Exclusive"An American in Paris” (1951): First Dance Movie

Rebecca, why are you dancing right now? It's time to talk about movies. But we're going to talk about the greatest dance film of all time. Well then, where's your black tutu if we're going to talk about Black Swan? Are you kidding? That's not the greatest dance film. Well then, where are your red shoes if we're going to talk about the 1948 British dance classic? Closer, but that's not it either. Well, what else is there? Turning Point, Center Stage, White Knights, Flashdance? No, none of those. This is a superb film with a phenomenal score by the greatest American composer of all time and starring two of the greatest dancers ever to grace the silver screen. To say nothing of being set in the city most associated with ballet. Get to the point. I'm talking about An American in Paris. I'm Rebecca Brannan. And I'm Tiffany Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. Ballet is a very popular art form in America. Not a lot of people really know that much about it, but they all love the image of the ballerina in pointe shoes. That's true. It seems like every little girl wants to take dance classes and be a ballerina. And because of that, there are thousands of community productions of the Nutcracker, for instance, the most popular Christmas ballet, every holiday season throughout the country. That's true. But it wasn't always like that. In the mid-20th century, the 40s and 50s, there wasn't that much ballet in America. The choreographer George Balanchine was really responsible for bringing ballet to America in a more mainstream way, largely with televised productions of his famous version of the Nutcracker. But in the 40s and 50s, before Balanchine and his Nutcracker, there weren't a lot of professional ballet companies in America. But one place where people could see ballet was in the movies. The concept of a ballet film now is a behind-the-scenes look at life in a ballet company, and particularly the unbalanced psyche of the ballerina. That's not a new idea. It was really introduced by the 1948 film The Red Shoes, which is very famous. Right. And while that is a classic film, it's British. An American film from the time would never have been that disturbing. But more on that later. Speaking of The Red Shoes, famous American dancer Gene Kelly was actually inspired by that British ballet drama to create his own balletic masterpiece, which would be an American in Paris. This movie is from 1951, but don't let that scare you. It's just as vibrant and entertaining now as it was when it won six Academy Awards. It's a timeless story. After World War II, an ex-GI, Gerry Mulligan, decides to stay in Paris because he's an aspiring painter. So he thinks, where better to paint than Paris? He lives in a really small flat, and one of his best friends and next-door neighbors is Adam, a concert pianist who defines himself as the world's oldest child prodigy. Gerry Mulligan's played by Gene Kelly, of course. And Oscar Levant, who is a famous pianist in real life, plays the very droll Adam. Another character we soon encounter is an old friend of Adam's. His name is Henri, and he's this famous French singer. He's a bit of an older gentleman. It's a young middle age, but he's a very popular performer, and he's very excited to tell his old friend and former accompanist, Adam, about this girl with whom he's in love, Lise. He describes what a lovely young lady she is. Meanwhile, Gerry has never really sold a painting until a very wealthy, sophisticated American woman named Milo comes along and decides that she likes his painting and him. He soon realizes that she's interested in a lot more than his artistic work, and he tries to tell her he doesn't want anything like that. But he can't turn down her offer to help him set up his own studio and a showing. He has a suspicion that she's stuck on him, but he tries to keep her at a distance. Meanwhile, he meets a very beautiful young French girl in a cafe, and then he has to go and visit her at a perfume shop, and soon they find themselves falling in love. Little do they know that each has a secret life that he does not want the other person to know about, because she is the girl who is engaged to Henri, and he doesn't tell her about Milo and her claims on him. So can they find a way to be together without breaking up the good situations they have with these other people? The cast is just star-studded. Of course, it stars Gene Kelly, a great film tap dancer and singer, and Lise Caron, who was a classically trained French ballerina, in her debut performance. Oscar Levant, of course, is a droll Adam, the pianist, and Georges Guitare, who was really a French singer, this is his only American movie, plays Henri. Milo is played by an actress named Nina Foch, and it was directed by the great Vincent Minelli and produced by Arthur Freed, who produced some of the greatest musicals of the era at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, where this film was made. Interestingly, even though Gene Kelly does not get any directorial credit on this film, like he did in Singing in the Rain the next year, he did direct many parts of it. That's right, and of course he choreographed it. That's right. Because Vincent Minelli was going through a divorce at the time, and he was busy away from the set a lot, Gene Kelly took over, and he commandeered directing a lot of the sequences. I think that could be why it has a very unusual, sometimes almost modern look. I think Gene Kelly had a very unique directing style, which