“There is a strange sort of reasoning in Hollywood that musicals are less worthy of Academy consideration than dramas. It’s a form of snobbism, the same sort that perpetuates the idea that drama is more deserving of Awards than comedy.” ~ Gene Kelly

This week’s film is more like what I think of for films coming out of the 1950s—light, colorful, sing-songy. An American In Paris (1951, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won six: Writing (Story and Screenplay), Cinematography (Color), Art Direction (Color), Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture), Costume Design (Color), and Best Motion Picture (it failed to win in the categories of Film Editing and Directing). Gene Kelly, the star of the film, was also awarded an Honorary Oscar “in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film.” Kelly, who experienced great success in his career as a dancer, choreographer, and even director (particularly for 1969’s Hello, Dolly! with Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau), was born the son of a phonograph salesman, worked on Broadway, and served in the Navy during World War II. His greatest film credit, though, is probably for his role in the iconic Singin’ in the Rain, which was released the year after An American in Paris and also co-directed by Kelly.

The very flexible Leslie Caron.

Kelly actually discovered his co-star for An American in Paris, Leslie Caron, when he and his first wife attended a performance of the Ballet des Champs-Elysees (of which Caron was a member) in Paris in 1948. While the two did not meet that night, Kelly remembered Caron’s performance a year later during casting for his upcoming musical film. Caron herself would go on to a stellar career as a dancer, singer, and actress, starring in 1958’s Best Picture winner, Gigi, and even capturing a Primetime Emmy in 2007 for her guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU.

Also worth mentioning is the director of An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli—yes, that Minnelli, the second husband of Judy Garland and the father of Liza Minnelli, one of the few people in the world to have won a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony, and an Oscar (for 1972’s Cabaret). Vincente Minnelli worked as a costume and set designer before taking up directing. The colorful 17-minute ballet toward the close of An American in Paris is an example of a sort of signature feature of Minnelli’s films as he almost always included some sort of dream sequence in his pictures. Set to music by George Gershwin and choreographed by Gene Kelly, the film’s ballet cost a cool half a million dollars! And I personally found it a little bizarre…

Kelly and Caron during the “ballet” toward the end of the film.

But it’s not so much the ballet sequence or the awards haul that An American in Paris is notable for, as much as it is memorable for its helping to launch a nearly twenty-year era of musical winners like the Academy had never seen before nor since. We’ve looked at a couple of musical-ish BPs with The Broadway Melody (1929) and Going My Way (1944); but while those films undoubtedly deserve their recognition, they are not truly what we refer to as musicals nowadays. An American in Paris fits the bill for a real musical, using song to convey thoughts and replace speaking lines—rather than just inserting songs into the film’s storyline. In the two decades after this film, five other musicals would capture the Academy’s highest honor: Gigi (1958), West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), and Oliver! (1968). Since Oliver!, only one musical has won Best Picture, Chicago in 2002—and let’s be honest, that film probably deserves a place on the bottom of the Best Picture rankings. The Two Towers, anyone? I’m still a little bitter about that one…as I am about 2012’s potential legitimate musical Best Picture winner Les Misérables losing out to Argo. But to be fair, 2012 was a doozy of a year for film; and several of the nominated films were worthy of BP. Anyhow, I digress.

If you’re looking for something a little different (and creepy) relating to this week’s film, check out this footage of Vincente Minnelli’s abandoned mansion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9h7TpXzBeI. For more thoughts on An American in Paris and its significance, please check out the full post this weekend!