An American in Paris

USA 1951
113 minutes
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Leading players - Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron & Oscar Levant

Synopsis

Ex-GI, Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly), has stayed on in Paris after the war to study painting. He lives in the same building as aspiring concert pianist Adam Cook (Oscar Levant), and they spend much of their leisure time in a nearby bistro. Through Adam, Jerry becomes friendly with successful singer Henri Baurel (Georges Guetary) and congratulates him on his forthcoming marriage. Henri explains to him how he met Lise (Leslie Caron), whose life he saved during the war.

Rich, attractive Milo Roberts (Nina Foch) takes Jerry's career in hand, but he does not have any feeling for her and declines to be a kept man. He meets a young girl in a nightclub and falls in love with her, pursuing her after he is initially rebuffed.

Just as he senses his feelings are being returned, he discovers that she is the girl engaged to marry Henri. After all the main characters attend the Beaux Arts Ball, Jerry's spirits are low and he drifts into a fantasy world which is depicted by an imaginative dance sequence. Meanwhile Henri, with true Gallic realism, accepts that Lise's heart belongs to another and releases her from their engagement. .

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This musical was the brainchild of Arthur Freed, inspired by George Gershwin's tone poem of the same title. Directed with his usual style and panache by Minnelli, who had worked with the Gershwin brothers on Broadway, both as dancer and choreographer.

'An American In Paris' is also a tribute to the music and lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin. In addition to the title piece and Oscar Levant's tour de force, 'Concerto in F', there are memorable versions of 'I Got Rhythm', 'S'Wonderful', 'Embraceable You' and 'Our Love Is Here To Stay'. Georges Guetary, in his only American film, makes a fair bid at stealing the show with 'I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise'.