you don't see from a lot of directors of the period, sort of ahead of his time. Speaking of Academy Awards, we mentioned earlier, this movie was very successful at the Academy Awards. That's right. It was nominated for eight, and it won six. And some of the ones it won included Best Picture. It was a surprise winner of Best Picture, because musicals don't usually win, you know? Absolutely. They're not usually appreciated really in the same way. The Academy likes dramas and things that are kind of edgy, but because it was so unusual and sort of ahead of its time, it was kind of a groundbreaking movie, and I think that's why it got the attention of the Oscars. Yes, and it beat out two dramas that were expected to win. A Streetcar Named Desire, a Warner Brothers drama based on the famous play, and A Place in the Sun. But in came an American in Paris, and it won. And it also won Best Director for Vincent Minelli, Best Costume Design Color for Ori Kelly. And there's some beautiful costumes. Best Set Direction Color, Best Art Direction Color. It's very interesting. A lot of awards that are now just one were actually split into two for black and white and for color, because they were both very prevalent in that era. And Best Scoring. There were different categories besides there was Best Original Score and Best Scoring. And this was not an original score, but it won because it's great scoring. And then the final Academy Award it won was an Honorary Award for Gene Kelly. Really? Yes. It was in recognition for his great achievements as an actor, singer, director, and dancer. Particularly for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film. That's quite an honor, isn't it? Yes. You don't hear that kind of an award very often. No. You talked about the scoring. It's a composite musical. Right. It's called the Jukebox Musical. They're all old songs. That was done quite a lot then, wouldn't you say? Yes, it was. But I have to say it's kind of unusual in that it is 100% jukebox. Because Singing in the Rain, for instance, is mostly jukebox, but they wrote two new songs. But this is entirely pop music, but all by George and Ira Gershwin. Right. And Arthur Freed, the producer, actually bought the Gershwin catalog from Ira Gershwin. Right. Because George had passed on by this point. Yes, he died in 1937. But originally Arthur Freed just wanted to buy the American in Paris Suite, which was the great classical piece that's featured in the film. But Ira wouldn't sell it to him unless he promised to use all Gershwin music in the rest of the film and making it a musical. So he ended up buying the whole catalog. And there are so many great Gershwin standards in this movie. If you're familiar with The Great American Songbook, a lot of them aren't even sung. You just hear them in interdouble music, and it's all these famous melodies. There are 15 Gershwin songs in this movie, not counting the two classical sequences, the American in Paris Ballet and the Concerto in F, which is another classical sequence. So there are 17 pieces in all. And if you dig a little deeper, you'll see that there were like three or four other pieces that are outtakes. They're actually recordings of them, just audio. And I think there's film of one of them on some special edition. It's just like they just recorded every Gershwin song they had because they had the whole catalog trying to figure out what worked best. I was really struck by that listening to the soundtrack the other day. There were all these songs on here that are not in the movie. Gene Kelly saying, I've Got a Crush on You. Yeah, I've heard that recording. And Georges Guiterre had a few others, like more songs than he has in the movie. He really has that main one in the movie. Stairway to Paradise. Yeah, Stairway to Paradise. This movie is very unique within the category of musicals. Even firstly, it's so dance-centered. Yes. I'd really call it more of a dance film even than a musical. And also, it is Wish My Cola bursting into song musical. Right. There weren't as many of those in movies at the time. Looking at even the performers in other films, like Gene Kelly, in Singing in the Rain or a lot of things, a lot of times he played an actor or a dancer. Leslie Caron was usually playing a dancer in her other films. With the exception of Henri, who is supposed to be a singer. Right, and Oscar Levesque. Of course. But the two leads, Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron's characters, are not supposed to be actors, singers, or dancers. She's just an average French girl, and he's a painter. Well, she doesn't sing, but he sings and dances, and she dances. And it's just woven into the story in sort of the way that Broadway musicals are done. But Broadway musicals can often be sort of stagy, especially when put to film, take somewhere like Oklahoma or Carousel. It's not like that. It's not, oh, now I'm going to sing about this thing I'm doing. It's because it's a jukebox musical. Right. It's just a love song. They're not that specific to the film. That's true. So as a result, it's so joyous to watch because it just seems like everyone in it is so happy and in love that they're just singing because they're glad or dancing. It's almost like a ballet in that. Yes. The dialogue that is in it is brilliant, but it is sparser than a lot of films, and it's very much song and movement based. There's a routine with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. Their first dance together, he sings, Our love is here to stay, and then they just kind of start