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An American in Paris | 
| Director: Vincente Minnelli
Actors: Martha Bamattre, Madge Blake, Nan Boardman, Eugene Borden, Leslie Caron
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 24.14
Buy New: CDN$ 18.01
You Save: CDN$ 6.13 (25%)
New (14) Used (3) from CDN$ 17.18
Rating:  45 reviews
Format: Import, Full Screen, Ntsc, Subtitled
Languages: English (Original Language), Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD03565D
UPC: 883929002481
EAN: 0883929002481
ASIN: B0010DRYQE
Theatrical Release Date: 1951
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item, factory Sealed. Buy direct from the U.S. and save! We only ship airmail to Canada (7-15 days).Caiman, les prix qu'on aime! Tous nos produits sont neufs. Envoi par avion des Etats-Unis
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Amazon.com essential video
A GI (Gene Kelly) stays in Paris after the war to become an artist, and has to choose between the patronage of a rich American woman (Nina Foch) and a French gamine (Leslie Caron) engaged to an older man. The plot is mostly an excuse for director Vincente Minnelli to pool his own extraordinary talent with those of choreographer-dancer-actor Kelly and the artists behind the screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and score, creating a rapturous musical not quite like anything else in cinema. The final section of the film comprises a 17-minute dance sequence that took a month to film and is breathtaking. Songs include "'S Wonderful," "I Got Rhythm," and "Love Is Here to Stay." i--Tom Keogh/i
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 Great George Gershwin so so Kelly April 2, 2007
B. Chandler (Arlington, Texas)
Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) ex-GI stays in Paris to practice painting. There he is patronized by a jealous Milo Roberts (Nina Foch). Mean time he is trying to make time with a store clerk that is more than she appears to be (Leslie Caron). br / br /Not one of Kelly's best but passable. However even at his best one has to have a taste for that sort of thing. He is sort of a Danny Kay type. His high-water pants are his signature and really looks out of place. He can not sing worth beans. However he did do a good job in "What a Way to Go." br / br /Even though this film is not a notable movie it was directed by Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986.) He directed some great movies and some that you would never suspect such as "The Long Long Trailer." br /
Minnelli Waxes Nostalgic For A Distant Past May 27, 2005
A. Munnik (Brazeau Tower, Alberta)
Many film critics were flummoxed when AN AMERICAN IN PARIS walked away with Best Picture honours in 1951. The more erudite types had bet their money on A Streetcar Named Desire, or A Place in the Sun, both superior films from a dramatic point of view.brPerhaps these critics were slightly out of tune with their times. After all, this was 1951 and white vans mounted with loudspeakers were plying the streets and avenues of American cities and towns denouncing hapless burghers suspected of harbouring communist symphaties. With the Cold War in full gear, it was considered unpatriotic in some quarters to produce films in any way critical of the American way of life. Hollywood was happy to do its bit, turning out movies like I Was A Communist For the FBI (excellent comedy, I might say, and definitely required viewing).brAN AMERICAN IN PARIS certainly did not offend any of our patriotic sensibilities. Our hero, Jerry Mulligan, after helping liberate Europe, has stayed on in Paris and is behaving like an all around good will ambassador, distributing chewing gum to Parisian urchins and just generally spreading good cheer in his down-at-the-heels neighbourhoodbrThis movie actually has a lot going for it. Filmed to please the senses, the spectacular 20 minute ballet is often credited with catapulting it into the Oscar Zone. At a time when the great majority of movies were still made in black and white, there might be something in this. But the Gershwin score might have been a bigger factor. Not only was the music great, but it was by an American composer! A terrific antidote to the spectre of shifty eyed subversive dilettantes (e.g. - New York film critics) listening to their Shostakovich in their gloomy lairs.brLeslie Caron, in her film debute, created a sensation as she embodied every virtue of the imaginary petite belle. Gene Kelly; as American as a Congressional Hearing. There might have been questions about his acting abilities (imagine a dancing Adam Sandler) but he emitted sufficient gung-ho spirit to make even an Iron Curtain ruffle.brNot enough can be said about Director Vincente Minnelli. Here is a fellow who was probably born 50 years too late. His best work (Meet Me In St. Louis, The Pirate, Gigi, Lust For Life, etc) are all set in a more genteel and aestheticaly pleasing past. If Minnelli were still with us today he would certainly NOT be directing any Star War sequels.brBut in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS he really outdoes himself in pulling the wool over our eyes. His imaginary Paris in no way resembles the noisy, vibrant and modern Paris of the post-war era. Minnelli's Paris might have been the one that Maurice Utrillo painted 60 years earlier. If a circa-1951 Parisian artist had been churning out canvasses in the style of our Jerry Mulligan he would no doubt have been spirited away by the gendarmes in a straitjacket.brStill, all in all, a gorgeous film, but one that should be taken with a grain of salt.
 Beautiful July 7, 2004
Jeffrey (Oakland, CA)
I'm not that big into musicals but I love this movie. I can watch An American in Paris any time day or night. I would rather watch the fantasy dance sequence at the end 10 times in a row than watch most movies all the way through once. Leslie Caron is beautiful, Kelly is fun, and the sets and costumes are fascinating. Definately a must have on dvd for anyone who knows movies.
S'WONDERFUL ROMANCE ON THE BANKS OF THE SEINE June 10, 2004
Nix Pix (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
"An American In Paris" is the charming Arthur Freed musical Oscar winner about a painter, Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly). An ex-G.I., Mulligan is a starving artist until a wealthy playgirl, Margo (Nina Foch) takes an interest in both him and his work. But Jerry, seemingly oblivious to Margo's romantic advances, begins to fall for young Parisian, Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron). The wrinkle of the plot occurs when Jerry learns that Lise is engaged to marry his best friend, Henri Burell (George Guetary). The Gershwin score is among the finest produced for a musical with such indelible hits as "Embraceable You", "S'wonderful", "I Got Rhythm" and the immortal "American in Paris ballet." pIt was Gene Kelly who discovered Leslie Caron while on a vacation. She was performing in a Paris ballet. He brought her to America to star in this film. Apart from the opening sequence which sets up the film with vintage travelogue shots of Paris, the entire production was shot on a backlot at MGM. Reportedly, when Irving Berlin learned that Arthur Freed, Kelly and director, Vincente Minnelli were planning to end the film with a nearly 20 minute dance sequence and no dialogue, he curiously commented, "I guess you know what you're doing." Indeed they did. "An American In Paris" became the first musical to win Best Picture since "The Great Ziegfeld" made some twenty years before!pWarner Brothers Home Video has presented this film on DVD in an adequate looking transfer that is a direct import from the MGM/UA initial release. Colors are well defined, nicely balanced and fully saturated. Occasionally there is a noticeable change in the color depending on the film stock. Age related artifacts are tempered. There are very few instances of digital anomalies for an image that is generally smooth throughout. The audio is mono but nicely balanced. Occasionally, dialogue sounds a bit strident and the music carries a slightly muffled characteristic. But these are expected shortcomings for a soundtrack of this vintage. There are NO extras.
S'Wonderful March 20, 2004
James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania)
A glorious movie that showcases Gene Kelly's breathtaking talent. Forget the silly story and just watch him dance and dance and dance. He does more with a turn of a shoulder than most dancers can do with their whole body. This movie also introduced the lithe and lovely Leslie Caron as the object of Kelly's affection. The film builds to its dramatic hallucinatory conclusion as Kelly dances his way across a Paris dreamscape, that brings all the elements of modern dance together in a tour-de-force that was unprecedented in musicals of that time. You can't help getting swept away in the feel-good spirit of this movie. It was another time and place.
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