Invitation to the Dance [VHS]
Invitation to the Dancewas 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, theArabian Nights-type tale "Sinbad the Sailor," set to a loose arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov'sScheherazade. Incongruously appearing in a U.S. Navy outfit à laOn 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 Danceis 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.--David Horiuchi