An American In Paris [G]

Jerry Mulligan is a penniless American artist living in Paris, a city of great beauty and character. As he paints on the streets, dances with urchins, and sings with his composer pal, he lives an exuberant life that affords no income. But this changes when he meets a woman who notices his talent and decides to become his sponsor. Whilst sampling the higher life with his sponsor, Jerry finds the love of his life, but the romance is in danger from the start as both parties have certain things they would not like the other to discover. 

Grabbing the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Photography, Best Music, and Best Costume Design, An American In Paris is a timeless classic film that successfully combines all manner of theatre and cinematic elements. It’s absolutely delightful! 

Jerry Mulligan is a penniless American artist living in Paris, a city of great beauty and character. As he paints on the streets, dances with urchins, and sings with his composer pal, he lives an exuberant life that affords no income. However, that quickly changes when a woman of high society notices his talents and decides to become his sponsor. Promised art shows, exhibitions, and whatever else, Jerry agrees but becomes worried when his sponsor shows signs of romantic interest in him, interests that he cannot return. Whilst dining with his sponsor and some of her connections, Jerry finds the love of his life and after much persisting, he successfully gets her to go out with him. However, the romance is in danger from the start as both Jerry and Lisa have skeletons in their closet that they don’t want the other to know about. 

What immediately grabbed me in this movie was the hugely successful combination of theatre and cinema. The romantic story is told though dance, in particular tap dancing and ballet, and is accompanied by classic Gershwin songs including I Got Rhythm and S Wonderful. The story is a very simple one that is written around songs like these, not much dissimilar to Singin’ In the Rain (and yes I am aware that this film came first). The marriage of song, dance, and the wonderful costumes, particularly in the climactic ballet sequence, makes the film a very successful and hugely enjoyable one. 

Gene Kelly stars as Jerry Mulligan and he’s just lovely. Admittedly he’s more a dancer than an actor because his performance is this was very similar to that in Singin’ In the Rain, but nevertheless he was romantic, witty, charming, amorous, and at times very comedic. You cannot help but fall in love with him and you simply have to admire the enthusiasm that he exudes when he’s dancing. 

Leslie Caron stars as Lisa and she was absolutely beautiful. This was her first film I believe and you simply have to congratulate her on a mesmerising performance. She was glamorous, elegant, and completely genuine and her dancing was completely entrancing. I loved her. 

Starring Oscar Levant, Nina Foch, and Georges Guetary, An American In Paris was a wonderful film filled with dazzling costumes, amazing dance sequences, memorable songs, romance, drama, and comedy. Winning a total of six Academy Awards and earning a place in The Book, it’s an absolute gem and I completely fell in love with it.