MovieChat Forums > An American in Paris (1951) Discussion > FINAL 20 MINUTES

FINAL 20 MINUTES

posted 20 years ago by Anscules
22 replies | jump to latest

question: does anyone know another sound film which contains zero dialogue for its third act? like this one, a film that has tons of dialogue and such, but absolutely none for the final stretch. to me, this is the most remarkable thing about this film.

the only film like it i can think of is 2001, but large stretches of that film's 1st and 2nd acts already do without any dialogue.

this is not a ridlle. please answer, or at least speculate.

"Rampart: Squad 51."

[–] springformpan 20 years ago

Hedwig and the Angry Inch has no dialogue for it's final... 10, 15 minutes or so. That's the only other movie I can think of.

[–] Anscules 20 years ago

wow. i had no idea. i'll have to see it. thanks.

"Rampart: Squad 51."

[–] scapergirl2003 20 years ago

it's the only movie that I can think of where the final 20 mins. of the movie is a huge dance number.

"Mommy...A naked american man stole my balloon" -AAWWIL

[–] roger-395 16 years ago

Although not in the last part of the film, the part of 2001 A Space Odessy that plays to Schubert's Blue Danube Waltz is long and has no dialogue. With Blue Danube who needs talking?

[–] movie_maniac_7 19 years ago

On The Town ?

[–] rjneb2 19 years ago

The Red Shoes did the dialogue-free final ballet sequence thing 3 years before this one.

[–] funkyfry 17 years ago

No it didn't, I just watched it last year and the big ballet is in the middle of "The Red Shoes", not at the end. Definitely Minnelli was influenced by that movie but not specifically in this way.

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'

[–] seahorse871 19 years ago

Singin' in the Rain has about 20 minutes of dance number at the end with Gene Kelly doing the Broadway number/ "Gotta Dance"

[–] masterofmydomain78 19 years ago

Well yes, but in the last 20 minutes of "An American In Paris" there's no singing, only music.

[–] richardscd 19 years ago

Thank God there are not many of these. After awhile the dancing stops being fascinating or interesting and becomes just annoying. Even Fred and Ginger had this problem in a couple of movies("Do you know the Piccolino?")
As much As I loved Singin in the Rain, and to a lesser extent this, I always find myself reaching for the remote's FF button whenever those 15-20 min dances come up. To quote 'The Woman in Black,' "PLEASE, consider your audience!"

~Chris R~

[–] MusicalFreak15 19 years ago

The thing about this movie is, it was fascinating when it came out. Never before had an American movie musical had a ballet to that length and though it was a bold and ambitious move it paid off in the end, recieving 6 Oscars. I don't think this movie would have won the oscar if it didn't have the ballet. I admit the end does become a bit monotonous after so many viewings but it was meant to 'Wow' the "considered" audience for the 1st viewing. I think the end is incredible and if you can pull of no dialogue for the last 20 minutes you are a genious. The ballet is meant to make you think you have to remember this is a poor aspiring painter who cares for two things: his girl and his paintings. So we see the ballet in his mind, through his visions of famous paintings searching for the one he loves. So considering this, maybe it is you that is in the wrong film's audience.

"Don't worry about the world ending today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." C.Schultz

[–] Pythe 16 years ago

I think the ballet is the exciting part. It's the rest of the movie that I want to fast forward through.

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One...two...five!

[–] amt253 18 years ago

Close Encounters of the Third Kind has no really plot-significant dialogue once the spaceship shows up at Devil's Tower, and that musical fantasy takes up the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the film. The same goes for Easy Rider, which, like An American in Paris, ends with some kind of trippy sequence before a dissatisfyingly rapid denouement. But there is dialogue.

If my memory serves me correctly, there's no dialogue in High Noon after noon train shows up. That means that the last 10 minutes is a mostly silent shootout (there was probably some dialogue). Otherwise, I can only think of the briefest of dialogue-free endings, like at the end of The Graduate. That uncomfortable silence in the bus feels like 20 minutes, though. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Watch a silent film.

[–] dadoo4050 18 years ago

In High Noon, the main bad guy calls out to Kane after he grabs Grace Kelly. That's about it.

[–] eddymondo 18 years ago

Footlight Parade has a masssssssive Busby Berkeley dance sequence at the end. Like it goes on forever.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jeps214 17 years ago

The Last of the Mohicans, the one with Daniel Day Lewis.

i have to say its the most impressive, most emotional, most moving finale ive ever seen and there are no words at all. i recommend it, its fantastic.

[–] shaggy_kuja 16 years ago

rififi's moved the story along, easy rider's was shorter, 2001 wasn't mononotous. I know the story was lame for the first hour and a half, but cutting the dialogue for tap dancing doesn't make the plot any better.

[–] arlycan 16 years ago

Michelangelo Antonioni's L' Eclisse ends with no dialogue. Very unsettling, very effective. Anyone who appreciates Italian cinema should watch it, but it's very much the antithesis of AAIP. I think the point that some of you are missing is that An American in Paris was already a very famous piece and a movie named for it would have some explaining to do if they didn't do the whole thing.

[–] Euphrosyne 15 years ago

Kelly did "Invitation to the Dance" in '56. But that doesn't have any dialog at all, so I don't know if it really counts.
"Invitation..." is interesting, but I'd say that AAiP is much more effective.

[–] Sic Coyote 15 years ago

It bored me to distraction

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