AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 668, 24 April 1952, Page 21

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

(M.G.M.) T was a good Easter, was it not? Yes, it was-at least, in Wellington. You know what almost always happens’ when school’s out, even for a long weekend: a cold front rolls up from the south, the neon-light district seems to revert temporarily to gaslight, Laurel and Hardy come galumphing back,:and Tarzan swings on every other hoarding. But this Easter none of these. things happened. We had, instead, the gayest American musical film I have seen and, on top of that, the funniest Ealing comedy to greet these old eyes (now occupationally. bloodshot) singe Passport to Pimlico. The weather, too, they say, was fine. An American in Paris, built around the music of George Gershwin, produced by Arthur Freed, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and generally activated by Gene Kelly (he did the choreography, drilled the dancers, imported Leslie Caron for the feminine lead, and himself took the title role) gained for M.G.M, eight of the 1951 Academy Awards. The film has therefore beenas you might say-consecrated far above my poor power to add or detract, even if I wanted to. And, of course, perversely and on second thoughts, I do want to. I’d like to subtract the award for the best screen play. The story is that antique Hollywood stereotype Boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-boy-finds-girl in its simplest form. If it wasn’t told with grace, charm, tenderness, good humour, zest, gaiety, sparkle, colour . .. well, if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t give it another thought. In place of the story award, I should like to have seen the studio commended for producing a film about an American’ abtoad without once mentioning the American way of life, or suggesting that he represented the last stronghold of democracy in a twilit Europe. = For Gene Kelly’s work I have nothing but admiration. His energy is prodigious without being. tiresomely exuberant. As a choreographer he is a rung or two

below Helpman, if we compare An American in Paris with The Red Shoes, but he is nevertheless a craftsman and an artist, and the extent of his contribution to the success of this production is, I suspect, greater than might be deduced from the credits. As a_ talentscout alone, his discovery of Leslie Caron would have been a good deed in any day. I thought her an excellent dancer, and in looks a refreshing contrast to Hollywood’s conventional ideas ‘of pulchritude. But I think the most telling comment I can make on An American in Paris is that it is over 10,000 feet long -and I could have wished it longer. That I felt no eyestrain was, I am sure, due to the skilful handling of the colour, and Oscar Levant’s clowning and playing contributed to my enjoyment. But my interest was on the whole held by one player. If anybody here hasn’t seen Kelly, don’t put if off any longer.