An American In Paris (1951) [2009 Blu Ray]

Plot of An American In Paris (1951)

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.

Review of An American in Paris

There is nothing like a great musical, and An American In Paris is up there with my list of the all-time greatest. as the winner of six Academy Awards (and 2 nominations), it stands up there as one of the top movies, musical or not, as one of the best movies of all time, and was included in AFI's list of the 100 greatest movies of all time (it listed at #68).   The movie features the singing of Leslie Caron (Gifi) and the singing and dancing styling of the great Gene Kelly.  Add to this great choreography and superb directing (by Vincente Minnelli) and you have the makings of what turned out to be a motion picture musical masterpiece.

Okay, the story itself, compared to other movies may be lacking to my taste, although one of its Oscars was for best writing, but the singing, dancing and acting more than make up for it.  When you begin to compare this movie with many of the movies that have come afterwards, especially some from over the past decades that make up for their lack of talent and writing with hot women and special effects, you can see all of the great qualities that this movie exudes.

Gene Kelly is perhaps one of the greatest dancers ever, and this movie more than showcases his talents, while showcasing the vocal talents of Leslie Caron.  The rest of the cast are no pushovers either, including Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary and Nina Foch.  The movie, being in Blu-Ray also looks great.

The Blu-Ray version also includes many bonus features, including a fascinating documentary that includes old interviews with Kelly and Minnelli to name a few, there are also a few other good documentaries as well as outtakes and old radio promos for the movie.  I love bonus features, and the ones on this disk are great.  This is another movie I would recommend that would be a great addition to you Blu-Ray library.

The Cast (Major Roles)

Director

Writer

Gene Kelly

Jerry Mulligan

Vincente Minnelli

Alan Jay Lerner

Leslie Caron

Lise Bouvier

Oscar Levant

Adam Cook

Georges Guétary

Henri 'Hank' Baurel

Nina Foch

Milo Roberts

Rating

Length

Distribution Co.

Year

Approved

113

Warner Bros.

1951

Awards

Won 6 Academy awards: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture; Best Picture; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Director; Best Film Editing

Related Links

Official WBShop.com website

Click above to Purchase An American in Paris

Press Release

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS & GIGI
Debut on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def March 31

Warner Home Video Toasts Extensively Restored and Remastered Classics with Sparkling New Versions

Burbank, Calif., January 5, 2009 -- “Thank heaven” …. and Warner Home Video!

The Two-Disc Special Editions of two glorious Best Picture Oscar®-winning 1950s classics from the crown jewel collection of M-G-M’s Golden Age of Musicals, will make their Blu-ray Hi-Def debut on March 31. An American in Paris Blu-ray Hi-Def and Gigi Blu-ray Hi-Def will each sell for $28.99 SRP.  Order due date is February 24, 2009.

An American in Paris and Gigi were meticulously remastered and released on standard DVD by Warner Home Video last September and were an instant success. George Feltenstein, WHV’s Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog Marketing said, “Warner Home Video is truly proud to be able to release these two magnificent films as special editions on Blu Ray disc. Our talented colleagues at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging put a great deal of effort into creating the newly restored masters of both films, and the amazing technical capabilities offered by Blu Ray technology truly transforms the viewing experience to a whole new level of entertainment.” 

The films won a total of 15 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best director, were produced by Arthur Freed and helmed by Vincente Minnelli. Alan Jay Lerner was the screenwriter on both.

An American in Paris, originally photographed in Technicolor, is the latest recipient of Warner Bros.’ proprietary Ultra-Resolution process, which takes the original Technicolor negatives and carefully combines them to yield a stunning picture with sharpness and depth of field never seen before.

Street Date: March 31, 2009

Order Date: February 24, 2009

$28.99 SRP

 Rated G

An American in Paris Catalog # 1000038933 Run Time: 113 minutes Color

Gigi Catalog # 1000038937 Run Time: 116 minutes Color

For more information:  www.wbhidef.com

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS PICTURES

This review was written by Your Name Goes Here. Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.