Invitation to the Dance

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.

Invitation to the Dance is what you get when you take an artist at the peak of his abilities and allow his imagination to run wild. Gene Kelly--and some very talented people in all fields--integrated music and dance to create three distinct stories.

He reduces some scenes to their visual essences by using abstract or minimalist sets, aided by lighting effects. The third story includes cartoons, allowing Kelly to take his imagination beyond the bounds of human limitations and physics.

The performances are a synthesis of various dance and related forms (ballet, tap, jazz, mime, acrobatics, pop, and ethnic) with musical accompaniment (classical, jazz--cool and hot--ethnic, and pop).

Invitation to the Dance is a treat for any dance lover. It should be seen by all young students of dance.

It would be interesting to see this film they way Kelly originally imagined it, with him dancing in one section only.

No wonder INVITATION TO THE DANCE found no audience at the box office. The first two musical sequences, "Circus" and "Ring Around the Rosy" are monumental bores dragged down by pedestrian stories and, in the second one, inept use of camera trickery to speed up the action.

But the third, "Sinbad the Sailor," makes expert use of the Rimsky-Korsakov ballet score and makes dazzling use of animated effects, especially for the dancing between Kelly and a couple of Arabian guards which are highly original, intricate and amusing examples of combining live action with animation. It's the kind of originality sadly missing in the previously mentioned stories.

The "Sinbad" highlight almost makes up for the rest of the film with its own brand of originality--but alas, the first two sequences are enough to turn many viewers away from watching the final segment.

Summing up: Easy to see why this one failed miserably to attract a target audience with either high or low brow tastes.

I am so happy that I taped this and got a chance to watch it! In all the years of watching TCM, I never seen this before. Thank goodness, I now will look at the movies lineups for early thru the mornings, to find rare gems, not shown at most viewing hours, like 5pm to 10pm! This was just AMAZING!!! How could you not like all 3 shorts movies. There was no need for words, because the dancing, and music told the stories! Yes, too bad Gene Kelly didn't get more credit for his wonderful work! Highly recommended for all dance, musical movie lovers! A rare gem indeed!!!!

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!