Invitation to the Dance
starring Gene Kelly

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Invitation to the Dance was Gene Kelly's great experiment at turning MGM's famous ballet sequences into a feature film. Kelly directed and choreographed three half-hour segments, all without dialogue or songs. "Circus," with music by Jacques Ibert, is almost traditional Romantic ballet, as Igor Youskevitch and Claire Sanders play the lovers in an old European stage troupe and Kelly, almost unrecognizable in clown-face makeup, suffers from unrequited love. "Ring Around the Rosy" jumps to 20th-century America, as Andre Previn's jazzy score provides the backdrop for an anniversary bracelet that passes through the hands of numerous people and finally back to the owner. Kelly plays the title role in the most famous sequence, the Arabian Nights-type tale "Sinbad the Sailor," set to a loose arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Incongruously appearing in a U.S. Navy outfit à la On the Town, Kelly explores a live-action Arabian marketplace, discovers a lamp and a genie, then travels to a cartoon palace, where he charms a dragon, dances with a princess, and spars with a couple of swordsmen. Invitation to the Dance is not all dance--much of the action is conveyed through pantomime--and a lot of it does not feature Kelly himself. Even though the film is not quite as entertaining as it could have been, the dancers are consistently good, and Kelly always provides something interesting to watch.
Synopsis
Gene Kelly both directed and starred in this groundbreaking film -- the first Hollywood feature dedicated totally to dance. The opening ballet, loosely based on the "Pagliacci" story, centers on a circus clown (Kelly) who loves a beautiful dancer. She, however, cares for another, and the clown sacrifices his own happiness to bring the couple together. French ballerina Claire Sombert and internationally famous danseur Igor Youskevitch play the romantic pair. "Ring Around the Rosy" takes a more cynical look at relationships. It all begins when a man bestows a bracelet on his sweetheart. This piece of jewelry ultimately gets passed from person to person... until it finally ends up in the hands of the original gift-giver. The delightful final sequence, "Sinbad the Sailor," is vintage Gene Kelly. This Arabian Nights tale, told in a mixture of live action and animation, has the energetic Kelly leaping, bounding and swashbuckling his way through a cartoon world.

 

 

 

 

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