An American in Paris

Dir: Vincente Minelli,  1951, USA, 114 mins.
With Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, Nina Foch

Our first film night this year is the Gershwin inspired, 1951 classic, An American in Paris.

Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (in her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Saul Chaplin, the music director.

Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is “discovered” by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while romantic complications abound.