Film Review: An American in Paris (1951)

The line that separates great films from the greatest films is very thin. Whether the film falls into the former or latter often depends on some minor, often hardly noticeable details. Some of those might be noticed in An American in Paris, a 1951 film directed by Vincente Minnelli, known as one of the most popular and successful Hollywood musicals of its time.

The script by Alan Jay Lerner is inspired by An American in Paris, a 1928 symphonic poem by George Gershwin, a composer legendary both for fusing jazz with classical music and for writing music for some of the 1930s Hollywood musicals. The plot is set in Paris, and the protagonist and narrator is Jerry Mulligan (played by Gene Kelly), a former US military veteran who served in France during the Second World War and became so enamoured with Paris that he decided to stay and try his luck as a painter. Jerry is struggling, just like his friend and neighbour, aspiring piano player Adam Cook (played by Oscar Levant). Their mutual friend, Henri “Hank” Baurel (played by Georges Guétary), has much more success as a nightclub singer. Jerry notices beautiful shop clerk Lise (played by Leslie Caron) and decides to win her heart, unaware that she is actually in a relationship with Hank. His efforts are further complicated after he is discovered by Milo Roberts (played by Nina Foch), a rich American heiress who volunteers to sponsor his art, while not hiding that she is romantically interested in Jerry.

An American in Paris was instantly recognised as a classic. It was a massive hit at the box office and later won six Oscars, including the Oscar for Best Picture, becoming only the second colour film to win such a prestigious prize. This success could be easily explained by MGM, the grandest of all Hollywood studios at the time, being behind it. The studio, which had specialised in musicals in the past few years, invested not only large budgets but also many great talents in the project. The musical was built around what was already seen as an American cultural treasure, and Gershwin’s symphony was accompanied by popular songs with lyrics written by Gershwin’s brother Ira. MGM invested millions of dollars and had Paris reconstructed entirely at Californian studio sets. Vincente Minnelli, already recognised as one of the prime directors, created a series of interesting scenes that mixed likeable music, dance, and light humour, with a postcard version of Paris – a city of high art, romance, exotic locations, and joie de vivre – serving as the perfect setting for the kind of escapist fun Hollywood was bringing to perfection. But the greatest of all talents was Gene Kelly, an actor and dancer at the height of his popularity and creativity, who not only brilliantly performed in front of the cameras but also choreographed many scenes, becoming de facto co-director and, as such, deserved much, if not most, of the credit for the success of An American in Paris.

The film was hailed as a classic and was considered a masterpiece many times, although, by a strange coincidence, the same star (Kelly) and the studio (MGM) would only later deliver Singin’ in the Rain, a musical that brought the entire genre to a new level and, as a result, made An American in Paris look weak in comparison. Among the more apparent weaknesses is the script, which uses a simple and paperweight plot that serves as an excuse for various song and dance numbers, with some, like the fantasy scene featuring Oscar Levant as a one-man orchestra, looking like they were mistakenly edited from another film. Young Leslie Caron, despite her dancing talent, still lacked proper experience as an actress, and her charm wasn’t used in a way that would make her character a proper rival to the character played by the more mature and effective Nina Foch. Furthermore, even the famous final 18-minute ballet sequence, despite a lot of creativity in the ways it tried to portray a fantasy version of Paris based on the works of Impressionist painters, looks like a separate film. An American in Paris deserves much of its success and still merits recommendation for fans of Hollywood musicals, but it is below the quality its lofty awards might suggest.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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