moving together. They're not even touching at first. That's an amazing style. You see Fred Astaire, another great dancer of the era, used the same style of sometimes they'll be leading the girl and she'll be moving with them, and they're not even making physical contact, and that's such an amazing thing to see two dancers doing. You can see their breathing and rhythm. Fred Astaire was first considered for this film. Really? He was another stock player at MGM at the time, but ultimately they decided Gene Kelly would be better because he had a more balletic style. That's definitely true. I can see that, especially opposite her. I think people have certain notions about who looks like a ballet dancer, what body types. Fred Astaire being thinner, I think people would think, oh, he looks more like a ballet dancer, but as you'll see in a few movies when he does do more ballet type, it's not as natural for him. He was a tap dancer and a ballroom dancer, which is very different, but Gene Kelly described himself as he looked like a truck driver, but as we found in ballet dancers we know, men who are stockier and even a little shorter, although he was about the same height as Fred Astaire, when they're stockier and more muscular, they're great at partnering, and there is some amazing ballet partnering in this because he's strong. He can just lift so effortlessly. The kind of partnering that, if anyone is watching it who's not acquainted really with ballet or dancing, will just look at it. It doesn't look like lifting her over his head with one hand. It doesn't even look that impressive, but it looks beautiful and if you know, just holding her right here with one arm against him, that takes so much just strength and control and also just kind of counterbalances. So amazing control of all that. Definitely. There are lots of great numbers in this musical. Lots of really fun ones that are just seamlessly integrated, like I've Got Rhythm is one of the best ones. Yeah, that's probably, I want to say, the most famous. Yeah, it's one of Gene Kelly's most famous tap dances. I know it was featured in That's Entertainment from 1974, which was of course a compilation of the greatest music and dance scenes from movies. Yes. And Frank Sinatra, the famous singer who hosted that, referred to An American in Paris as the greatest musical of all time. You heard it from Frank. That's the best. And the I Got Rhythm number is so charming because he sings it and dances it along with all these little French children by this flower shop out on the street. And he's like teaching them different words in English and then he just goes right into the song and then he starts showing them different dance steps. And then there are little references to other things, like he does a cowboy and one of the children says, Hop Along Cassidy, which was of course a very popular, was it a television show at the time? Yeah, it was an early television show. Or you know if it says Charlie Chaplin, the famous silent film actor. And the children call out Charlotte because that was the name of the little tramp in France. Really? They called him Charlotte. So that's actually a little geographical accuracy there, so a few points for MGM for being accurate there. And some other great ones are Melody by Strauss, Tra-La-La, which they sing. There are so many good numbers. Yes, I really love the Tra-La-La or This Time It's Really Love number because it's between Gene Kelly and Oscar Levant. He's playing the piano and then Gene comes in and he's so happy and he's just like hit the boulevard. He's being kind of grouchy but he insists on coming in and telling him how happy he is because he's falling in love and pretty soon he's dancing on and around the piano. They're singing together and Gene's tinkering on the piano too. And it's just, it looks like two friends just kind of goofing around. But on the other hand, you can see it's really beautifully choreographed and rehearsed. Yes. And really shows off his versatility. I love how often he's walking down the street and you hear that theme. The American in Paris theme. They use the themes of American in Paris scoring in the background. So it definitely deserved its best score. The scoring is amazing, the way all these themes are woven in and the use of leitmotifs, which is of course characters having themes, whenever, or not every time, but a lot of time when Jerry and Lise are together, it plays Our Love is Here to Stay because that was sort of their first song together. Yes. And when you first see Henri, he just sings a little bit of Nice Work If You Can Get It, just like one phrase, but that becomes his musical theme if you listen to the scoring. He didn't end up singing the whole thing in the movie, but that's his theme. There's an outtake of him singing the whole song, but yes, it didn't make the cut. Of course, we can't talk about this movie without talking about the ballet sequence, the 16-minute ballet, which is at the climax of the film. And as a result of which, the film has no dialogue for the last 20 minutes. And you don't even think about it until you read that fact on IMDb. It's like, wow, now that you say that, there isn't any dialogue. Because there's a few minutes before, there's no talking. Just a little bit afterwards. Just a kind of classic Hollywood ending right after. And nothing is said. It ends like a ballet. Exactly. But aside from just the brilliance of the ballet itself, which could be talked about for days, I think its place in the film is so fascinating. It's just unlike anything