An American in Paris

Now that the war has been won, "Jerry" (Gene Kelly) has decided to stay on in Paris and try to make a living as a painter. He's not having much more luck doing that than his best pal "Adam" (the often quite scene-stealing Oscar Levant) is at writing his grand opus, but there might be a glimmer on the horizon. The wealthy "Milo" (Nina Foch) meets him, buys a few of his artworks and definitely takes a bit of a shine to him. She even sets him up in his own studio. He, though, isn't as enamoured of her as he is of the young "Lise" (Leslie Caron) whom he meets one evening and then pursues next day at the florist where she works. What he doesn't know is that she is already the gal of his other pal "Henri" (Georges Guétary), and so the beginnings of a love triangle start to form. When "Henri" gets an offer to go to America and offers to marry her and take her with him, she has choices to make - but whom will she choose and for just how much longer will "Milo" provide her unrequited meal ticket? Though Kelly takes top billing, I didn't actually care much for his really quite selfish "Jerry" character and so was much happier to revel in the joie de vivre brought to the screen by the entertaining Caron. Of course there are plenty of opportunities for Kelly to dance and he glides effortlessly amidst the Parisian settings, but there are also a few for her too and she has a grace and litheness that coupled with her mischievous smile brings this film to life. Musically, well it's probably "'S Wonderful" and "Nice Work if You Can Get It" that stick out from the pens of the Gershwins and along with Kelly, Guétary proves he has something of the bass baritone to him, too. There are plenty of entertaining set-piece dance numbers - including one with a few kids who look like they are improvising like the best of them, and the lengthy ballet sequence at the conclusion is stylishly and energetically choreographed to resemble something Florenz Ziegfeld might have staged. I didn't really love the conclusion, but hey - it's Hollywood!