MovieChat Forums > An American in Paris (1951) Discussion > fat tenor?

fat tenor?

posted 20 years ago by andyvphil
10 replies | jump to latest

In the "7.5?" thread, csu16387 says "Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron were quite the on-screen couple". Actually, that's the main problem with this movie. Kelly's dancing is the main feature, but he's simply too old for the part. Foch plays much older than her IMDb age (b.1924(?!)) but she can't pull off seeming too old for Gene. When Guetary (b.1915) is introduced Levant questions whether he is too old for the teenaged Caron (b.1931), so what is one to make of Kelly(b.1912)? His unreadyness to exhibit is also an example of why someone fifteen years younger would require less suspension of disbelief.

In the land of might-have-been, were there any good choices for juvenile lead, or do we just accept the "fat tenor" in the spirit of opera?

[–] ziegfeldgirl27 19 years ago

Caron was mainly chosen for the part because of how she could dance, and because she is french.

[–] MusicalFreak15 19 years ago

I don't know about other people but to me Gene Kelly always looked 10 years younger than he really was on screen! I mean he was nearly 70 years old in the 1980 movie Xanadu and he was dancing with(and even lifting Oliva Newton-John in the air)and Skating on Roller Skates. He kept himself in shape during his movies and his movement and Irish charm make him look and seem younger!

Farewell Ethel Barrymore, I must tear myself from your side!

[–] iloveclassics22 19 years ago

Isn't it always that way though? Kelly, Astaire, Cary Grant were all constantly cast in movies with much younger women and it isn't any different these days. I think Gene Kelly did have a way of looking younger than he actually was and I really never noticed the age difference in AAIP. But Fred Astaire opposite Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face was a bit extreme, he didn't age as gracefully.

[–] zillion29 19 years ago

Yeah, I agree with Musicalfreak15 on the age issue. I was admiring Kelly's physique in this movie and never really thought what his actual age was vs. his character's age. Although in both cases he was too old for Caron. When you think about other Kelly movies, especially Singing in the Rain, he plays way younger - do the flashback scenes in SITR with Donald O'Connor really look out of place when they're supposed to look like their in their 20s?
Was Guetary wearing some kind of hair dye to make him appear older?

[–] bradford-1 17 years ago

I have seen photos of Guetary from the same era and his hair was dark. Besides hair dye, he may have also been aged through makeup as well. Of course, if Chevalier had been able to do the role as originally proposed, none of the fakery would've been necessary.

[–] kathleencurley1 17 years ago

Did anyone recognise the REALLY fat guy who speaks to Guetary after his show, as Zelda Zander's "beau" in "Singing in the Rain"?

[–] MusicalFreak15 17 years ago

He is in a lot of Gene Kelly's movies including the "large" ("really fat" is mean) woman in the perfume shop. He is in "It's always fair weather" too. Again the lady is SITR, AAIP, and IAFW. I believe she might be in Brigadoon too but I haven't watched it in awhile so I don't remember.

"Just one more thing, sir."

[–] kathleencurley1 17 years ago

I've just watched AAIP again and realised that the "large" lady in the perfume shop was "Dora Bailey" in SITR. Bobby Watson wwho played the long-suffering voice coach in SITR is also in "The Band Wagon" as Fred Astairs's valet. Is this because so many of those actors were on contract to MGM and had to be used to justify their salaries?

[–] jenerators 17 years ago

did anyone else recognise Lois Lane (Noel Neill) as the American who criticises Mulligan's paintings just before he meets Milo? I thought I recognised that voice, but she's not credited!

[–] beardouk 17 years ago

Kelly could easily be 30, not nearly 40. And this is shortly after the war - that disrupted many people's lives - effecively putting things on hold for several years.