else. Because extended dance scenes in other films of the era, or even later ones, usually, they're in context in some way. There are some other great ones by Gene Kelly. Slaughter on 10th Avenue, and Words and Music. Or the Broadway Melody Ballet, and Singing in the Rain. Or Fred Astaire did some girl hunt. And they're all usually within the context of a performance, or in Singing in the Rain, in a movie. Right. This is just, it's like a dream sequence, or a fantasy sequence, with not even that much explanation. I guess it's sort of Jerry's fantasy. And it's not the story of the movie exactly replicated in ballet. It has its own separate story. You could perform that. It would be hard to do without special effects of film. But arguably, that could stand alone as its own little work. Little chamber ballet. Little chamber ballet, yes. And both of us have written our own ballets. We really appreciate seeing... It's just the kind of thing we like to do. Taking a piece of music, and seeing how he took the cues from the music to formulate the story that he tells. Yes. And so it just kind of exists for itself, and for art's sake. And it's this, sort of the pinnacle of the film. And it's just so amazing. And then the blending of styles, just speaking about the work itself, is amazing. You've got Lesley Cajon. Most of the time, she's in pointe shoes. But then every time she changes a costume, of course, she has different types of shoes. Whether they're just different colored pointe shoes, or sometimes she's wearing these little dance sandals, or just little flat shoes. There are other girls in pointe shoes. Particularly, there are ladies in red who have very white makeup. And you can really see the red shoes inspiration there. They have that sort of British look. It's like The Red Shoes, which is... The Red Shoes is a performance, supposedly. And so it's kind of annoying that there are many obvious times where she jumps in and shoes appear on her feet. There are things that there's no way you could do on stage. Yes, that's always frustrating. So for realists, it's kind of frustrating. But this was a dream sequence. You can do anything you want in your dreams. And Gene Kelly takes full advantage of that. Now, he was very much inspired by The Red Shoes. He wanted to make it his answer to The Red Shoes. Right. But he made it better. I like it so much better than The Red Shoes. It's really beautiful and dynamic. And like you said, it's not just ballet. Red Shoes is basically just ballet. There's tap. There's jazz. There's French movement. Inspiration for paintings. Part of it is inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec, because it's also highlighting he's an artist. Yes, every background that you see in the sequence is supposed to represent a different style or a different type of French art. Right. Of course, in the scene beforehand, he's drawing this little sketch. And then it falls down into the street. He tears it up, but then the pieces come together. And that is the first backdrop when the ballet starts. And then it's a sketch, and then it turns to color. And as is so often the case with some of these great numbers, it wasn't in the original production idea. And actually, one of the biggest reasons why they added it was that Nina Foch, who was playing Milo, got a bad case of chicken pox during production. That's right. So she wasn't able to film for a long time. And even when she was, they had to try to cover up with makeup. And because of that, what are we going to do? We need her. So they ended up changing the end of the film a little and say, well, how can we take up some time? And they actually have this long ballet. They actually took some time off production to rehearse it and get it ready. Is that right? Yes, they rehearsed that for six months and spent a month filming it. That's a long time back then, because they were making movies in a couple of months. They spent half a million dollars making that. And that's half a million dollars in 1951 money. Yeah. That's a lot. And you can see every dollar and every second put into it, because it is just so amazing. Seriously, you need to see this. Yeah, even if you don't watch the film, go on YouTube and just look up the American and Paris ballet sequence. I guarantee you'll want to watch the movie, especially if, say, you're a ballet dancer. Yes. Pro, semi-pro, amateur. If you like ballet or dancing in general, you're going to like this number. All of us in the modern dance world, there is this modern and contemporary styles have started to come in more and more. And this is just such a perfect, gorgeous example of bringing in more modern styles and blending styles, but it's still everything about it is beautiful, because beauty gets lost so often in modern dance, I think. And from my personal experience, from when I worked at a ballet company, we had a very kind of jazz ballet style. The choreographer, and I know he took a lot of inspiration from old movies, but just like, you look at like, that's the wrong way to do it. And this is just so right. You know, I don't know if it's partly just in the time when it was made, people had such an appreciation of art and Gene Kelly with his real tap and jazz experience in it. And also that it's so passionate and so romantic, but it's never suggestive. Yes. And even some of the positions could have the potential to look kind of suggestive, but even just where he places her against him when he's holding her makes all the difference. Yes. And having Leslie Caron was such an important step, if