The Gay Parisian (1942)
Overview
The Gay Parisian is an American short film produced in 1941 by Warner Bros. featuring the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and directed by Jean Negulesco. The film is a screen adaptation, in Technicolor, of the 1938 ballet Gaîté Parisienne, choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Jacques Offenbach. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 14th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
Cast
Léonide Massine
The Peruvian
Milada Mladova
The Glove Seller
Andre Eglevsky
Tortoni
Igor Youskevitch
Officer
Cyd Charisse
Dancer (uncredited)
Marc Platt
Dancer (uncredited)
George Zoritch
Dancer (uncredited)
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- Reviews
CinemaSerf
This is a vividly colourful excerpt from Offenbach’s ballet “Gaité Parisienne” performed by Monaco’s acclaimed Ballet Russe with quite a few of it’s more memorable pieces of music providing a score for duets, fisticuffs and elegant dancing. Essentially, though, it is really just a showcase for some Technicolor sumptuousness. The one thing I do like about visiting a theatre is the static seat you sit on. The cast perform to you, en masse, whilst you remain in the same position - not from behind a railing, or a plant, or from thirty foot above the stage at the side. Jean Negulesco seems not to be bothered about that continuity as the camera flits about all over the stage and effectively destroys the overall look and flow of this high-costume drama. We are too often in the laps of the leading dancers and so don’t really get a sense of the company experience that makes ballet a team proposition. Even though it’s only a single act story, it’s nigh-on impossible to condense that into twenty minutes and this presentation really doesn’t do justice to much beyond the appealing visuals. Worth a watch, but a bit disappointing.
