An American in Paris (1951) |
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An American in Paris Cast |
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Movie Highlights |
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Other InformationAwardsBest Director Golden Globes [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy Golden Globes [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical Golden Globes [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Best Written American Musical Writers Guild of America, USA [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Cinematography, Color Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Costume Design, Color Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Film Editing Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Best Film from any Source BAFTA Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Picture Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Won) Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Academy Awards [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Grand Prize of the Festival Cannes Film Festival [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Directors Guild of America, USA [1952] (Won/Nominated: Nominated) Plot SummaryGene Kelly does his patented Pal Joey bit as Jerry Mulligan, an opportunistic American painter living in Paris` "starving artists" colony. He is discovered by wealthy Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), who becomes Jerry`s patroness in more ways than one. Mean... TaglineAdventures Of An Ex-Gi In The City Of Romance. Arts Students` Biggest Ball, Most Daring Ever Filmed. Screen`s Most Spectacular Musical! What a joy! It`s M-G-M`s Technicolor musical! DiscographySinglesThird Movement from `Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra` An American in Paris Ballet By Strauss Embraceable You I Got Rhythm I`ll Build a Stairway to Paradise Nice Work if You Can Get It Our Love Is Here To Stay Strike Up the Band Tra-la-la (this time is really love) `S Wonderful |
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Full Cast and Crew |
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Actor CreditsNon Actor Credits |
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Fans |
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Trivia |
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Trivia and QuotesQuotes Adam Cook: It`s not a pretty face, I grant you, but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character. Adam Cook: I`m a concert pianist. That`s a pretentious way of saying I`m... unemployed at the moment. Jerry Mulligan: 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: She`s one of those third year girls who gripe my liver...You know, American college kids. They come over here to take their third year and lap up a little culture...They`re officious and dull. They`re always making profound observations they`ve overheard.
Jerry Mulligan: That`s... quite a dress you almost have on.
Milo Roberts: Thanks.
Jerry Mulligan: What holds it up?
Milo Roberts: Modesty. Jerry Mulligan: This is Paris, and I`m an American who lives here. My name is Jerry Mulligan, and I`m an ex G.I. In 1945 when the army told me to find my own job, I stayed on. And I`ll tell you why: I`m a painter, and all my life that`s all I`ve ever wanted to do. Lise Bouvier: Jerry, if it means anything to you, I love you.Trivia A major reason Gene Kelly suggested Leslie Caron as the female lead was because he felt this movie needed a "real" French girl playing Lise, not just an American actress playing one.
Oscar Levant and Gene Kelly both grew up in Pittsburgh. Kelly appeared in a Cap and Gown show at the University of Pittsburgh whose music was written by Oscar`s talented musical brother, Benjamin, who went on to become a urologist. Oscar Levant`s dream sequence may be a tribute to Buster Keaton. In the opening sequence of The Playhouse (1921), Keaton also played every role - conductor, every member of the orchestra, stage hand, all nine actors on stage, and each member of the audience. Producer Arthur Freed wanted Marge Champion to star in this movie, but at the time Champion didn`t want to break up her dance act with her husband Gower Champion. So she persuaded Freed that he should cast a French girl in the role instead. The movie was named as one of "The 20 Most Overrated Movies Of All Time" by Premiere. A scene in which Gene Kelly dances and sings "I`ve Got a Crush on You" while in his pajamas was filmed but did not make final cut. Kelly created a similar number with the song "All I Do Is Dream of You" for his next movie musical, Singin` in the Rain (1952), and it also ended up on the cutting room floor.
Arthur Freed originally just wanted to buy the rights to the Gershwin number "American in Paris," but Ira Gershwin made the condition that he`d only sell on the condition that if a musical were to use the song, it would use only Gershwin numbers as its other songs. Despite the objections of Gene Kelly who wanted to shoot on location in Paris, the movie was shot at MGM Studios in California, on 44 sets built for the film. It was reportedly difficult for the studio to secure travel arrangements or locations for shooting. Two shots in the picture are from Paris, but they don`t involve Kelly. Even though Vincente Minnelli is credited as the sole director, he was sometimes tied up with his divorce from Judy Garland and other directing projects, leaving Gene Kelly to take over the directing duties. Gene Kelly discovered Leslie Caron while vacationing in Paris where he saw her perform in a ballet. Leslie Caron had suffered from malnutrition during WWII and was not used to the rigorous schedule of filming a movie. Because she would tire so easily, she was only able to work every other day. Oscar Levant, more of a pianist than an actor, signed onto the film because he was actually a friend of George Gershwin. The 17-minute dance sequence at the end took a month to film. It cost half a million dollars. The ballet sequence was almost cut because the shooting was behind schedule, but MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer stood by Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly in withholding the release of the movie because he felt the movie wouldn`t be effective without it. Vincente Minnelli first wanted Maurice Chevalier in the Georges Guétary part, and `Celeste Holm (I)` in the `Nina Foch` part. But Chevalier wasn`t available; Minnelli was pleased with Foch`s reading, and she got the part. According to Leslie Caron, her introductory dance sequence, which included a seductive dance with a chair, was considered too suggestive by some censors. Gene Kelly directed the brief fantasy dance sequences shown as Lise is introduced. After Arthur Freed and Ira Gershwin reached an agreement during their weekly pool game, film rights to George Gershwin`s "An American in Paris - A Tone Poem for Orchestra" were purchased for $158,750, and Ira received $56,250 as a consultant to write any necessary new lyrics for songs used. Alan Jay Lerner began writing the screenplay in December 1949, and finished it in a 12-hour stretch in March(?) 1949 on the night before his wedding. Cyd Charisse discovered that she was pregnant during pre-production and was replaced by Leslie Caron.
Gene Kelly directed the whole "Embraceable You" sequence. Gene Kelly screened The Red Shoes (1948) for the MGM executives to persuade them to back a dance film. Irene Sharaff designed a style for each of the ballet sequence sets, reflecting various French impressionist painters: `Raoul Dufy` (the Place de la Concorde), Edouard Manet (the flower market), Maurice Utrillo (a Paris street), Henri Rousseau (the fair), `Vincent Van Gogh` (the Place de l`Opera), and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (the Moulin Rouge). The backgrounds took six weeks to build, with 30 painters working nonstop. Three filmed solo numbers were cut from the film: "I`ve Got a Crush on You" (Gene Kelly), and "Love Walked In" and "But Not For Me" (Georges Guétary). Leslie Caron`s first movie. There was a break in production after 1 November 1950, at which point Gene Kelly began rehearsing the ballet choreography. By the time production for that final sequence resumed on 6 December, Vincente Minnelli had finished directing another film - Father`s Little Dividend (1951). This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1993. | ||
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