you will, because the Red Shoes featured several real ballet dancers. That's right. The leading lady was Moira Shearer from the Royal Ballet, or the Sadler's Wells at the time. Right. Which is now the Royal Ballet. So she was a British ballerina, and she proved she was a great actress. And she went on to make more movies. Leslie Caron was a French ballerina. That's right. She danced with a company by Roland Petit, who was a very famous choreographer at the time in Paris. Who interestingly was in the Red Shoes. Yes, he was. And she danced with the Ballet des Champs-Elysées. That was his troupe at the time. And Gene Kelly discovered her. Her mother was a ballerina, actually an American ballerina. And so she knew a little English, but she couldn't really speak it. And she had no idea who Gene Kelly was. He and his wife were in France and he saw her and he said, I want to hire you. And she's like, who's this guy? She didn't. She'd never seen one of his movies. And he convinced her to come to America. And she wasn't really good with speaking English. So she sort of learned her lines phonetically. And of course, she eventually learned to speak English. And that was the beginning of a seven-year movie contract for her. She made many successful films after that. But she gets to shine as a dancer, I'd say, and as a ballerina, particularly in these two numbers. Her opening number, which really, it's not a singing number. It's during a sort of another fantasy sequence when Henri is telling his friend Adam about his girl. And you hear the music to My Sweet Embraceable You in the background. And she's dancing in all these different styles. He's like, oh, she's such a sweet girl. And then she's like, has a little pink dress. And then, oh, she's vivacious and modern. She's doing the Charleston. Or she's very exciting. And there's this more jazzy part when she's in little sandals. And she's dancing with this chair. Then she's sweet and shy. She has a little bouquet and another longer skirt. She reads incessantly. And she's doing the splits, reading a book. She does a little walkover. That's showing off how flexible she was. And her gymnastic ability, even. She's got the sort of Paris left bank look with the black pants. And then finally, her little tutu. In the 50s, this is a very popular style. Really small tutu, but kind of poofy right around here. And then, of course, every outfit has matching colored pointe shoes. That's something you see in old movies. And why is it not done more in professional ballet now? I don't know if it was done a lot at the time in real ballet companies. I don't think so. Probably not, because pointe shoes die so quickly. Their shelf life is so short. You can't wear them for more than 15 hours. So I guess it's too expensive. But the way they made them in their dyed satin, it's beautiful. And that's something we always do in our shows. We paint the shoes. But I'm always envious of how it looks when it's actually made from satin of that color. And it matches the costumes perfectly. It's just fabulous. And it's great to see Leslie Caron in this movie. But knowing she went through a lot of challenges to do it. Like Moira Shearer, she was used to dancing on a sprung stage. A floor made for dancing. You get ready. You go out and perform in front of a live audience. And you're done. Even if you have two shows a day. That's what it is. Instead of hours dancing on cement. Do it again. Because of filming. And in the ballet sequence, I understand the floors were painted a lot of times. For the right look. And so they're slippery. Yeah. But it doesn't show at all. She's just floating on air. That's probably why it took them a month to film it. It's not that long. But all the background details. Oh, there's so much background detail. And there are so many moving parts. Yes. There's a lot of background dancers. There are these four fellows who do a tap number with Gene Kelly. You know he worked them to be exactly in sync with him. Because he was a taskmaster. Yes. But he was hard on himself too. So you have to give him that. He wasn't just a mean director who sat in his chair and said, Do it again. He was out there doing it again too. It's hard being a perfectionist. We both know. Because we are too. It's hard. And all the other people in the cast hated him by the end. But it's a great movie. Hopefully it was worth it to them in the long run. And another scene that I love in that movie. Is the other classical music sequence. The concerto in F. And it's another dream sequence. Just for the sake of art. It's amazing that with all the songs that they cut. That they left the scene in. And I'm so, so happy that they did. And the film is still under two hours. Yeah. Very impressive. But it's really Oscar LaVance's moment to shine. Because he was a personal friend of Arthur Freed. And Vincent Minnelli. He was also a personal friend of George Gershwin. That's right. He was in the biopic about him. Called Rhapsody in Blue. In the late 40s. Which kind of restarted the composer biopic trend. Because he was a friend of his. Yeah. And he played himself in that. And he also overdubbed the piano for that. Because he was an amazing pianist. Like Gershwin. The actor playing George Gershwin couldn't really play the piano, right? No. He just acted the part. But Gershwin didn't live that long. He wasn't that old when he died. It was in his late 30s. So consider how much more he could have done. If he lived as long as like Bernstein did. Yeah. But in his life, he wrote three really famous classical works of