Vincente Minnelli / 1951 / USA / 103mins
George Gershwin, Gene Kelly and Vincente Minnelli unite in perhaps one of the most successful of the MGM Musicals, the six times Oscar-winner, An American in Paris. Set in France’s romantic capital after World War Two, the film follows struggling American artist Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) as he attempts to make a living from his paintings before falling hopelessly in love with the young French beauty Lise (Leslie Caron) who is engaged to another man.
Minnelli’s vibrant film is an explosion of colour, opportunity, positivity and romance that looks as good now as it did originally in 1951. Featuring dreamlike dance sequences, catchy musical numbers, a 17 minute ballet sequence and some surprising physical comedy, An American in Paris simply glistens with talent and unrelenting pizzazz. Warmingly nostalgic, this film lifts the heart and the spirit with its tale of ambition, forbidden love, longing, and of course, dance. Caron excels in her screen début as the timid love interest, but it’s her pairing with Kelly, who discovered her as a teenage dancer in Paris, that really gives this film the edge it needs to become the Oscar-winning movie that we know and love today.