American in Paris

UPC: 883929002481

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Suitable for Children]

Summary: Gene 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. Meanwhile, Jerry plays hookey on this setup by romancing waif-like Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) -- who, unbeknownst to him, is the object of the affections of his close friend Henri (Georges Guetary), a popular nightclub performer. (The film was supposed to make Guetary into "the New Chevalier." It didn't.) The thinnish plot is held together by the superlative production numbers and by the recycling of several vintage George Gershwin tunes, including "I Got Rhythm," "'S Wonderful," and "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Highlights include Guetary's rendition of "Stairway to Paradise"; Oscar Levant's fantasy of conducting and performing Gershwin's "Concerto in F" (Levant also appears as every member of the orchestra); and the closing 17-minute "American in Paris" ballet, in which Kelly and Caron dance before lavish backgrounds based on the works of famed French artists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Musical

Awards: U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress 100 Greatest American Movies – American Film Institute Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null Best Director – null Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Color Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Story and Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Musical Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Musical Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: cc
Theatrical trailer

American in Paris

Format: DVD

Release Date: 01/08/2008

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 114 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- American in Paris
1. Logo / Title / Credits [5:00]
2. Pretentious Pianist [1:12]
3. Nice Work If You Can Get It [1:37]
4. "Coffee, Please!" [2:15]
5. Multifaceted Girl [2:53]
6. Oom Pa Pa / By Strauss [5:27]
7. Two Critics & A Sale [4:00]
8. Hotel Hangings [2:27]
9. I Got Rhythm [5:35]
10. A Party of Two [2:43]
11. Tommy Meets Jerry [3:38]
12. He's Got Her Number [2:39]
13. The Spurned Sponsor [:47]
14. Two Breakfast Calls [2:41]
15. An Encounter Counter [3:24]
16. Tra-La-La [3:48]
17. The Double Dater [3:55]
18. Love Is Here to Stay [6:16]
19. I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise [2:36]
20. All-American News [1:15]
21. I Don't Think I'll Fall In Love Today [1:04]
22. 3rd Movement - Concerto in 'F' [5:18]
23. The Artist at Work [3:58]
24. "Woman Trouble" [3:21]
25. 'S Wonderful [5:18]
26. French Heartbreaker [2:17]
27. Into "Patronal" Arms [1:01]
28. Having an Artsy Ball [2:26]
29. Wedding Announcement [1:46]
30. Rooftop Romance [4:35]
31. American in Paris [16:54]
32. Elated Ending [1:19]

Bruce Eder

Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris set a new standard for the subgenre known as the "songbook" musical. Since the dawn of sound, producers had been attracted to films built around the published output of composers as different as Johann Strauss (The Great Waltz, Waltzes From Vienna), Jerome Kern (Till the Clouds Roll By), Cole Porter (Night and Day), and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (Words and Music). Mostly, the material was strung together, sometimes hooked around a fanciful pseudo-biography of the composer in question, and audiences grinned and bore the plot elements while delighting to the music. An American in Paris was freed of any need to embrace composer George Gershwin as an onscreen figure by virtue of the 1945 screen biography Rhapsody in Blue, in which Robert Alda had portrayed the composer. Rather, Minnelli, Gene Kelly, and screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner simply used the title and the substance of the title work as a jumping-off point for a screen fantasy that happened to utilize much of the major Gershwin song catalog (indeed, the 1992 laserdisc edition, with the unmixed music tracks on the alternate soundtrack, reveals dozens of Gershwin tunes buried in the underscore). Some of the inspiration for the film's 16-minute ballet finale came from the Red Shoes ballet sequence from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 The Red Shoes, while the presence of Leslie Caron, although logical to the plot, originated with some studio executive's notion that the Powell-Pressburger movie had been a hit "because the girl was 'foreign'." Whatever its inspirations and imitations, An American in Paris won seven Academy Awards and box-office success. The overall film (especially the non-musical elements) hasn't worn quite so well over the years, but it was a vital piece of cinema in its time, stretching the envelope of the level of sophistication that a major studio would pursue, and ripping that envelope to shreds with the climactic ballet sequence, which became the model for still more daring sequences in such Hollywood films as Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon and such European imitators as Black Tights and Kelly's own dance extravaganza, Invitation to the Dance. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Cast and Crew: John Eldredge  Actor 
Anna Q. Nilsson  Actor 
Andre Charisse  Actor 
Greg McClure  Actor 
Alex Romero  Actor 
Dick Wessel  Actor 
Alfred Paix  Actor 
Nan Boardman  Actor 
Jeanne Lafayette  Actor 
Ann Codee  Actor 
Noel Neill  Actor 
Don Quinn  Actor 
Hayden Rorke  Actor 
Art Dupuis  Actor 
Madge Blake  Actor 
Mary Jones  Actor 
George Davis  Actor 
Paul Maxey  Actor 
Arthur Freed  Producer 
Alan Jay Lerner  Screenwriter 
Vincente Minnelli  Director 
Gene Kelly  Actor 
Leslie Caron  Actor 
Oscar Levant  Actor 
Georges Guetary  Actor 
Nina Foch  Actor 
Eugene Borden  Actor 
Martha Bamattre  Actor 
Mary Young  Actor 

Country: USA