music. That are just instrumental. American in Paris. The Rhapsody in Blue. That's so famous. And the Concerto in F. It's like 34 minutes. And it's a tribute to New York. As an American in Paris is a tribute to Paris. That's right. And in this, it's the third movement of this three movement. So the final movement. And in it, Adam is imagining his great debut in a concert hall. Playing the piano. At first, you just see him playing the piano. But then you realize. He is also playing all the strings. All the other instruments. He's conducting. He's the audience. He's so bravo. Yeah, he loves himself. It's really. It's funny. But beyond that. It's there. They took some cuts in it. If you know the piece really well. Like we do. It was all right. They took a cut. But they're really good cuts. Because they played it live. So. But you see his amazing piano technique. He's so energetic. And it's just. It's such a fabulous piece of music. And it's very close to our hearts. And I love that they included that. Art for art's sake. It's just beautiful. It's classical music. It's exciting. And much like in Rhapsody in Blue. That they played the whole Rhapsody in Blue. That's right. Like this. We're going to spend nine minutes and play Rhapsody in Blue. Just play it really fast. But I love that they would dedicate some time to ballet. And opera. And classical music. Yes. But making it so palatable. And if you look now at all the ballet companies. And opera companies. They're all trying to bring in the modern audiences. And bring in young people. Make it palatable. Make it relatable. Make it entertaining. And they had it down in old Hollywood. They knew what they were doing. My reason for saying. Making the claim that George Gershwin is the greatest American composer of all time. Is honestly the way that he could do it all. Yes. He wrote some of the greatest great American songbook standards. That are so lastingly famous. And also wrote these gorgeous classical pieces. And he wrote an opera. Porgy and Bess. Two operas. Yeah. That's the more famous. Blue Monday. That's right. But of course Porgy and Bess is the most famous. Sadly. The music from it. Summertime and I Loves You Porgy. Have become sort of jazz standards. Which I think is unfortunate. Because they're really not supposed to be that. It bugs me as an opera singer. To hear a bunch of jazz singers singing it. Oftentimes very poorly. But I appreciate that they love the music. Yes. And he's just so lastingly famous. I mean I feel like if you're alive. You've probably heard some theme by Gershwin somewhere. Even if you don't know what it's called. You don't know his name. You didn't know that's what it was. If you've flown United Airlines recently. You've heard Rhapsody in Blue. It's on their new safety demonstration. Which I was very glad to hear. It's amazing. And they play it in like all the different styles. Different countries. About going different places. And I thought good for you. For showing people classical music. I wanted to share that I saw just a YouTube comment. On Rhapsody in Blue. And somebody said I'm a classic rock fan. I don't really like classical music that much. But this is the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard. There you go. And it's a movie like this. Which at the time maybe people were more jazz fans. And they didn't necessarily like classical music. But a movie like this could get them interested in it. Yes. And also ballet. Yes. It really showcases the classical arts. Now about American in Paris. What was that piece? George Gershwin wrote that in the 1920s. And it was about the jazz age in Paris. Which was called Les Années Follées. Which means the crazy years. So that's like the roaring 20s in America. And some people at the time. A couple of critics. Said that they were disappointed that it wasn't set in the jazz age. Because that's what Gershwin was trying to evoke with the music. But I have to disagree. Because I think the roaring 20s. The jazz age. Les Années Follées. That was a reaction to World War I. Many Americans did stay in Europe. And they were called the lost generation. People like F. Scott Fitzgerald. They were lost and wayward after they were. They left America. They went to France. And to fight in the war. And there was even a popular song at the time. How are you going to keep them happy? Down on the farm after they've seen Paris. And that's what that was all about. But by 1951. Another world war had happened. World War II had again brought a group of Americans to Paris. And I think it wouldn't have been appropriate. And it wouldn't have spoken to that generation. To talk about the jazz age. Sometime before the Great Depression. Before World War II. They could relate to an ex-GI. Who went to Europe and decided to stay there. That was relatable for the time. That's very important. Yeah, they could have made a good jazz age film. But they did. The next year. Singing in the rain. I think just enjoy it for what it is. Don't try to make it something else. And speaking of the jazz age. People often will comment on. Put it in the more conservative 1950s. The post-war era. And it's definitely worth noting. As we talked about. How modest and restrained. Beautiful, romantic. But not suggestive choreography was the time. And that's really a reflection of the era. And how things worked then. At the time. Hollywood was being sort of guided. By an association called the PCA. Or the Production Code Administration. And they enforced the Motion Picture Production Code. Which was first put in place in 