1951--An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli











1951--An American in Paris—Vincente Minnelli

Nominated: Decision Before Dawn, A Place in the Sun, Quo Vadis, A Streetcar Named Desire

Should have won: Strangers on a Train,

Be sure to see: The African Queen, Alice in Wonderland, The Day the Earth Stood Still

“Back home, everyone said I didn't have any talent. They might be saying the same thing over here but it sounds better in French”--Jerry Mulligan

 

     This could possibly be one of the worst decisions for best picture winners of all time. Not because it is bad but because of the year's competition (and snubs for that matter) were so good. Also, hindsight of the fact that the following year Gene Kelly, without a doubt my favorite dancer in movie history, would star in and co-direct the greatest musical and one of the top five greatest movies ever made with Singin' in the Rain. This film has a lot of charm but ultimately misses the mark.

 

     Kelly plays Jerry Mulligan, a World War II veteran in Paris trying to earn a living as a painter. As in Singin' in the Rain, Kelly's character is friends with a piano player, has a woman interested in him romantically, and he is interested in another woman. Another tangled love story where we hope the right two end up together. As with most musicals, the story is really the sideline. The musical numbers are decent but few and far between. Dance numbers in a musical are like pun scenes in a Marx Brothers movie. They are the target of the viewer and the remaining scenes are filler and we can't wait to get to the next pun, or dance in this movie's case. In order for a musical to not be wall to wall with music and still pull it off is, obviously, to have a solid plot line tying the scenes together. The plot in Singin' in the Rain and The Blues Brothers, for example, achieve this brilliantly. Yes, all of the musical scenes in those movies are fantastic but when characters are just being characters, the audience's interest is still in tact. I didn't feel that way in An American in Paris.

 

    The “I got rhythm” number with all the children is the highlight of the film. When Jerry yells "Airplane!" and spins around is an impressive maneuver and the best part of the scene is all of the children and their reactions. But also take note of Leslie Caron's solo number where she wears different costumes. I liked her in this movie and found her to be quite beautiful. She sort of has a young Shirley Maclaine vibe going on who, incidentally, will show up two winners from now in 1960. Caron will make another appearance in 1958's winner, Gigi, though that is not among my favorite winners, either. An American in Paris is worth taking a look at, and a decent musical, but it could have benefited with three or four more dance numbers and is certainly on the lower end of the best picture rankings. The reason it slips so low for me is really quite simple: It needed more dance scenes.