MovieChat Forums > An American in Paris (1951) Discussion > How did this win Best Picture???

How did this win Best Picture???

posted 16 years ago by miriamwebster
68 replies | jump to latest

Fair-to-middling early Fifties MGM musical. (Following year's Singin' In The Rain puts it to shame.) But Best Picture??? And against A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place In The Sun? Incredible--it's impossible to watch today. Recall!!!

Addendum: Okay, yes, lengthy musical finale may have been revolutionary for its time--but rest of picture is/was so-so at best, even for anyone whose first exposure was suffering through it during TV broadcasts of Sixties, hardly 10 years after its release. Uninvolving story, cardboard characters, unmemorable performances (none of cast was nominated for Oscars). . .according to many reports, its Best Picture win was even a shock to Hollywood in 1951, many of whom chalked up victory to big bloc of MGM employees who voted for it in desperation bid to keep studio going and/or as tribute to longtime MGM musical producer Arthur Freed.

In any event, this picture has not aged well at all. Lots less fun than most of the studio's many less pretentious B musicals.

Yes, definitely has its devotees--but as some movieland insider once observed "Every movie is somebody's favorite."

[–] michey-eva 13 years ago

I totally agree! I understand all the art/music awards but best picture? No.

http://www.groovypopculture.blogspot.com/

[–] shandy8 13 years ago

You will get no argument from me; I consider 'An American in Paris' a pretentious vanity piece for the great Gene Kelly. It longs to be sophisticated and edgy, but (apart from the ballet) is offputting with a leading man for whom I can generate little interest or sympathy. 'Don Lockwood' was the perfect role for Gene Kelly.

"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"

[–] Turophile 13 years ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. This movie tries way too hard to be cute. I suspect one of the big draws of it was its being in color.

[–] Skepsis93 12 years ago

Because it's a representation of taste at the time and the opinion of a very small, exclusive group of people, probably even more white, male and middle aged than it is now. NOT THE FINAL SAY, as so many people seem to think. Basically every best picture winner has this exact thread, and every time I see them I wonder why so few seem to realise this.

[–] vorkapich 12 years ago

The 1950s was a spotty decade for Best Picture winners. Consider the winner the year after An American in Paris: The Greatest Show on Earth - one of the candidates for worst Best Picture winner. Four years after that the winner was Around the World in Eighty Days, another candidate for worst Best Picture winner. There was a faction in Hollywood that sought to counter the threat of television by emphasizing colorful entertainment.

Also, the combination of music by George Gershwin (including a performance by Gershwin devotee Oscar Levant) and the dancing of Gene Kelly spelled American Art, a statement that this country, seen as boisterous and rude by Europeans, could produce a native art of distinction. It is, after all, An American in Paris, i.e., this country thrusting itself into a capital of art, a statement in the form of entertainment of America's post- WW II dominance.

Studio politics are something to consider, but studio politics had little or no influence on the Best Picture winners for the years 1953, 1954 and 1955 (From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, Marty), so why should that factor be invoked for An American in Paris?

The ballet at the end of the film is still a remarkable piece of work.

[–] norberte 11 years ago

I remember in 1951, many had rated it the best musical of all time. Including cue magazine.

Nobo 5860

[–] alkhmyst-743-479615 11 years ago

My best guess: Because the Academy voters, all creative professionals themselves, have good taste.

[–] seahawk3133 10 years ago

Definitely a clang in this choice....

Mediocre plot, mediocre story, 20 minutes of space filler - all lead to an OK movie at best.

Maybe best music, scenery, etc.. (whatever the categories were called then), but not even close for best picture

[–] Johnboy1221 9 years ago

Worst Best Picture winner of all time! It was all I could do to sit through it. A middle aged dancer falls in love with a buck-toothed twenty-something dancer young enough to be his daughter (it was too close to being child porn, but Hollywood loves such themes (Woody Allen, Roman Polanski). The entire film was obviously shot on a sound stage in Hollywood, nowhere near Paris. I can't think of one single attribute the film possessed.