An American in Paris: 1951

Unlike the last few films I watched, An American in Paris is in color, and while I enjoy the richness of classic black and white films, the color was a welcome break. Add in the music and Gene Kelly, and I have to say that first hour or so of the film was quite enjoyable. 

An American in Paris has a pretty simple storyline. It's a love triangle. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl starts to fall in love but is already committed to someone else. Gene Kelly is Jerry Mulligan, the boy in this story. Jerry is a struggling artist who stayed in Paris after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. As he says, Paris provides inspiration for artists, but it seems that although he's inspired, his work hasn't sold much. He's the epitome of starving artist until he captures the attention of a wealthy American woman, Milo Roberts, and we soon learn that Milo has a problem with hooking up with struggling artists, providing them financial support, and then having her heart stomped all over when the men become famous and leave her. Jerry is more upfront with Milo, making it clear that he isn't interested in a romantic relationship and plans to pay back every dime she gives him. Jerry's moral core seems to come from his American upbringing; he wants to earn his success. The other motivation for Jerry to avoid romantic entanglement is, of course, the girl I mentioned, Lise. Lise (played by Leslie Caron) is a Frenchwoman Jerry encounters on a night out, and he is immediately attracted to the shy, aloof Frenchwoman. No matter how much he tries to charm her that evening, she has no interest in dating him. Jerry's persistence pays off, however, as he learns her phone number and where she works. When he shows up in the perfume shop while she's helping a customer and helps her finish the sale, he has charmed his way into a first date. Their relationship grows from here.

Naturally, all is not easy for Jerry and Lise, especially since Lise is basically engaged to another man, who Jerry considers a friend. Despite this issue, most of the film remains upbeat. Jerry is ready with a smile and song and a tap dance. The musical includes a version of "I Got Rhythm" that involves French children saying the "I got" part with Jerry singing the rest. 

Gene Kelly is perfect in the role; he has chemistry with everyone on screen and his dancing is simply amazing. Lesile Caron is a talented dancer as well, and when the two are together, you truly believe they are Jerry and Lise, two lovers meant to be together but torn apart by their circumstances.

The only part of the film that I didn't quite understand was the last dance sequence. The sequence lasts over 10 minutes and features Kelly and Caron. Throughout the entire sequence, the music is instrumental, and it appears that the audience must interpret what the dance reveals about the characters or story. Or perhaps it was simply a chance to feature these two talented performers. Whatever the case, I lost interest about 3-4 minutes in and even dozed off. Up to that point, I had been fully engaged in the film, so if I ever watch this again, I think I'll just skip that dance sequence and jump right to the ending (which is about 2 minutes long following the dance).

All About Eve: 1950

Back in 2009 when I was taking a film class in grad school, I watched All About Eve, but it wasn't because the film was one of those we were require to watch. I watched it because all my course reading kept referring to the film, and I quickly realized that if I was going to make any sense of the content of the course, I would need to watch All About Eve, and I remember that I wasn't disappointed at all with watching it. And a re-watching wasn't a hardship.

At its most basic level, All About Eve is a film about karma, or to use the cliche, "what goes around comes around." The story focuses on Margo Channing, a 40-year-old stage actress adored by her fans and friends. Margo is, without a doubt, a diva at the prime of her career, but she is plagued with the thought of growing older. Typically, Margo portrays twenty-somethings on stage, and she recognizes that her career may end at any time. Her insecurity about her age becomes almost destructive after she takes in Eve, a woman who claims to be Margo's biggest fan and who has a sob story that causes the other people in the story to initially take her side in every situation. In the end, Eve turn outs to be quite a con artist, and Margo learns what really matters in her life. But the best part of the film is closing scene. I'm not going to discuss it here; you really just have to watch the entire film to understand just how powerful the closing scene is.

What I like most about All About Eve is Margo's transformation. In the beginning of the film, I didn't really like her. She seemed self-centered and a bit shallow, but as the film progresses and the audience learns more about Margo, I realized that she is really just insecure and actually values her friends. She becomes almost endearing, but even with that change, she still remains quick-witted and sassy. One cause for her transformation is her boyfriend Bill; no matter what she says or does and regardless of him being eight years younger, he remains utterly devoted to her. That's not to say that he doesn't challenge her. He fights with her and requires her to move beyond her fear to be with him. I wonder if Margo's fear isn't so much age as it is an unwillingness to trust her heart to him. She doesn't seem to have any family, and while she has friends, she only seems to fully reveal herself to Karen and possibly Bertie, her no-nonsense assistant. For everyone else, it's Margo the star. But as Eve rises to fame and betrays Margo, we finally see Margo let Bill in and allow herself to depend on him. At the same time, Margo retains her independence.

Margo Channing, played by Bette Davis

Source: https://theroadshowversion.wordpress.com/category/all-about-eve-1950/

If you're not interested in investing the 138 minutes it takes to watch All About Eve, then I suggest The Simpsons parody of the film where Lisa steals Krusty's show and becomes addicted to applause.