An American in Paris

Rating: 4/5

An American in Paris is truly beautiful to look at, but has an ending that is dated by today's movie musical standards.

Growing up with a love for musicals, I was quite excited to get to An American in Paris on my Oscar Best Picture journey. I can honestly say that I really loved about 90% of it. Something you don't find in modern film musicals is the use of very, very long dance numbers. Of course, almost every musical is going to involve a myriad of dance sequences, but over time, the length of those have been drastically trimmed down from what used to be roughly twenty minutes, to now be perhaps ten minutes, tops. To be clear, I don't consider An American in Paris' final musical number to be a detriment to the film. It's impeccably choreographed, masterfully executed, and the costumes are stunning. However, when one is more used to the more current style of musical, it's a tad difficult to remain fully attentive to it. That being said, the ending to this epic musical feat creates on of my favorite shots I've seen so far in my watching of all the Academy Award Best Picture winners.

What An American in Paris does really well, besides having Gene Kelly as its lead, is sprinkle it's dancing vignettes evenly throughout the movie. The most notable in my opinion, would be where Henri, played by Georges Guétary, attempts to describe his new girlfriend Lise (Leslie Caron) to his two friends. As he tries to explain who she is and what she's like, we see how she appears in the imaginations of the three men based on the descriptions, and she dances through brilliant colors and silhouettes. A marvelous scene.

An American in Paris didn't become one of my favorite musicals, but you can't watch it without being highly impressed by the skill and talent that is exhibited in every second of runtime.

1952 Best Picture Winner - An American in Paris

1952 Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Winner - Alan Jay Lerner

1952 Best Cinematography, Color Winner - Alfred Gilks & John Alton

1952 Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Color Winner - Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis & F. Keogh Gleason

1952 Best Costume Design, Color Winner - Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett & Irene Sharaff

1952 Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Winner - Johnny Green & Saul Chaplin