An American in Paris

An American in Paris follows Jerry Mulligan, an American who has stayed in Paris after the Second World War to make his name as a painter. His work attracts the attention of Milo Roberts, a wealthy woman who becomes his patron and takes a personal interest in him that goes beyond his art. Jerry's friend Adam, a struggling concert pianist, is connected to the well-known singer Henri Baurel. At a nightclub Jerry meets Lise, and the two fall for each other, but she reveals she is already engaged to Henri, which leaves both Jerry and Lise trying to do the right thing.

The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, the sixth of the fourteen features he directed in chronological order, arriving between Father of the Bride and The Bad and the Beautiful. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the screenplay, Arthur Freed produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Gene Kelly plays Jerry opposite Leslie Caron as Lise, with Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary and Nina Foch in supporting roles. The production had a large credited cast and crew.

Released in September 1951 and running 113 minutes, the film is a musical romance with comedy, made on a budget of 6 million dollars that its worldwide gross of 7 million did not greatly exceed. Audiences are moderately positive: it holds 7.1 out of 10 on IMDb from around 39,000 votes and 7 out of 10 on TMDB from far fewer votes, while a film critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10 from 101 reviews is noticeably higher than those audience scores.