Gene Kelly expanding the ballet frames

"On The Town" (1949) directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly: Gabey (Gene Kelly) falls for Ivy "Miss Turnstiles of the Month" Smith (Vera-Ellen) thinking she is some sophisticated celebrity, but she's actually a kootch dancer in Coney Island.

"On the Town", was based on the Broadway musical "On the Town", adapted from "Fancy Free", a Jerome Robbins ballet. The original sailors in the ballet were innocent gobs. According to screenwriter Adolph Green: "With Gene as the leading character and the star of the picture, the angle of the story had to be changed. He couldn't be a helpless, naive type. The whole structure of the story had to be changed to suit the people who were going to play the characters."

Kelly's character, Gabey, was thus changed from a passive character to a cad prototype. For a still camera, Kelly felt that "a dancer rushing from a fair distance away can create some sort of kinaesthetic effect." Both Clive Hirschhorn in his biography of Kelly and Barry Day noted that panning shots used by Kelly often made use of vertical props (such as the lamppost in "Singin' in the Rain" and the ladder in "You Were Meant for Me"), to create more depth. According to Day, Kelly's answer to the question of the best way to photograph dance was to create an artificial depth of field.

The "Miss Turnstiles Ballet" does not occur in the diegetic world of the film, but takes place in Gabey's imagination. With a few vertical props strategically positioned, the camera can wander at will. Instead of revealing everything at once, it provides a series of surprising frames within frames. Suddenly the dancer had depth on screen, thanks to Gene Kelly's efforts behind the camera.

In the scene with Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) in "Singin' in the Rain", recording Jean Hagen's nasal dialogue in the film-within-a-film: "Our love will last 'til the stars turn cold", Reynolds' voice was not used either. According to Stanley Donen: "We used Jean Hagen (Lina Lamont) dubbing Debbie dubbing Jean. Jean's voice is quite remarkable, and it was supposed to be cultured speech and Debbie had that terrible Western noise..."

Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Selden and Don Lockwood in the "You're My Lucky Star" musical scene: "You are my lucky star, I was starstruck, You're all my lucky charm, I'm lucky in your arms, You've opened Heaven's portal, Here on earth for this poor mortal."

Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron on the set of "An American in Paris" (1951) directed by Vincente Minnelli

In both their introductory numbers and the subsequent ballets, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen) and Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron) had been presented as very nearly the "complete woman" for Gene Kelly's characters Gabey and Jerry.

Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly during the ballet scene in "Broadway Rhythm Ballet" ("Singin' in the Rain")

Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) represented the "complete woman" only as a platonic conception, because her dance introduction happened in the film diegesis and because Reynolds was a more limited dancer, so in "Singin' in the Rain" the ballet scene expanded the definition of ideal woman with the introduction of Cyd Charisse's minx character, who countered with sensuality and sexual perversity Reynold's sweet effervescence.

From the entrance of Cyd Charisse, with Kelly's character's hat dangling on the tip of her shoe, to the camera's ogling of her famous long legs, it is clear that the dimensions of ideal woman in the film are being expanded from Reynold's innocence to Charisse's aggressive sexuality.

The presence of Charisse's character also helps to expand Kelly's persona in the film. Debbie Reynolds' had brought out his tenderness, but Cyd Charisse brought out conspicuously the sexual fire in his personality.

Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly on the set of "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955) directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly

A song was written for Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse in "It's Always Fair Weather" by Andre Previn & Comden and Green, but never made it into the film. It was entitled "Love is Nothing But a Racket," and was intended to be a slow, romantic duet.

Kelly has been described during the making of the film as an "overworked, jagged-in-the-nerves executive." Donen was even more caustic: "I didn't really want to co-direct another picture with Kelly at that point. We didn't get on very well and, for that matter, Gene didn't get on well with anybody. It was the only picture during which the atmosphere was really horrendous. We had to struggle from beginning to end. I can only say it was an absolute one hundred per cent nightmare."

While the status of the relationship of Kelly and Donen would certainly dissolve after the completion of "It's Always Fair Weather", the film and its contradictions are rooted in a changing America during that time, and specifically in changes that were a part of Kelly's persona.

