Since I've been going on about musicals all this week, let's wrap this up with a few clips.
First off, An American In Paris, directed by Vincente Minnelli (I've mentioned him before, perhaps?) and featuring the matchless Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. These are two of the best numbers from the film, and in very different ways. I love the langorous mood Minnelli creates with "Love Is Here To Stay"--the light shimmering on the water, the misted, glowing city in the background. When Kelly and Caron start dancing, he lets Kelly's choreography define his use of space...until the two of them get together, when he cuts to a close-up, then immediately pulls the camera back, as if allowing them their privacy. Magnificent.
For the deliberately campy "Stairway To Paradise", notice how Minnelli's camera follows Georges Guetary (I've never heard of him, either) up the staircase as the statuesque babes descend. Hard to appreciate on YouTube, on a big screen, an impressively vertiginous effect.
I wanted to include something from West Side Story, since it's the movie that really made me a big fan of musicals. I'm tempted to post one of Jerome Robbins' amazing dances, but instead, here's one of Leonard Bernstein's achingly lovely ballads. This song tends to make me cry, for reasons that have nothing to do with the movie. (Don't ask.)
Many of the ecstatic reviews for Hairspray have used enthusiasm for that film as an opportunity to bash other recent screen musicals, particularly Rob Marshall's Chicago, for their hyperkinetic editing. Well, Marshall was clearly only paying hommage to Bob Fosse, as this great number from Sweet Charity, Fosse's first film as director proves:
Geez, that was great. How about some more Fosse? No less a giant than Stanley Kubrick once claimed Fosse's Cabaret was as well-directed as any movie he knew. This number shows Kubrick's wisdom:
And finally, Singin' In The Rain. The whole thing, of course, is one of The Greatest Things Ever, but for my money, this is the greatest three minutes ever put on film. Heck, I just watched this scene four or five times before I even posted. This is Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, two guys who were simply the best at what they did. Pure joy:
