![]() ![]() ![]() I'd imagine taking home a few Oscars is a good way to earn big bucks, especially when you can understand the hype, for this is a seriously fun film, although it might not entirely be a good thing that it's not much more than that. the play, so they had to conform to the new wave of entertainment if they wanted to get the big bucks. Well, the popularity must have been dying down by this time, because even Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe took their property to the screen sooner than the stage, although, in all fairness, as this film's poster is telling us, they hadn't had a musical since "My Fair Lady". right? This film also came out during a time where people cared enough about musical theatre for marketers to use it to sell a movie, without the musical play being adapted into a movie in the first place. Well, actually, the accuracy of this poster is still seriously questionable, because this film after came out about six years before "My Fair Lady". This film came out during a time where posters sang overwrought praises for the movies they were promoting, but MGM just left it at that, just in case it didn't work out, you know, for MGM, which took home its, I don't know, twelfth Best Picture Oscar in a row with this film. Seriously though, the marketers really knew how to sell this film when they boasted that it was "The first Lerner-Lowe musical since 'My Fair Lady'". “I’ve never been so comfortable before,” Honoré sings at one point, and I instantly thought “yes, me too!” Honoré ends the scene happily whistling the tune as he strolls down the street, and I’ve caught myself whistling that tune myself again and again.MGM is back to the old song and dance routine in Paris, and this time, they actually got French people, so that they would have the accents handy and not make it too much easier to compare this film with "An American in Paris II". ![]() I was delighted by this – over the past several years, my roommates have tended to be somewhat younger than me, and I’ve had a spectator’s view of their own romantic ups and downs -and have gradually gotten more and more relieved that I just plain don’t feel like going through that much fuss myself. Honoré counsels him, and after Gaston runs off, Honoré muses about how freeing it is to be too old to care about romantic drama any more. This was a new song for me – it’s something Honoré sings after Gaston comes to him in a café begging for advice about his latest romantic misadventure. Alvarez seems miffed that Honoré has forgotten so much, but by the end, she chimes in with a word about her own memories, which are just as warm and rosy as his own.Įven more charming for me was a later solo number for Honoré – “I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore”. Alvarez has to correct him on most of the details. Alvarez, as they reminisce about their old romance and Mme. The first is “I Remember It Well”, a song that’s become a near-standard it’s a duet with Mme. Alvarez’ old boyfriend) and who serves as a sort of narrator throughout. There are also two absolutely delightful songs – both of which involve Maurice Chevalier, who plays Honoré, Gaston’s uncle (and Mme. Alvarez notice how Gigi’s getting old enough to start her new life, and Gaston has no mistress, so maybe they could encourage the pair down that path… Alvarez for a chance to let his hair down a little their flat is cozy and quaint, and Gigi is like a lively kid sister. She doesn’t have many friends her closest companion is the suave Gaston (Louis Jourdan), an old family friend and Paris’ most eligible bachelor. Aunt Alicia is grooming her for a career as a courtesan but at the top of the film, Gigi is too young to grasp that, and too spunky to be “ladylike”. Gigi (Leslie Caron) lives in genteel poverty with her grandmother, Madame Alvarez (Hermine Gingold), but has regular lessons in good breeding and etiquette with her great aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans). This was a classic Movie Musical that I actually kind of liked – even though the plot is a little disturbing.īased on a 1944 novella by French author Colette, Gigi is the story of a Parisian girl of 1900. ![]()
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