The creative theme behind Gigi had an earlier effort from 1951 which is also a colorful musical set in Paris although this time after World War II. Jerry is an aspiring artist who who falls in love with a perfume seller Lise and… that’s pretty much it. But at least it’s colorful.
Comments from Previous Manic Expression Site
BigBlackHatMan: That was actually a good list of films. I am shocked An American in Paris best the others out as Quo Vadis and A Place in the Sun are also really good films on top of A Streetcar Named Desire. Good review
Les: Hi HedonisticActor. You know…the plot was a little contrived, and the whole Lise falling in love with Jerry in one date was syrupy sweet and cliche as hell, but Dammit, this is a brilliant film and has, hands down, Gene Kelly’s finest choreographed numbers of his whole career…..and that includes Singing in the rain, and It’s always fair weather(The one where he tap dances on roller skates….which is all kinds of awesome, BTW….but I digress….) I guess what really makes this film work, ultimately for a musical…is the phenomenal music and songs of George and Ira Gershwin…..WOW! Could those two write a classic tune. While I like SInging in the Rain as a better film, I like the dance numbers in this for their sheer artistry….for my money, the American In Paris Ballet at the end edges out the Broadway Melody number in SITR…but just barely. Nice review, my friend. Peace.
HedonisticActor: Now that you made me think about it I do now feel that I’ve judged that number unfairly. If I had done this review today I’d had probably made at least some mention about its artistic value, as it looks great, instead of just looking how well it fits in the film’s narrative structure.
