The Silver Screen Oasis

I love The Pirate and it's stars and I love Gene Kelly in hotpants

I'm a huge fan of the ballet sequences in Kelly's and Minelli's films. I have to watch them a couple of times before I move on. I've often been known just to watch the end of An American in Paris.

I suppose the ballets and musicals sequences are something you're either into or you're not.

Hedvig, how to you rate the Fred and Ginger movies you've seen. Ballet sequences are complete fantasy and although Fred and Ginger's dances are hardly reality the do sit more with the plot of the story.

Well, Judith, here is a direct comparison between Gene and Doug:




I suppose Kelly's are a trifle shorter to allow more movements (dancing and stunts). And also, within the film, the sequence of the 'Pirate Ballet' is taking place in Manuela's mind. It's a visualisation of her fantasy where Serafin becomes a 'sexual image'. I think Gene is great in this costume.

I can agree with that. Although Judith's comments have made me eager to watch this film again.

Hedvig, how to you rate the Fred and Ginger movies you've seen. Ballet sequences are complete fantasy and although Fred and Ginger's dances are hardly reality the do sit more with the plot of the story.

Yeah, they do fit into it better, for me. Their dances are the perfect extension to their interaction together before. They are very different from the ballets of the 40s and 50s. The dancing is in a different style, the music is different, the colours are different, and those two have a chemistry that you can't beat. They always seem to enjoy the dance for its own sake as well. It's part of a game.

I also love the big musical sequences of the early Busby Berkley musicals. These are complete fantasy and have nothing to do with the story of the film whatsovever. What can I say? The style is different, the atmosphere and the music and the edge is different. I guess they're just more my style than the later ballets.

I'm very sorry, Mme. AH, but every single time I see Kelly in this getup, I giggle. "Sexy" is not the word that comes to my mind, his great legs notwithstanding.

Well, John, I guess I wouldn't mind getting that hug from Fairbanks . It looks mighty inviting . . . . . .

Lovely pictures Christine, I'm with you on this one