| | | "Winner of 9 Academy Awards, Including Best Picture."
Features: DVD
Home, motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: man-about-town Gaston (Louis Jourdan) offers them all to Gigi (Leslie Caron). But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for something money can't buy. Producer Arthur Freed, director Vincente Minnelli and a cast rife with Gallic charm join for this lavish winner of nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. It's Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe songs sparkle like "The Night They Invented Champagne" or caress with title-tune tenderness. "I Remember it Well", Maurice Chevalier sings to Hermione Gingold. You'll remember Gigi forever.
"Exuberant. Bright and witty. The stars are most appealing." Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic
"Charming...exquisitely filmed, perfectly cast..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A charming delight." MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher
"A marvelous, original work..." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Lavish, glossy and eminently tuneful." The Motion Picture Guide
Editor's Note
Set in Paris at the turn of the century, this delightful Lerner and Loewe musical, based on a story by Collette, follows a precocious French girl as she is groomed into a would-be courtesan, blossoming into a stunning woman. The story provides plenty of opportunity for Minnelli and MGM to pull out all the stops in its first musical production shot on location. Paris and Leslie Caron never looked lovelier, and Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier are so French, no? Songs include: "Gigi," "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," and "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well." Academy Award Nominations: 9. Academy Awards: 9, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best (Adapted) Screenplay.
| Features | Thank Heaven! The Making Of Gigi: A Sparkling New Documentary About The Turbulent Creation Of A Musical Classic Featuring Leslie Caron & Vincente Minnelli | | 1949 Nonmusical First Screen Version Of Gigi, Starring Daniele Delorme In The Title Role & Directed By Jacqueline Audry | | Audio Commentary By Historian Jeanine Basinger With Leslie Caron | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Mono | | Classic CinemaScope Cartoon: The Vanishing Duck | | Dubbed: French | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Japanese | | Vintage Short: The Million Dollar Nickel |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 9/16/2008 |
| Running Time: 92 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1958 | | Catalog ID: 1000035859 | | UPC: 00883929003389 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1959) |  | Adrienne Fazan, Winner, Best Film Editing | | Alan Jay Lerner, Winner, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | | Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Winner, Best Music, Original Song | | Andre Previn, Winner, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture | | Arthur Freed, Winner, Best Picture | | Cecil Beaton, Winner, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color | | E. Preston Ames, et. al., Winner, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color | |
Golden Globe (1959) | | Gigi, Winner, Best Motion Picture - Musical | | Hermione Gingold, Winner, Best Supporting Actress | |
Oscar (1959) | | Joseph Ruttenberg, Winner, Best Cinematography, Color | | Vincente Minnelli, Winner, Best Director | |
Golden Globe (1959) | | Vincente Minnelli, Winner, Best Motion Picture Director |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"...Widely regarded as the last of the great MGM musicals..." 10/19/1994 p.10DChicago Sun-Times
"...A marvelous, original work..." 03/01/1996 p.33 Sight and Sound
"...Louis Jourdan is as charming a rake as he was in LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN..." 05/01/2000 p.66 Total Film
"[A] sublime riff on Pygmalion..." 02/01/2004 p.121 Entertainment Weekly
"[A] Parisian valentine...garnished with lots of actual locations." -- Grade: A 09/19/2008 p.56 Variety 9 of 10
The performances are well nigh faultless. From Chevalier, as the sophisticatad uncle, to John Abbott, his equally suave valet; from Miss Gingold's understanding role as Gigi's grandma to Isabel Jeans, the worldly aunt who would tutor Gigi in the ways of demi-mondaine love; front Jourdan's eligibility as the swain to Bergerac's casual courting of light ladles' loves; from Eva Gabor's concept of said 1.1. to Miss Caron's sincere performance--all are ideal choices for their roles...Miss Caron's London experience in the stage version of Colette's cocotte (Audrey Hepburn did it in the U.S.) stands her in excellent stead in her cinema concept. This marlia her film return since "Lili." Jourdan, of course, is capital as the unwilling philanderer opposite her...Director Minnelli's good taste in keeping it in bounds and the general sound judgment of all concerned--with full awareness that Lerner's excellent basic libretto dictated no other choice--distinguishes this Arthur Freed independent production. The Metrocolor rates recognition for its soft pastels under Joseph Ruttenberg's lensing; the Beaton costumes, sets and general production design are vivid physical assets at first sight. The skillful integration of words-and-music with the plot motivation makes this "Gigi" a very fair lady indeed as a boxoffice entry.
Reel.com 9 of 10
It might come as a surprise to modern-day audiences that Vincente Minnelli's bubbly Gigi walked away with nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in its day. A charming Cinderella story based on the classic novel by Colette, yes, but Best Picture? Well, if Forrest Gump could do it, why not this breezy little musical from Lerner and Loewe?...Set in turn-of-the-century Paris, Gigi concerns the friendship and eventual romantic entanglement of our young Parisian heroine Gigi (Leslie Caron) and older, sugar millionaire Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan looking like a cross between Ricky Martin and Adam West). Though seemingly manipulated like beautiful chess pieces by their scheming families, the lovers ultimately find their own happy ending. Along the way we are treated to Cecil Beaton's stylish costume design, and Andre Previn's orchestrations of classic tunes like "I Remember It Well," "She Is Not Thinking of Me," and "The Night They Invented Champagne." And then there is the tres magnifique presence of the supremely dapper Maurice Chevalier, eyes twinkling as he performs "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" and, of course, "Thank Heaven for Little Girls." - Robert Payne
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