An American in Paris Movie Review 1951

Lavish, imaginative musical features a sweeping score, and knockout choreography by Kelly. Ex-G.I. Kelly stays on in Paris after the war to study painting, supported in his efforts by rich American Foch, who hopes to acquire a little extra attention. But Kelly loves the lovely Caron, unfortunately engaged to an older gent. Highlight is an astonishing 17-minute ballet which holds the record for longest movie dance number--and one of the most expensive, pegged at over half a million for a month of filming. For his efforts, the dance king won a special Oscar citation. While it sure looks like Paris, most of it was filmed in MGM studios.

Distribution

Home Vision Cinema, c/o Image Entertainment, 20525 Nordhoff St., Ste. 200, Chatsworth, CA 91311, URL: http://www.homevision.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 113 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Musicals, France, Art & Artists, Dance Fever, Paris, MGM Musicals, Ballet, 4 Bones

Screenplay

Alan Jay Lerner

Cast

Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Nina Foch, Georges Guetary

Cinematography

John Alton

Director

Vincente Minnelli

Music

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin

Producer

MGM

Awards

Oscars 1951: Art Dir./Set Dec., Color, Color Cinematog., Costume Des. (C), Picture, Story & Screenplay, Scoring/Musical; AFI 1998: Top 100; Golden Globes 1952: Film--Mus./Comedy, Natl. Film Reg. 1993.