The 1928 classical composition by George Gershwin was the inspiration for this film starring Gene Kelly as Jerry Mulligan, an American artist sent to Paris to fight during the war but who chose to stay on to study painting. He lives in an apartment house across the hall from Adam, a talented concert pianist (Oscar Levant) who is also struggling to make it big. Also a friend of theirs is Henri, star of the stage. Henri is doing somewhat better than the other two, but is happy to share his success with his friends. In fact, when he decides to propose to his girlfriend, Adam and Jerry are the first to know.
One day while Jerry is out selling his paintings on the sidewalk, a wealthy woman pulls up alongside and purchases two of them. She decides she wants to be his patroness, and he’s willing to let her help him out, but only with the understanding that there are to be no romantic strings attached. She agrees, and they go to dinner to seal the deal.
While at dinner, Jerry spies Lise (Leslie Caron) and asks her to dance. She’s a little put off by his forward manner, but he’s smitten and can’t leave her alone. He calls her the next day and goes to see her at work, persisting until she agrees to have dinner with him.
They spend time together, and fall in love, but wouldn’t you know it? Lise is the woman that Henri plans to marry. She has to make a choice, and it won’t be easy either way.
The storyline of this movie is fairly bland and to be honest, I skipped around with my remote from time to time. The thing that made this movie so famous was the music and dancing. With the symphony by Gershwin plus the dancing of Kelly and Caron, you could put it with almost any plot and have it be a rollicking success. The ballet segment at the end of the movie was unlike anything Hollywood had ever seen, and the film picked up six Oscars, including Best Picture.
So if you’re looking for great dancing, come here. If you’re looking for a great plot, I’ll steer you elsewhere.
An interesting side note: Gene Kelly was heavily involved in the production of this film, and handpicked Leslie Caron for the role of Lise. He was on vacation in Paris and went to the ballet, saw her, and saw to it that she was transported to Hollywood. She was so malnourished from all the starvation that took place during the war that she was only able to film every other day, but the movie made her a star and she went on to do many more movies, her quality of life greatly improving as a result. In essence, Gene helped her regain her life.
This film was not rated.
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