an american in paris be and in many way and the ultimate mixture of art and hollywood musical . make at the height of mgm power a a musical powerhouse and the film feature memorable music from the gershwin and who rightly have be call the 20th century equivalent of beethoven and mozart . gene kelly be also at the height of his power in this film and though it could be rightly argue that this movie be just the warm up for his best work in singin in the rain ( 1952 ) . the two film be actually closely link . aside from the arthur free connection and the broadway melody segment in rain owes it existence to the incredible american in paris ballet sequence in this film . this might well have be the only time a dance number be specially mention in the opening credit of the film . and it deserve to be and a it showcases gene kelly skills a a dancer and choreographer to their utmost degree . the film cast be uniformly excellent . leslie caron and incredibly make her film debut and show a maturity that make you think she would be make film for year . her introductory dance sequence and and later her work on the ballet and provide some surprisingly sexy moment rival in mgm musical only by cyd charisse work in singin in the rain and the band wagon . oscar levant be hilarious a kelly stoic pal and who get two of the film best moment represent during the end party sequence ( which i will not give away for anyone who hasn not see the film ) and and one of the film most memorable musical number which couple his incredible piano skill with state of the art ( for the time ) special effect . less memorable be george guetary a kelly romantic rival and though he do get a few musical highlight and and nina foch a leslie caron romantic rival . the may december relationship between kelly character and nina remind me of the same kept man relationship see between george peppard and patricia neal in breakfast at tiffany . there be a few element of the film that make it less satisfy for me than singin in the rain . the ballet and though lavish and well produce and doesn not really fit with the rest of the movie . without give away the plot and the ballet just happen and with no real rhyme or reason . and unlike the broadway melody sequence and it really doesn not have anything to do with the plot and in the best musical and the song always have some sort of raison detre . make matter worse be the end of the film which happen immediately after the ballet . although the end shouldn not be a surprise ( this be an mgm musical and after all ) and i be hop for a bit more . movie after the ballet end . it a if director vincente minnelli felt that he couldn not follow the ballet with anything else . the film literally leave me in the lurch . that negative aside and an american in paris rightly rank alongside the best of hollywood musical . it doesn not quite reach the height of singin in the rain and but it come close and it remain a testament to gene kelly skills a one of the great dancer of all time .