Murf Versus

During the 2017 holiday season, I got a great deal on the Best of Warner Bros. 100 Film Collection. Diane and I haven’t seen most of these movies, but we are committed to watching one a week and writing a short review.

After “Anchors Aweigh”, we were marveled by Gene Kelly’s talent, but not necessarily excited to see more of his films. This week, we are reviewing “An American in Paris” from 1951, an altogether superior film and another vehicle to showcase Gene Kelly singing and dancing.

I am unsure what makes “An American in Paris” feel like a lesser musical when compared to musical films I love (“Little Shop of Horrors”, “The Producers”, most of Disney’s animated films, etc.). My biggest issue is that the plot and characters feel secondary to their in-character performances. Rather than review the movie from the standpoint of it being a bad movie and an okay musical, I am going to attempt to leave my bias behind and focus on “An American in Paris” as an elaborate variety show instead.

I know this is supposed to be Gene Kelly, but all I see is “I play polo for the university”.

The film follows Jerry Mulligan (played by Gene Kelly), an American soldier living in Paris after World War II. When the war ended, he remained in Paris to follow his passion of painting. Joining him are Adam Cook (Oscar Levant), a struggling pianist, and Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron in her American debut) as the romantic interest.

The plot revolves around a love triangle between Jerry, Lise, and the French singer Henri (played by George Guétary). Henri is a friend of Adam, who is also a friend of Jerry’s. Henri tells Adam about a woman he is engaged to marry (Lise). Soon after, Jerry happens to meet Lise and falls in love with her instantly. Until the film’s climax, neither man is aware of the other. I am sure this film has some fans for its story, but it really just serves to move the players from one performance to the next.

My feet hurt just looking at this.

The performances are where “An American in Paris” shines best. Unlike “Anchors Aweigh”, which felt bogged down by having to fit in the shell of what a movie is expected to be, “An American in Paris” breezily moves from a dance, to a song, to a concert at a fantastic pace. Better yet, the film is fun and colorful. Early in the film, when Henri tells Adam about Lise, she dances on the screen to his descriptions of her personality. It is fantastic and a great introduction both to the character and the actress, who was a trained ballerina.

Gene Kelly also shines. While the other acts in the film help give you a break from him as the film’s star, he never has to share the limelight the same way he had to do with Frank Sinatra in “Anchors Aweigh”. He is fantastic. Sure, his “romantic pursuit” of Lise was slimy by modern standards, but I’d let any man that light on his feet try to court me too. He was charming and likable every second he was on the screen.

Oscar Levant’s Jerry deserved more time on screen.

The other performances are great too. George Guétary gets several songs, but his performance of the song “I’ll Build A Stairway to Paradise” had an amazing set and stage production within the film. Similarly, Oscar Levant’s performance of Gershwin’s Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra during one of his daydreams was equally stunning.

Speaking of Gershwin, it would be difficult to review “An American in Paris” without commenting on the film’s music. While modern musicals rely on lyrics to be memorable, Gershwin’s score alone is worth watching the film. I primarily know Gershwin from his composition “Rhapsody in Blue”, but it was awesome hearing more of his original music. It is fantastic.

Some of the sets and costumes were truly amazing.

The film’s closing was our absolute favorite part. While Lise runs off with Henri after the love triangle and tryst have all been laid bare, Jerry dreams of her returning to him. His dream takes the form of a 17 minute ballet within the movie. Amazing in scope, even by today’s standards, the sequence was a marvel to behold. In my research, I read that it cost nearly half a million dollars to shoot and I believe it. It easily rivals the ending performance we saw in “42nd Street” and I think it is worth the watch alone.

“An American in Paris” was not a new favorite film on this list or new favorite musical. There is too much holding it back from either of those titles. At the same time, it was an incredibly fun film to watch and it never overstayed its welcome. We both preferred it to “Anchors Aweigh” and I am curious to see how it stands up to our next film on the list: “Singin’ in the Rain”.

Also, there was this.

For other reviews, make sure to check out the Warner Brother’s Top 100 Film’s page.

During the 2017 holiday season, I got a great deal on the Best of Warner Bros. 100 Film Collection. Diane and I haven’t seen most of these movies, but we are committed to watching one a week and writing a short review.

