Too much of everything

Just so...so bad

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I've never seen another movie quite like this classic of kitsch. Gene Kelly was behind the whole project. He was riding high at the time and MGM more or less gave him his head, but they demurred when it seemed to them that Kelly was working on some kind of Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk -- too highbrow for audiences.The Moguls were half right. It's somewhat too highbrow and somewhat too lowbrow. It comes out something like "Dance For The Millions" or "A Dummy's Introduction To Dance." It has nothing to do with the talent on display. It was never Kelly's intention to appear in all of the sequences. That was only as the studio's insistence. Kelly used the best available performers. In the first of the three stories -- Circus, Ring Around the Rosy, and Sinbad the Sailor -- Kelly wisely leaves the ballet sequences to Igor Youskevitch and Claire Sombert, while he limits himself mostly to mime. You know, though, Youskevitch makes those leaps look harder than they are. I studied dance myself in college and found I had an undiscovered talent -- a gift almost -- for doing jetees and then falling flat on the floor, even without the battement. Big show off, Youskevitch.The second sequence is a familiar story of an object being passed from one lover to another until it is returned to the original owner. Fun is made of the adolescent craze for a crooner who resembles Frank Sinatra in the 40s, only is voice is that of a trombone. Had Kelly tried anything daring with Tamara Toumenova, he would have been out of his league. He came to dance from athletics and sports like hockey, not from ballroom or ballet. But Kelly had courage. Some of his cast could do both acrobatics and ballet, like Tommy Rall, who plays the sharpie.The third is the most elaborate sequence, a sort of Arabian nights tale with music adapted from Rimsky-Korsakov. Kelly acquires one of those annoying little boys as a genie. Then he gets an animated fairy princess, the animation being built by the cartoonists around the real figure of Carol Haney, a fine dancer whose heft I would have preferred. I wonder how this sequence, which gets a little silly, would have gone over had the technology of, say, "Avatar" been available at the time.The chief problem here, as with some otherwise good musicals, is that the book is pedestrian. A complex and multi-faceted story with some comic interludes can be successful, as "An American In Paris" was. Better yet, make it essentially a comedy with a little edge and lots of jokes and funny moments -- "Singin' In The Rain" or "The Bandwagon." None of these three sequences has a narrative that draws us in. We are wowed by the art direction, the set dressing, the wardrobe, the flashy music, the sight of people yakking in accelerated motion, the vision of Kelly doing a threesome with Arab guards or floating in slow motion through a cloud of rubescent leaves.Too bad it's not more successful. Being a good dancer is terribly hard work. You need to start at a very early age, practice all your life, and have the coordination of a middleweight boxer. (Ask Ron Reagan, Jr.) So you put your heart and soul into it -- then you have to find a job. You might as well adopt Michael Jordan as a role model.

this was Kelly's pet project- a film with dance, and only dance. No dialogue, only mime, movement and music. However to his disappointment, MGM shelved its release and when it was the film was released badly- it was too arty farty to be popular with the audiences at that time. Well, I love this film. It's adventurous and interesting, and it's worth a watch to appreciate all the work Kelly's put into this work, which showcases some of the greatest dancers across many styles. So go watch this under-rated film and you will be in awe of all the talent shown before your eyes!

This is the result of many years of effort on the part of Gene Kelly to create an all-dance film. Since he was a major-studio rather than an indie production child, Kelly convinced his home studio, MGM, to finally take on the project.The final results, unfortunately, are mixed. The movie is simply average, with long stretches of off-timed and miscalculated action and uninspired choreography. Were Kelly to have collaborated in the writing, choreographing and direction departments, rather than taking everything on himself, things might have gone better.The project was simply too great a task for Kelly; with other imput he might have made a film with greater perspective and flair. The story in "Circus" is only fair, and there's more pantomime than dancing for Kelly as Pierrot. Unfortantely, Jacques Ibert's music doesn't help either. "Ring Around the Rosy" suffers from disjointed continuity, with awkward bridges and motivations. Too, the fine Tamara Toumanova as the Streetwalker provides a clash of styles when paired with Kelly as the Marine. Physically, their types don't match well, try as they will. Nor was this Andre Previn's finest compositional hour.Finally, Roger Eden's adaptation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's score for "Sinbad the Sailor" makes for the most effective music in the film. Kelly at last gets to display his distinctive dancing manner, and does some impressive work (at age 44) in the interesting cartoon sequences. It's not Kelly at his best, though, and "Inviation to the Dance" remains an interesting curio, earnest on effort and short on realization. Both dance fans in general and Kelly fans in particular will value this video in their collectiona.

This film includes three dance interpreted stories, choreographed and starring the great Gene Kelly. The first story is called "Circus" which tells the story of a circus clown who is secretly in love with the Circus Ballet Star who is openly in love with the Circus High-Wire-Walker. The second story is called "Ring Around The Rosy" which tells the story of a bracelet that is past from one silly lover to the next. The third story is called "Sinbad The Sailor" which tells the story of a navy sailor who, while on shore leave in Bagdad, finds a magic lamp that takes him on an animated adventure.Each story includes an all star cast of "then" well known dancers who give outstanding performances that only Gene Kelly fans and other dancers could appreciate. It is a delightful film, that will brighten any persons video library.