An American in Paris (Two-Disc Special Edition)

An American in Paris 2-Disc Special Edition (DVD)

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A winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, An American in Paris (1951) was Vincente Minnelli's love letter to the City of Lights and to the music of George Gershwin. Gene Kelly plays Jerry Mulligan, a former American GI trying to make a living in France as an artist after the war. He's taken on by an American patron of the arts (Nina Foch) who has other intentions, but he falls in love with a local girl (Leslie Caron in her debut) who happens to be the intended of a Parisian cabaret performer (Georges Guetary). The music of George and Ira Gershwin sparkles throughout the film, including Kelly and Guetary's ironic duet "'S Wonderful," Kelly's simple ballad "Love Is Here to Stay," Guetary's flamboyant "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," and Kelly's tour-de-force "I Got Rhythm" dance with a bunch of kids. Oscar Levant plays his usual acerbic self as Jerry's friend and pianist, and performs the final movement of the Concerto in F--accompanied by an orchestra of himselves. The movie famously concludes with a 17-minute fantasy ballet set to the tone poem the movie is named after. While its scope and placement might seem a little odd to viewers decades later, it's an elaborate showcase of Kelly's dancing and choreography (he received an honorary Oscar that year for it), and started a trend that would be followed by similar numbers in Singin' in the Rain and Oklahoma! --David Horiuchi