Best Picture Collection Vol. 2: Classic Musicals (An American in Paris, Gigi, My Fair Lady) (1958)

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS: Gene Kelly, producer Arthur Freed, director Vincente Minnelli and an ace creative team conjure sheer screen magic, one of the American Film Institute's Top-100 American Films. Kelly plays an ex-GI who loves Paris and loves even more an alluring (but engaged) perfume-shop clerk (Leslie Caron in her beguiling screen debut). Dance sequences spun around Gershwin songs accent Kelly's romantic pursuit. And the final 17-minute ballet--combining the title symphony, Impressionist set stylings and Kelly's unique talent for telling a story in dance--lifts this winner of six academy Awards including Best Picture into the ether of timelessness. "Love Is Here To Stay," Kelly sings. So Is An American In Paris.

GIGI: A home, a motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: the most eligible and most finicky bachelor (Louis Jourdan) in Paris offers them all to Gigi (Leslie Caron). But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for that wonderful something money can't buy. Producer Arthur Freed, director Vincente Minnelli and a cast rife with Gallic charm combine talents for this lavish winner of nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. It's Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe songs can sparkle like "The Night They Invented Champagne" or caress with title-tune tenderness. "I Remember it Well," man-about-town Maurice Chevalier sings to Hermione Gingold. Like love itself, Gigi is most memorable.

MY FAIR LADY: Best Oscar winner Rex Harrison reprises his signature stage role of Henry Higgins, the supremely assured phoeneticist who wagers that under his tutelage, cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle can pass for a duchess at the Embassy Ball. In one of her best loved roles, Audrey Hepburn plays Eliza. If ever there was a face the professor could grow accustomed to, it's hers.
 
"[My Fair Lady] ...the best stage musical of all time..."  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"[Paris] The Gershwin score may be the big star of the show."  Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
 


Editor's Note

Three classic Hollywood musicals are included in this collection of Best Picture Oscar winners.AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, GIGI, and MY FAIR LADY are the features included. Please see individual titles for further details.