1930. But was not observed until 1934. When the PCA was started. Headed by Joseph I. Breen. And they helped Hollywood. To adhere to the guidelines of the code. Which made all films reasonably acceptable. To reasonable people. And that helped them avoid censorship. Because there were censor boards. All over the country and the world. Which would just hack films to pieces. With the code. They were made properly in the first place. And they didn't have to cut them. And everybody could go to see every movie. And you'll see if you read. About the trivia of this film. They'll talk about the censors. This and the censors that. When they say that they're talking about the PCA. They shouldn't call them censors. Because they weren't censors. They were self-regulated. And it was rather than just a censor giving orders. It was a collaboration. And the points which are often mentioned in that regard. Are the one plot issue that they say is problematic. Of they're both being kept. Now I think you're reading a lot into that. If you're saying that either Lise or Jerry. Is being kept by one of the other people. Milo. You can tell she's an older woman who's interested in him. Similar to situations in the earlier film. Sunset Boulevard. Where an aging actress is very obviously keeping a young writer. It's made clear in this movie. Maybe that's what she's hoping for. But several times when he thinks that's what she wants. He's like okay I'm leaving. He makes it very clearly. He knows that she's interested in him. And it's starting to make him uncomfortable. But he is vehemently trying to say. That's not the kind of situation we have. A cleaning woman is like. So what if you have to make love to the lady? It's for art. He's like I don't have to make love. Forget it. And you can tell it bothers him. Whenever someone suggests that. Because he has suspicion that that's what she has in mind. Eventually maybe she'd even like to marry him again. Because she's divorced. That's probably what she has in mind. And yeah she might be a little older than he is. But probably not. And I think she just she's lonely. She likes to have a young man with her. Her friend references there was a sculptor. And one other young sort of young artist. She has a lot of money. And struggling young artists need money. So it seems to work out. And you can tell she's very. She does seem lonely and bored. And she's kind of emotional about him. But the other situation with Lise. Now in no way is she being kept by Henri. She obviously has a profession. She works at a perfume shop. And she says he took care of her during the war. When she was a little girl. Because her parents worked for the resistance. Then she moved away when it was on her own. And then now that she's a woman. They became in love. They became in love as he says. Yes. And she's not really in love with him. She's very grateful to him. She cares about him. And she feels indebted to him. But not to spoil the film. When he realizes that she loves another man. He gladly sends her to Jerry. Because he realizes he doesn't want her to marry him out of gratitude. He really thought that they were mutually in love. Because he loves her very purely. And you can see he's a very sweet person. He's a very honorable gentleman. He would never marry her. He would never want her to do something she didn't want to. He wouldn't want to force anything on her. Nor would he compromise her. So some people might not like that. He's obviously older than she is. But not as much as he's supposed to be. The actor was two years younger than Gene Kelly. Yeah. Now definitely he's older than Leslie Cachon. Who was 19 at the time. But they made his hair great. If you really look at him. And he has kind of a high voice. You know he really isn't that old. So for those of you who might be bothered by an age difference. There isn't really that much of an age difference. You don't have to worry about it. They wanted Maurice Chevalier. The very famous French singer and actor. But he wasn't making too many movies in America by that point after the war. So it didn't work out. Well I think it's funny. There are kind of two different stories of what it was. He said he didn't want to play this kind of older second lead. Who didn't get the girl. And they said they didn't want him because of his political leanings. So who knows what the real reason was. The studio and the actor are different stories. But one of the great things. Not brought about. But definitely helped along by the code. Was the amazing fashion of old movies. Yes. Decent. But glamorous and beautiful. Just like we were saying about choreography really. With given the guidelines. You have to focus on it being beautiful. Instead of being provocative or something. My outfit. Which I'm very proud of. Because it's one of the best recreations we've done I think. Is inspired by the outfit Lise wears. When she has to tell Jerry that they can't be together. Because she's engaged to someone else. Just like I have. She has a little green sweater. With a black and white polka dot scarf. A black pencil skirt. And the patent leather belt and shoes. Which are a staple of 1950s fashion. She doesn't wear a hat. Really any time other than in some of her dance costumes. But since my personal style is to always wear a hat. I chose this beret. Which is also a staple of Paris fashion. My outfit is inspired by Milo's fashion. Since it's more glamorous and sophisticated. In the first scene in which you see her. She's wearing a two-piece suit like this. Hers is dark grey. With a