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) directed by George Sidney

The role of America in the world, especially in regard to its interventionism in such countries as South Korea, began to be questioned. The confidence of the country after World War Two gradually gave way to the "Age of Anxiety," the fifties. The dynamics of typically paternalist male/female relationships began to be questioned as well.

Gene Kelly, more than most performers, was a reflection of 40's confidence in America. He had begun his Hollywood career in 1942 starring in "For Me and My Gal" alongside Judy Garland, thereafter playing a variety of war-time roles ("Pilot No. 5", "Thousands Cheer", "The Cross of Lorraine", "The Devil Makes Three"). Some of his greatest successes were in films where he had played US Navy servicemen, such as "Anchors Aweigh" and "On the Town".

It is easy to link the influence of dance in his films with the confidence of America in itself. As that confidence progressively waned, so did the influence of musicals, leaving Kelly to create song-and-dance films without that characteristical confidence and idealistic joy that had infused them before.

Gene Kelly and Betsy Blair (married 22 September 1941 - divorced 3 April 1957)

Also the intrusion of the increasing trend to marginalize dance in Gene Kelly's posterior films occurred at the same time his marriage with Betsy Blair broke up. -The Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen Trilogy: Singin' and Dancin' in the Narrative and Film Structure (1984) by Mark DuPre 

The Shoes - Time To Dance (Official Video)

Combine the best band in France right now, acclaimed director Daniel Wolfe, production by Somesuch & Co, and one of the hottest young actors on the planet and you're sure to get a banging filmclip.

Jake Gyllenhaal in New York City on March, 11, 2012

Screencaps of Jake Gyllenhaal in The Shoes - 'Time To Dance'

"We scored the world premiere of The Shoes newest video which features Jake Gyllenhaal as a disturbed killing machine who chases his victims up fire escapes, into back alleys, and through strip clubs before he violently slays them.

Jake Gyllenhaal has played a lot of roles, but you may not have seen him like this before. The actor plays a serial psycho killer in a new video by French electro-pop act, The Shoes.

In the psycho-drama music video for "Time To Dance," Gyllenhaal chases his victims up fire escapes, behind back alleys and through dark bars and strip clubs, killing them one by one with swords and other weapons.

The Shoes have remixed, produced and arranged music for various artists, including Shakira and Lana Del Rey". Source: www.cbsnews.com

Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2

Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

"Pal Joey": Gene Kelly (Broadway), Frank Sinatra (with Kim Novak)

Gene Kelly plays Gabey, the sailor on a 24-hour shore leave frantically looking for his dream girl, "Miss Turnstiles" of the month, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen) in the film "On the Town" (1949)

Roger Scruton argued that any instance of sexual desire possesses an individualising intentionality. By this he means that sexual desire is founded upon the thought of the other as the specific individual he or she is. That is, there can be no sexual desire which exists and then ‘attaches’ itself to a specific individual. From this account it also follows that there cannot be any such sexual desire as an unfocused desire for no particular man or woman.

Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly in "On the Town" (1949) directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly

Scruton considers the case of the sailor storming ashore with the thought ‘woman’ in his mind: he might be thought to desire a woman, but no particular woman. Scruton claims that until the sailor actually meets a specific woman he desires, he desired no woman; he was rather in the condition of desiring to desire. Such a view of sexual desire has to find an adequate response to such phenomena as that of Casanova, described by Stefan Zweig: 'Sex goes through the rhythm of the year, in man and woman, ceaselessly changing - the rhythm of the sun in his relation to the earth'. -"Sexual Desire" by Christopher Hamilton - Richmond Journal of Philosophy (2004)

No mere pretender was Kelly, playing with happiness. Rather he was happy, often to the extent of appearing fully flushed. A most joyous, most happy dancing fella! A filmic Puck. A modern-day Pan. Full of dancing life force, and most contagious in his exuberance and merriment. -Pittsburgh Post Gazette (1967)

"Pal Joey" starring Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak and Rita Hayworth, directed by George Sidney in 1957, is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1.