When it came to finally seeing 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire”, neither Diane nor myself knew what to expect. It is one of those movies that virtually everyone has heard of, but, in our case at least, we had never seen it. I thought it would be more jovial or at least be a lighter film. It is not. As its unlikable characters did unlikable things to one another in an impoverished New Orleans tenement, it dawned on me that what I was in for was yet another example of the Southern Gothic literary subgenre. With that realization, my dread of what to come gripped me tightly as we finished watching the film.

New Orleans shines through the entire film even though the characters rarely go outside the apartment.

I do not pretend to be a scholar on all things Southern Gothic, but I am a big fan of the short stories of Flannery O’Connor. Not to digress to politics, there is a certain Conservative way of thinking – a bubble all-encompassing in modern Southern life – that seems equal parts naive and destructive. All my life, I was exposed to people who had little while thinking they had a lot. Any attempt at change or any battering against tradition was the utmost evil. Southern Gothic works are treasonous to that line of thought as they seek to expose the darker culture of a people who live in a ruined place and a lost time, the Antebellum South, without grasping fully the modern world as it has changed around them.

Vivien Leigh plays Blanche DuBois, a teacher whose ancestral home has been lost to debt and poor judgement. With her, she brings all of her worldly possessions: fine clothes and jewelry. She also brings the air of a Southern aristocratic family used to having far more wealth and like minded folk equally obsessed with manners, honor, and dignity. At her heels, a mystery chases after her as she suddenly appears at her sister’s one bedroom home in New Orleans. The sister, Stella, welcomes her openly despite the ill tidings and the odd mood, while Stanley (played by Marlon Brando) is instantly wary of his sister-in-law’s arrival.

Vivien Leigh plays crazy perfectly.

To an extent, the film feels like a melancholy successor to “Gone with the Wind”. Vivien Leigh’s Blanche, much like Scarlett, relies on Southern virtues like honor and duty and manners to anchor herself in a fictional reality. Her life lacks these virtues, however, and her inability to come to grips with that fact drives her mad. Vivien Leigh plays crazy incredibly well. From the start, her character is troubled, but as the movie progresses and she gives one high minded speech after another you begin to realize the depths she has already sunk.

Likewise, Marlon Brando’s Stanley was equally mesmerizing but rather than the piteous Blanche, he was terrifying to behold. This was our first exposure to Marlon Brando the actor rather than the person of pop culture myth. As with the jokes I am used to hearing about Brando, we too had trouble understanding what he was saying half the time. I thought at first it was because every scene had him eating but no. I was also shocked at just how handsome a man he was when he was younger.

I wish I looked that cool drinking alcohol out of a mug that no one likely cleaned since its last use.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a difficult film to watch. There is little joy and no real character to root for. Kim Hunter’s Stella was the only redeemable character but she often blended into the background while Vivien Leigh chewed the scenery or the shadow of Marlon Brando obscured everyone else as he stalked violently from one room to the next of their one bedroom apartment. There’s a Hollywood ending but no on screen punishment for Stanley. I do not need a movie to end tidily and happily, but after that largely being the case for so many of the films in this series, I half expected “A Streetcar Named Desire” to follow suit. The fact that it doesn’t and that its 125 minutes of human misery ends of only more human misery felt both modern and depressing.

Beyond the acting and the sadness, I found the script to be really interesting. I am unsure how much of the dialogue works in a film. Some of the longer speeches felt ripped from a novel. I am sure they work well in play form, but with film, I expect the characters to talk a bit more like actual people talk. I do not recall the specific lines, but a few made me chuckle at how overwritten they seemed when read aloud.

One of the saddest scenes was when Stanley returns home from the hospital early and finds Blanche dancing around in her finest clothes and talking about a rich suitor that wants her to accompany him on a cruise.

I do not think either of us loved the film. This is art, less as an expression of joy or entertainment, and more as an attempt to make the audience feel emotion. Love falls short of how I would describe my feelings toward “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Appreciation seems to be more accurate. I appreciate the film because it took me to a place I never wish to go to again. I do not love how the film made me feel: hopeless, sad, intense dread. I appreciate the excellent performances of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando because, without them, I would not have found this film to be so compelling. I appreciated the movie, but I would love to never see it again. I still feel icky.

For other reviews, make sure to check out the Warner Brother’s Top 100 Film’s page.