Invitation To The Dance [1956] [DVD]

Gene Kelly's personal and most ambitious undertaking is a pure dance film, which he conceived, choreographed and directed. It comprises three different ballets starring Kelly and an impressive assembly of American and European dancers, including Tamara Toumanova, Igor Youskevitch and Tommy Rall. Of these, Ring around the Rosy (music by André Previn) is the most successful and entertaining segment, concerning a bracelet which passes through many hands before coming back to its original owner.

The finale, Sinbad the Sailor, danced to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, in which Kelly dances with animated cartoon characters (and Carol Haney's Scheherazade), is the most innovative and experimental.

An expensive enterprise, the film was a critical and box-office failure, largely because its classical ballet pretensions are ill-suited to Kelly's vigorous style. Imperfect, often mannered, and sometimes tedious, but there is much to interest lovers of dance.