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An American in Paris is a symphonic composition by American composer George Gershwin which debuted in 1928. Inspired by Gershwin's time in Paris, it is in the form of an extended tone poem evoking the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s. In addition to the standard instruments of the Classical orchestra, the score features period automobile horns; Gershwin brought back some Parisian taxi-cab horns for the New York premiere of the composition. "An American In Paris" is second only to Rhapsody In Blue as a favorite of Gershwin's classical compositions.

Although Gershwin wrote many stage shows in his lifetime, he was long dead by the time the 1951 musical film, An American in Paris, was made. The film, unusually, was based on the orchestral work of the same name, rather than on a stage musical, but used songs already written for other Gershwin shows. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Oscar Levant (one of Gershwin's closest friends in real life), was set in Paris, and directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. All of the music in the film is by George Gershwin and Ira GershwinIra Gershwin (born Israel Gershowitz ( December 6 1896 August 17 1983) American lyricist, collaborator with, and brother of George Gershwin He is interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Comments on the Gershwin collection. The climax of the film is 18 minutes of fantastic dancing featuring Kelly and Caron, set to George Gershwin's "An American In Paris".

This film won six Oscars:

Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. As is the customary practice in - Arthur FreedArthur Freed ( September 9, 1894 April 12, 1973) was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a lyricist and a Hollywood film producer. Freed began his career in vaudeville, and he appeared with the likes of the Marx Brothers. He soon began to write son, producer
Best Art - Set Decoration, ColorThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for - E. Preston Ames , Cedric Gibbons , F. Keogh Gleason , and Edwin B. Willis
Best Cinematography, ColorThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his or her work in one particular motion picture. 1920s 1928 Sunrise 1929 White Shadows in the South Seas 1930s 1930 With Byrd at the South Pole 1931 Tabu: A Story of - John Alton and Alfred Gilks
Best Costume Design, Color - Orry-Kelly , Walter Plunkett , and Irene Sharaff
Best Musical Score - Saul Chaplin and Johnny Green
Best Writing, Scoring and Screenplay - Allan Jay Lerner

The film was also nominated for:

Best Director - Vincente Minnelli
Best Film Editing - Adrienne Fazan

The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Trivia

The film was shot on Hollywood sets, so it features some quirks in the occasional French dialogue. Notably, near the beginning of the I got rhythm number, one of the "French" kids says Jerry, parle anglais à nous, which sounds rather curious. In the French soundtrack, which switches to the original sound for the duration of the songs, the à nous is masked thru a plop sound, to make the sentence more palatable.

Hollywood movies referencing France seldom use location shooting or native speakers. For example, in the Home Alone franchise, all airport scenes were fake and the speakers could not even pass for French-Canadian. Great care is however sometimes put into reproducing Paris surroundings, like in this American in Paris or in Irma La Douce. Ironically, a lot of older French Paris-based movies were studio work as well and the same art directors (eg. Alexandre Trauner ) were sometimes working on both sides of the ocean...

American in Paris, An American in Paris, An American in Paris, An American in Paris, An American in Paris, An

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