365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 296 - An American In Paris

In 1951 the Academy Awards had one of the greatest upsets in Hollywood History. Going into the award season two films were battling it out to take home the most Oscars; A Place In The Sun and A Streetcar Named Desire. Both films had swept the nominations Streetcar with twelve nominations and Sun with nine. Two other films nominated for Best Picture, Quo Vadis and Decision Before Dawn earned their nominations with massive advertising purchases during the voting season. The fifth film that earned a slot was An American In Paris. The reasoning was that MGM was the biggest studio so it has more employees that were Academy members so therefore it received more votes than other films from 1951, such as The African Queen, Strangers On A Train, Death Of A Salesman or The Day The Earth Stood Still.

But An American In Paris was considered such a long shot that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science decided to give Gene Kelly an honorary award the same year for his singular achievement in acting, singing, dancing, directing and brilliant choreography. Musicals were not considered serious film making, like dramas, and were held in the same category as comedies, which were hardly ever nominated (in 83 years only six Best Pictures have been comedies).

On Oscar night the two big films were in a dead heat and had even odds to sweep the awards. When the first acting award went to Karl Malden for Best Supporting Actor in Streetcar, quickly followed by Kim Hunter for Best Supporting Actress, it looked like A Place In The Sun would be left behind. Then Vivien Leigh won for Best Actress and everyone knew Streetcar was the movie of the night. Next up was the heavily favored Marlon Brando, nominated for his breath-taking performance as Stanley Kowalski. The envelope was opened and the award went to Humphrey Bogart for his performance in The African Queen. There was an audible gasp from the audience when Bogart's name was read.

The award for Best Director was next and the evening took a new twist when George Stevens was named for directing A Place In The Sun. With the directing award going to Steven's the audience considered it a done deal that the Best Picture would go to A Place In The Sun. So sure were they, that some audience members had gathered up personal belongings and were beginning to leave the Pantages Theatre. Then 71 year old Jesse Lasky stepped up to the microphone, opened the envelope and said "Oh my!", and announced An American In Paris as the Best Picture of the year. There was a loud gasp and then nothing, a moment of silence, as the audience absorbed this news, and then the applause began.

An American In Paris was the second color film to win Best Picture. The first was Gone With The Wind in 1939. It was the first musical to win since Broadway melody in 1928, the second year the awards were given. 

The new Blu-ray of An American in Paris is absolutely stunning. The movie about an American Ex-GI living in Paris as a struggling artist, uses very vivid hues from a painters palate in brilliant technicolor to convey the colorful life of 1950's Paris. The dance sequences are spectacular, and Ira Gershwin's music never sounded better. 

Is An American In Paris the best film of 1951? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says it is, but many will argue that A Streetcar Named Desire or A Place In The Sun are better. They argue that with so many employees MGM won simply because they had more votes. But that really doesn't hold water since MGM was putting all of it's advertising and influence behind the epic biblical picture Quo Vadis, and if employees were voting for the studio, they would have voted for Quo Vadis. More likely Streetcar and Desire split their votes leaving An American In Paris with a majority. Deserving or not, An American In Paris is a classic film that has endured for sixty years and is still able to dazzle and transport the viewer during its famous 16 minute ballet finale.

At The Movie House rating **** stars