Georges Guetary = Underrated performance

Guetary never seems to get much love. Leslie Caron basically dissed him in the "Making of" Documentary, and Gene Kelly apparently had issues with him over the filming of the "Stairway to Paradise" number. In fact, its pretty well documented that Guetary wasn't even Kelley's first choice - rather he wanted Maurice Chevalier first and settled on Guetary. Even Kelley's biographer slams Guetary over his not being right for the part.

If the reason is Guetary being too young, then I get it, but only with the knowledge that Chevalier was wanted first for the part. But, in a way, I think had Chevalier taken the part, his personality might have taken away from or distracted from the film's content (although even the idea of a Kelley, Levant, Chevalier pairing sounds iconic).

Rather, I watch Guetary in this film and think its a shame he didn't do more work in America. Not only was he quite handsome and amiable but his voice has this melodious quality that I don't think I've ever heard from another performer from this era - just like it was made for Gershwin; almost like Chevalier meets Peter Lorre, lol. Whatever problems sprang from the filming of "Stairway to Paradise," I immensely enjoyed it, his rendition of "Nice Work if You Can Get It" is my favorite version and, what's more, his harmony with Kelley is perfect in "S'Wonderful."

And so its a shame his performance is panned so much. It certainly isn't horrible. I think what is lacking in his performance is character development, which moreover seems to result from the screenwriting, which had such a surplus of interesting characters not given enough to do (Nina Foch and Oscar Levant similarly don't get the development their characters probably deserved). And even then, I think he's generally well written. His gesture at the end is so benign and noble; enabling him to distinguish himself from the typical "other man" stock characters in musicals who come off as jerks, therefore making it obvious who the heroine will end up with.

Thoughts?