As a child, Gene Kelly dreamed of being a baseball player. The dancer and actor, born into a modest family in Pittsburgh, owes his career to a twist of fate: his father, a gramophone salesman in the days of silent cinema, found himself unemployed when the 7e art becomes speaking. His older brother earns some money, to keep the family from going under, by performing on stage.
Young Gene decides to accompany him and finds in tap dancing and bodily expression an incredible playground: they become the Kelly Brothers. This scene, where two young people lead the dance, from town to town, is also found in Let's sing in the rain. In this documentary, the stated bias is to tell how Gene Kelly, through his way of moving, his smile, his phrasing, revolutionized the musical comedy genre, making it more popular.
“Casual and athletic” as well as “classic and popular”Gene Kelly is quickly spotted by director David O. Selznick, who however does not really know how to use him; he therefore finds himself under contract, but without work. Facing the camera, at an already advanced age in his life, the actor, who died in 1996, confides his journey, which director Claudia Collao supports with film extracts and analyses.
As famous as Fred Astaire
At the same time as he continued to dance, to train, to search for himself, Gene Kelly developed a passion for the camera. Not for the object as such, but on the way in which it is possible to film dance, and grace, in the most efficient and fair way possible. His meeting with the impresario and former Broadway assistant Stanley Donen changed the situation: by experimenting, they became as popular as Fred Astaire, the star of the genre at the time, with whom he would also make several films.
The documentary also recounts the commitments of this young man, who moved from Pittsburgh to Hollywood, without ever denying his origins. A trade unionist, he also married his first wife, a communist, Betsy Blair. And he found himself in the sights of the McCarthy commission, after the war, even though his career was taking off and he had been a soldier during the Second World War. He has always refused outright to “give names”and ended up going into exile with his wife in London, like Charlie Chaplin.
The film is enchanting, as there are so many musical comedy extracts. It's a perfect program for these Christmas holidays. We can only regret a little that the rest of Gene Kelly's career has been passed over in silence, including his participation in Young ladies of Rochefortby Jacques Demy.
It has the advantage of showing both the birth of an industry and the way in which it shaped consciences and imaginations for a very long time. Good entertainment, preceded by Three Musketeersby George Sidney, where he plays the leaping d'Artagnan. A little happiness.
Gene Kelly leads the way, Arte, 11 p.m.
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