An American in Paris (1951)

“It's not a pretty face, I grant you, but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.” –Adam Cook, in an unwitting metaphor for the film.

Starring: Gene Kelley as Jerry Mulligan, an aspiring American painter with surprising tap dancing abilities for an ex-GI; Oscar Levant as Adam Cook, his convenient pianist friend; Georges Guétary as Henri Baurel, a stereotypical Frenchman; Leslie Caron as the completely underdeveloped love interest Lise Bouvier; and Nina Foch as Milo Roberts, sponsor of all attractive, down-on-their-luck men.

If there was every any proof needed that not every supposedly classic movies is really that great, this movie is it. Not to be completely negative, of course, because there were some good numbers: the sweetly romantic “Our Love is Here to Stay” and “’S Wonderful” come to mind, but aside from Kelley’s always-stellar dancing and Caron’s bizarre flexibility (yikes!), there’s not a ton going on here. Add to that a 17-minute dance number with an entire ballet (it doesn’t seem too long when you first think about it, but after watching it for a few minutes you’ll start to understand my annoyance) and my lack-of-caring skyrockets.

"We're trying really hard to keep this movie together, guys!"

"Oh Gene, chill out and read a book like a normal person."

Maybe I should have reviewed a stellar movie to start off with, because I swear, I’m not normally this negative about anything from the 40s or 50s that has dancing. But geez. A 17-minute ballet ensemble with zero plot significance as the second to last scene in an almost two hour movie really made me lose my patience.

The movie starts with first person narration (me: ok, that’s usually bad but sometimes it’s kind of quaint, it might work out) and some very heavy handed exposition (“This is Paris, and I'm an American who lives here. My name is Jerry Mulligan, and I'm an ex GI. In 1945 when the army told me to find my own job, I stayed on. And I'll tell you why: I'm a painter, and all my life that's all I've ever wanted to do.” me: *sigh*). But I can look past that. Then there’s an ok gag where the camera zooms in on a couple passionately kissing as if it’s Gene Kelley, then he corrects them in voiceover (“No, no, up here!”). So that’s fine. And then, oh wait. It happens again - déjà vu. Oscar Levant is now talking in first person, describing his character. The camera zooms in on another guy who’s not him, another fake out. Huh. Then, oh wait. It happens again with Guétary’s character, who’s now the one narrating in first person. By the third fake zoom I’m beginning to get a little tired of the entire pattern.

Also, it’s really very convenient that Kelley has a pianist friend who can always be counted on to provide some music when he feels emotional and needs to sing and dance. I think that Adam Cook was actually my favorite character in the movie, next to Milo. Neither are supposed to be likeable, which made them slightly more charming than all the others. The one thing that disenchanted me with Cook, though, was the really long daydream sequence of him playing in a huge fancy orchestra, with again, you guessed it, zero plot significance! An American in Paris is kind of like the Victor Hugo of movies with the amount of rather pointless tangents it goes on.

Some positive points to lighten things up: Gene Kelley is an amazing dancer. So is Leslie Caron. Their romantic scene and dance on the bridge was lovely, at least to the sappy romantic in me.

And I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I found Nina Foch’s character charmingly tragic, a lonely rich woman who just wants to help out some handsome struggling artists. She also has one of my favorite lines in the movie:

Mulligan: That's... quite a dress you almost have on.

Milo: Thanks.

Mulligan: What holds it up?

Milo: Modesty.

I found Mulligan’s stalkerish tendencies towards poor Lise a bit creepy, and I think I actually would have preferred him to fall in love with Milo- while still retaining his independence, of course.

Some more tidbits:

•  The French is not stellar. One of the kids says “Jerry, parle anglais à nous” which is not the correct formal address for an adult, and also has the wrong placement of a direct object. Not that most people probably care except us grammar geeks.
• Gene Kelley embraces people very flamboyantly.
•  Some weird Hitler and Nazi references going on there for a second?
•  The end was so unexplained – suddenly she just comes back? We’re to assume that Henri had a change of heart I suppose, but there’s nothing to explain that, she just shows up and they kiss on the stairs (because you can’t end a movie without a kiss, obviously).
•  Hopefully Henri will take Milo on his American tour instead, she needs some company after Jerry’s obnoxious behavior towards her.

Worth your time? If you’re super into dancing, choreography, ballet… maybe yes. Otherwise? Not really.

2.5 out of 5 concert pianists. Mostly because of Gene Kelley.

Isn't he just adorable?