genuine reactions of the kids sell the scene. It’s rare you get such genuine kids in such a Hollywood movie, but then again it’d be difficult to be face to face with Kelly’s genius and not be genuinely amazed.
Another favorite scene is the first one really dealing with the love triangle, in which Gueteray shares romantic advice with Kelly over a cup of coffee at the café, and Levant sits nervously by, the only one who knows the two men are in love with the same girl. This scene also erupts into a song and dance number, and here it’s the exuberance of love that sells it. MGM musicals were famous for the idea that the songs and dances should express the feelings of the characters, and here the songs and dances act as almost a celebration of what it means to be in love.
Unfortunately for me, the big show-stopper that ends the movie was one of my least favorite parts. I don’t think this is a very popular opinion, but I preferred the song and dance sequences that were “really” happening in the plot, and thought it was a shame that the whole climax took place in Gene Kelly’s imagination.
There are two similar fantasy sequences earlier in the film, and I think both of them are more effective. The first is a ballet dance compilation illustrating Gueteray’s descriptions of Leslie Canon’s character, showing all of the different sides of her personality through dance. The second is a day dream in which Levant unleashes a smoking piano concerto.
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