blouse. But I'm wearing olive green. Because she has another dress. In a different scene which has a similar tone. With the draped blouse. Which is very evocative of her style. And glamorous pearls. Because she's a very wealthy lady. A lot of people when asked the question. What's your favorite movie? Have a difficult time answering. It's so hard to pick out of the plethora of films available. What's your favorite? But I actually have an answer for that question. And it is An American in Paris. Why is it your favorite? Well pretty much everything we've said today. I mean I don't know how much more I can say. But one thing I always cite. One point is there are a lot of great musicals. That we love from the classic era. And there's always like. Oh I really love this number. I really love this number. I can't pick a number from this movie I don't like. Every musical number in it is just golden. Every one is beautiful. And charming in its own way. I love the way ballet is featured in it. Like you said. I think it showcases the ballet in a way no other film does. The featuring of this little kind of standalone ballet. It's just so near to my heart. Because that's the kind of thing I love to do. I've taken inspiration from a lot of this choreography. For my own work. I really love Gene Kelly. And you know we were very inspired by a lot of Gene Kelly numbers. When I was working with my first dance partner. Because he was sort of a similar type. And I just I like to see someone. Who isn't like the standard physical type of a dancer. Especially the fellows who are a little shorter and stockier. Because you encounter a lot of them. And I know they often like Gene Kelly. They feel like they look like truck drivers. But it's really nice to see that. Because there's a great physicality. He looks like a regular fellow. And yes. Wearing like the short the t-shirt. Yes. But very stylish. It's very attractive. And the story is very classic. It's sort of like a ballet story. Like you said. What more is there to say? It's such a great movie. And I think that young people. Who aren't classic film fans at all. Could really enjoy this movie. Especially if they are ballet dancers. Or they have dance theatrical experience. Particularly dance. Because it's just a love letter to ballet. And it features so much great music. Real ballet with Leslie Caron. Other types of dance. Like tap. Jazz. If you love ballet. You're gonna like this movie. And I think it could really make you want to watch other classic movies. With these same great dancers. And great actors. I have a friend who's my current dance partner. And he actually makes short films. And he's an avid classic movie fan, of course. And when I saw one of his movies. I could tell he loved An American in Paris. Because there were some nice little references to it. And it's great to see how it's still inspiring people. And in more of a mainstream way too. Because the La La Land. I understand a lot of inspiration from it. Yeah, there are references to it in La La Land. And of course, a few years back. There was a Broadway musical, An American in Paris. Yes, there was. Featured some of the same music. There were some other Gershwin pieces also. And it's a very different story. People might know it because of that. But if you're familiar with that. You've got to watch the movie. Because it's just so much better. Yeah, I haven't seen the musical. But we did watch the An American in Paris ballet sequence. Choreographed by Christopher Wheldon. Who's a ballet choreographer. Whom I like. But he should have left this one alone. Because he's not Gene Kelly. You just can't compete with how he created it. It's just so beautiful. It's so great. And it's a product of its time. So all we can do is enjoy. And be inspired to do our own original things by it. I think any dancer would be extremely inspired by this. If you need a little inspiration in your dancing. Definitely watch this. Yeah, remind us why we like dancing. And why we like choreography. Thankfully, because this movie is very popular. It's not hard to find at all. You can buy or rent it for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. YouTube. Google Play. Anywhere that you can rent or buy films for streaming. You'll be able to find An American in Paris. It's also available on DVD from Amazon. Walmart. Sometimes eBay. Barnes & Noble. Wherever you buy DVDs. You can find old VHSs on eBay. Because it is popular. And if you know how to look, you can find films even for free online. Yeah, I always like to say this. But it's so easy to find classic films. Like, you wouldn't believe it. It's just, they're right at your fingertips. All you have to do is look. That's right. A lot of people don't like musicals. As a matter of fact, some people hate musicals with a passion. And I think that some people think all old movies are musicals. Like, I've had people make references. Like, they were all musicals, right? They all are like a bunch of singing and dancing. Not at all. There definitely were more than there are now. But there are so many movies that have nothing to do with music. That's right. And if you are one of the people who doesn't like musicals, never fear. There are some good films we can recommend for you too. For instance, if you're a literary fan. If you like classic novels and dramatic stories. The film we're going to discuss next week is a 1940s intense drama that's full of mystery, as well as being an excellent adaptation of a classic Victorian novel. Thank you for watching. We'll see you next time. Goodbye.