An American In Paris (30:21)
We are 1/3rd of the way through The Top 100 Project with this 41st podcast! There’s no point in denying that we didn’t find this one worthy of the AFI list. At least Gene Kelly’s remarkable talents are put to better use when we get to Singin’ In The Rain in a few weeks. Anyway, you…got…rhythm, so give us a listen!
T100P 
Holy AFI love! Yeah, whatever it was that you folks might have missed about this film, I missed it, too, even if I don’t think I disliked it as strongly as you did. I saw it in 2005 at the recommendation of a co-worker who was a huge Gene Kelly fan; this was her all-time favourite movie. It was one of those films where I had probably forgotten nearly everything about it by the next day. Not unpleasant, just nothing about it grabbed me. It pretty much goes without saying that ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ is a better film — although I think ‘On the Town’ is better than both of them.
Her favourite movie? Are you still friends with this person? 😉
Ha ha!! So this is one of those movies that just have the Ellises saying “Take THAT!” to everything.
Yeah, we were not Parisian American fans.
So I’m still trailing behind on the Top 100 project…I’ll catch up at some point!
As I always seem to enjoy the episodes with the highest amounts of bashing, this one was a standout for me. I wanted to comment on this one, however, because I think it’s important to keep in mind that both “Singin’ in the Rain” and this movie in particular were heavily influenced by the 1948 British film “The Red Shoes”, which was the first to feature an extended ballet sequence as the film’s centerpiece. Unlike “An American in Paris”, “Red Shoes” actually uses its ballet sequence as an important (if still a bit abstract) plot element. The film revolves around the events leading up to the performance and the emotional aftermath on its star and crew (think “Black Swan” without the sex and gore). It’s far from a flawless film, but it’s far more successful in melding plot with performance art (though it does suffer from some hammy 40s melodrama). In fact, in order to get the green light for “AAIP”, Gene Kelly made the MGM executives watch “The Red Shoes” as a demo for what he was aiming for (and clearly didn’t succeed at). With this film, the dance scenes seem almost stapled on, and the passage of time has made them look quite tacky now. And don’t even get me started on the rendition of “I Got Rhythm”. *cringggge*
Happy Canada Day to you guys! I live just a few miles away from the border (Buffalo/NF region) and so far it’s been a really lousy weekend, so I hope the weather is holding up for you up there!