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An American in ParisRating:
Release Date: 27 April, 1999 Retail Price: $24.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: |
An American in Paris Reviews
No Rhythm Whatsoever.
This film is an absolute piece of garbage, but according to the Academy, this was the finest film of 1951. I would rather watch Strangers on a Train, A Streetcar Named Desire, The African Queen, A Place in the Sun--I'd rather watch myself drive off a cliff. Gershwin may have rhythm. Gene Kelly definitely has rhythm when he dances. But whoever threw this film together had no sense of cinematic rhythm. Here's a basic rule of thumb: when you're making a narrative film, don't take leave of the story--especially at the end--for a 17 minute (no joke) dance number that is only nominally related to the plot. I don't care how good you might think Gene Kelly danced and choreographed that number. You know Kurosawa directed a hell of a fight scene at the end of Seven Samurai. Why don't we throw that in this movie too? Because it would be stupid and make the film uneven, right? That's right. And that's exactly what this 17 minute dance number does to An American in Paris. An unfair comparison? Okay let's take the Karate Kid. It's the end of the movie. Daniel-san is hurt bad. But instead of having Mr. Miyagi do that voodoo hand slap and rub combo to fix Daniel-san's leg, Daniel just stares in thought. We now understand what we are seeing is what he is thinking about. And what do we see? Seventeen minutes of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai battle sequence. Then when that's done, we fade back to Daniel-san staring at nothing. He stands up and his leg is fine and the karate tournament is over and he's won the thing! You would think that movie was pretty stupid right? That's essentially how the 17 minute Gene Kelly dance sequence feels. Seventeen minutes of talent, to be sure, but what the devil is it doing the middle of the film? No wait not the middle. It's at the end. It's replaced the climax of the film--and doing a poor job of it I might add. Then it ends, Gene Kelly's daydream is over, and everything is okay. The end. Lame. And don't try to tell me that the dance sequence was the climax--that it resolves the film if you interpret the symbolic dancing right. Whatever. A film with such an amateurish plot hasn't earned the right to suddenly become cerebral. An American in Paris is like our Karate Kid with Kurosawa tacked onto it--a cheesy average film with a chunk of talent thrown in the mix without much rhyme or reason--or rhythm. Would our Karate Kid-Seven Samurai hybrid deserve the Oscar for best picture? Neither did An American in Paris. Just because it's got Gene Kelly and some Gershwin tunes doesn't make it a great, or even a good, film. Remember, Mike Nichols made The Graduate and Birdcage.
Yesteryear
American in Paris & Singing in the Rain are stories from a time long that no longer exists . . . with sweet music & excellent dance. They are an excellent education for the young & an escape for adults trapped in 60 hour work weeks.
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