Review of An American in Paris (1951) by Alex K — 15 Apr 2013

I'm not a fan of musicals. I hate how they have a tendency to introduce ridiculous song segments out of left field that do almost nothing to advance the plot. That's one of the reasons I really don't care for Singin' in the Rain.

Almost every song in that film shows up simply because it's time for a song. Only a couple songs, including the titular one, flow naturally with the story. And yet, for some reason, I enjoyed an American in Paris.

It still has all of the same problems, but I have a few theories as to why I didn't mind them so much. The first is the music. I love Gershwin, so when the pianist goes on a ridiculous tangent about him conducting an orchestra, I really didn't mind, simply because I got to listen to more Gershwin.

And the ending ballet was a phenomenon of music and dance that makes the film. The movie really exists solely for that purpose. The story is wafer thin. While in Rain the story bits were the most well done aspect of the film, the opposite is true here.

The plot flows but nothing consequential happens outside of the main love story. The main character's painting career, his relationship his benefactor, and even the career of the pianist are all set up and no payoff.

The pianist is just a side character so his arc is irrelevant, but so much time is dedicated to Mulligan's big break and his upcoming show, and then the movie just forgets about it. The love story is also pretty ridiculous.

Mulligan is a creepy stalker at first and the two leads barely do anything to justify a love story. They go out a handful of times, and then the film tells us they're meant to be together. It's pretty ridiculous, though typical of this type of film.

While I wouldn't call An American in Paris a good film in terms of storytelling and stuff like that, it is indeed a triumph of music and dance, and I found it quite enjoyable despite its flaws.