An American In Paris

This is the absolute Apocalypse Now of dance. It is so oversaturated with dance (and with the pretentious extremes of phoney 1950's artistic dance complete with cartoon-like sets) that there is no point whatsoever to trying to work in a story. If you are a dance fanatic, you might like this. If you are a normal person, you would be hard pressed to sit through fifteen minutes of it. If this film were to be produced today and exactly as it is, it would bomb heroically.

American in Paris is... drum roll... A MUSICAL !!!! SO !!!! Why??? is this release HD (high definition$$) IN - MONOPHONIC / not enhanced sound !!! or remastered (As it might be / and it AIN'T) MONO IS (1) that is ONE CHANNEL OF SOUND !!!! mess up a classic lately??? APPLE SUR GOOFED ON THIS ONE !!! ARGGGGG

This movie did not deserve six Oscars, especially considering that "Quo Vadis" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" were made that year. However, that is beside the point. The movie itself is flawed and not very good. The plot is very thin, the characters are undeveloped, and the musical numbers don't fit into the story at all. It also doesn't help that I don't like Gene Kelly. This isn't the best. Try The Band Wagon or Singin' in the Rain.

This musical film is amazing! it is full of fun and excitement, and Gene Kelly is in a world of his own. BUT Oscar Levant, who is the pianist as well as an actor with a great part in this film was not credited. iTunes, please be sure to credit him, because its just not right if he isnt.

the best musical ever. when i saw it i felt like i was in the show.

There's no doubt that Gene Kelly could dance circles around almost anyone else. There's no doubt that Leslie Caron, whose skills are if anything under-utilized here, could do so too. The singing is good, the music is good, and there's no doubt that this movie was ground-breaking in a number of ways. But the plot is a little, shall we say, on the thin side, and the characters aren't really all that believable. The romance between the two main characters feels almost entirely superficial--Gene Kelly's character actually admits, for gosh sake, that he doesn't know a thing about the woman he's supposedly head over heels in love with. And would the characters' rivals actually give up that easily? But hey--I feel like I'm grousing over nothing. Who needs realism? Who needs plot? It's an MGM musical. If it were me, I'd program the computer to just string out the music and dance numbers one right after the other, and skip the plot in between. You'd be watching the best Hollywood dancer at his absolute peak, with some of the best music ever written. Now THAT would be a great movie.

There is much to enjoy in "An American in Paris." Leslie Caron, Gene Kelly, and a wonderful performance by Oscar Levant. I also love Kelly's dance to "I Got Rythm," and in my opinion it's awfully hard to go wrong with Gershwin. On the flip side, the sets look pretty bad to the modern eye (the Paris in "Ratatouille" looks more authentic, honestly), the artistic view kind of contradicts itself (the characters talk about the silliness of abstract art, but the film itself ends with a long, abstract section), and the 18 minute "ballet" that ends the film not only brings it to a screeching halt, it violates one of the prime laws of musicals: the music numbers should move the plot forward. It's hip to say that "Singin' in the Rain" is a better film, but the fact of the matter is, it *is* a better film. "Singin' in the Rain" has a tighter structure, sharper musical numbers, and it ends with, ya know, an *ending*. (Plus it has Jean Hagen.) "An American in Paris" is a good film, but it is certainly not worthy of its six Oscars or its high ranking in the musical film pantheon, in my opinon.

Every moment is better than the last.

"An American In Paris" is the classic example of the Hollywood film musical. Why? It perfectly defines the genre when we think: "Hollywood Musical." "MGM was king of movie studios and its musicals division headed by songwriter/producer Arthur Freed created some of the most memoreable films from Hollywood's golden era: "Meet Me In St. Louis," "On The Town" and "Gigi" to name a few. An American In Paris combines some of the best and brightest talents in one Technicolor masterpiece: the music of the Gershwins, the art of Toulouse Lautrec, Rousseau, Raoul Dufy, Manet, Renoir and Van Gogh, the musicianship and wry humor of Gershwin acquaintance, Oscar Levant, the loveliness of Leslie Caron and the brilliance of Gene Kelly at the height of his career. "An American In Paris" won 6 Oscars, including Best Picture and the Best Picture, Golden Globe award Gene Kelly also won a Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture Actor, Comedy/Musical.   

I always hated the films that my grandmother made me watch, but this is an exception. Gene Kelly is fantastic, and this is one of my favorite movies ever!