The pluses far outweigh the negatives here, with some incredibly lushly saturated color, and excellent fine detail which brings out every nuance in the stunning Jean Louis costumes. Bonus features: Isolated score track Backstage and at Home with Kim Novak featurette Original theatrical trailer Liner notes by Julie Kirgo.

In the last week of 1952, Frank Sinatra went into Columbia’s Hollywood studio and recorded three songs in high style. Axel Stordahl arranged and conducted, and for the first time Bill Miller was sitting at the piano. The first number, Rodgers and Hart’s “I Could Write a Book,” marked a new artistic peak. This song had debuted on Broadway in 'Pal Joey' in 1940, starring Gene Kelly.

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra with Esther Williams in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (1949)

Gene Kelly was unlike anybody Sinatra had met in Hollywood. Handsome, tough, cheerful, and athletically brilliant, Kelly was a walking paradox: a blue-collar jock who happened to be a superlative dancer, the opposite of the slim, ethereally elegant Fred Astaire. Sinatra was intimidated by Kelly's sheer dancing ability. -"Frank: The Voice" by James Kaplan (2011)

Gene Kelly in "Pal Joey" on Broadway (premiered on December 25, 1940, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre). Directed by George Abbott with choreography by Robert Alton, the opening-night cast included Gene Kelly as Joey Evans, Vivienne Segal as Vera, and June Havoc as Gladys. Van Johnson and Stanley Donen were also in the cast.

Gene Kelly and Vivienne Segal in 'Pal Joey' on Broadway - “In Our Little Den of Iniquity” number.

Joey Evans, as an unsympathetic antihero, is a striking departure from the usual musical comedy formula. Richard Rodgers said: "Joey was not disreputable because he was mean, but because he had too much imagination to behave himself, and because he was a little weak."

In Chicago in the late 1930s, Joey Evans, a second-rate dancer and nightclub MC, a charming "heel" with big plans, schemes to get his dream –his own nightclub– "Chez Joey". He meets young and naive Linda English outside a pet shop, and, impressing her with his grandiose lies, they are romantically attracted ("I Could Write a Book").

In the nightclub, the older, wealthy but bored married socialite, Vera Simpson comes in with her friends and becomes interested in Joey as the chorus girls are doing a song-and-dance number ("That Terrific Rainbow").

"This young man is genuinely life-saving to Pal Joey for, if the chief part were not properly cast, the new musical show might have been too merciless for comfort. Mr Kelly combines a certain amount of straightforward personal charm with the realism of his portrait so that Joey actually achieves the feat of being at once a heel and a hero". -Herald Tribune (1940)

"In terms of a Broadway man, Gene Kelly was playing a tricky role: a very brash, cocky, sure person, who was very randy with the girls, but who was needy and not well educated, which made him funny. He was an energetic, fresh, aggressive Irish-American presence, which had a great charm". -Stanley Donen

"Scratch a heel and you find Gene Kelly, who isn’t a heel at all. As Joey Evans in the new musical comedy 'Pal Joey', Gene is about the heeliest heel that ever stepped on a neck, but off-stage he’s a friendly Irish lad who started a dancing school to help pay his way through Pittsburgh University, barnstormed night clubs from New York to Dallas and made himself known to Broadway as the hoofer in William Saroyan’s 'Time of Your Life'. -The Day (1941)

Joey is thoroughly nasty – a braggart, a cheat, a wastrel who takes things as they come and is always on the lookout for ‘mice’ (young women). “Yes,” said Gene Kelly as he finished a midday breakfast, “Joey isn’t bad – he just doesn’t know the difference. He’s an ignorant, low class bum with nothing but good looks and a good line”. -New York Times (March 1941)

"There is one scene where the ingénue, Leila Ernst, comes on, and she wears a blue dress that is not as blue as her eyes. It is a bright blue, but not as bright. You know, that fascinates me. Every night I look at her eyes instead of putting myself over as I should be putting myself over all the time.” -Gene Kelly

In an interview to the Los Angeles Times in 1994, Gene Kelly talked about his affinity for his leading ladies. "You must make the lady look good," he said. "If she looks good I think the dance will look good".