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| Gene
Kelly, Leslie Caron, Georges Guétary, Oscar Levant, Nina
Foch |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly):
Back home everyone said I didn't have any talent. They might be
saying
the
same thing
over here, but it sounds better in French.
An American painter living in Paris
falls in love with a French girl but soon encounters several complications.
 Although
it's been overtaken in popularity and acclaim by Kelly's bouncier,
more plot-driven and less highbrow Singin'
in the Rain, An American in Paris was by far the
more celebrated film of its time. Both films have their strengths
and weaknesses, but without going into a detailed discussion on
which of these musical masterpieces is the better picture, a quick
survey of some of their most notable similarities and differences
makes for an interesting comparison. Both films feature Gene Kelly
as the sympathetic hero with a humorous sidekick, a romantic interest
and a second female character whose one-sided romantic interest
in Kelly forms the largest hurdle for him to overcome.
Both films also have a tendency towards self-reflexivity, foregrounding
the artificiality of film in different ways: Singin' in the
Rain features many jokes and double layers because it is set
in Hollywood, while An American in Paris calls attention
to its own tricks by opening the film with three consecutive bits
of voice-over narration that address the viewer and even correct
the audience's assumed conclusions. Finally, both films feature
an extended ballet sequence that has little to do with the furthering
of the film's narrative. For Singin' in the Rain, with
its efficient, cleverly constructed plot, the 'Broadway Melody'
sequence seems out of place. But the final ballet in An American
in Paris, offering a dreamlike recap of parts of the slim
plot, is easily the highlight of the film, a gorgeous spectacle
of pure cinema that transcends the film's immensely witty but thinly
constructed narrative. |
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First released on DVD for Region
1 by MGM/UA, with a differently packaged but otherwise identical
release following later from Warner, which has since also
issued a similar disc for Region 2.
The fullscreen
image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. For
this transfer, a source print was used that was in reasonable
shape, with good sharpness and generally impressive skintones.
But the image does suffer from the many nicks, scratches
and intrusive discolorations that tend to hamper aging Technicolor films:
green blobs pop up throughout, and the color palette tends
to shift noticeably around reel changes and overworn scenes.
Overall, it's an acceptable presentation with strong moments,
but the print is clearly in need of a full restoration job
along the lines of Singin' in the Rain.
The original mono sound
mix is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. Hardly any of the
historic recordings for this picture exist in anything but
monaural sound, and the entire picture has that thin-sounding,
tinny and distorted sound that characterize films of this
period.
The theatrical trailer is
- sadly - the only extra found on this release. Simple,
rather blandly designed static menu pages offer access to the main
feature and limited options.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
2003
Click
here for IMDB info on An
American in Paris.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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