Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6280 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Vincente Minnelli's 1958 adaptation of Colette's story about a girl (Leslie Caron) groomed as a courtesan--but desired as a wife by a Parisian playboy (Louis Jordan)--won a lot of Oscars, but it also has the unusual distinction of being an MGM musical shot on location in the City of Lights. What a musical it is (by Lerner and Loewe): Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold crooning "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well", plus the songs "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", "Gigi", "I'm a Bore", and "She's Not Thinking of Me". Director Vincente Minnelli (Some Came Running, Meet Me in St Louis) makes a sumptuous, dreamy, almost laid-back affair of it all and the indispensable cast is forever etched into memory. Hollywood's long-running infatuation with continental grace and manners, the memory of a much earlier time imported to American movies through such immigrant directors as Ernst Lubitsch, may have finally come to a gentle end with this film. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review
Gigi, Vincente Minnelli's 1958 adaptation of Colette's story about a girl (Leslie Caron) groomed as a courtesan but desired as a wife by a Parisian playboy (Louis Jordan), won a lot of Oscars, but it also has the unusual distinction of being an MGM musical shot on location in the City of Lights. What a musical it is (by Lerner and Loewe): Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold crooning "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well", plus the songs "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", "Gigi", "I'm a Bore", and "She's Not Thinking of Me". Director Minnelli makes a sumptuous, dreamy, almost laid-back affair of it all and the indispensable cast is forever etched into memory. Hollywood's long-running infatuation with continental grace and manners, the memory of a much earlier time imported to American movies through such immigrant directors as Ernst Lubitsch, may have finally come to a gentle end with this film. --Tom Keogh

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

• Trailer

DVD Technical Information:

• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  
• Languages: English, French & Italian
  
• Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portugese, German, Romanian, Bulgarian.
  
• Hearing Impaired: English, Italian

Customer Reviews

Undiluted pleasure
Whilst I really shouldn't give this a five star rating, every time I tried to reduce it I found I couldn't. Having just watched the film, I'm still too full of the pleasure of watching something so riotously happy. The reason I shouldn't give it 5 stars is because of the quality of the DVD itself. It looks more like video than DVD, with some quite serious scratch/flicker, particularly at the beginning and during one number.
With the impossibly handsome Louis Jourdan, Leslie Caron doing her sweet little girl act, and the incomparable Maurice Chevalier (try watching Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and I think you might see where that came from!), the cast couldn't be better. The LernerLoewe songs are all hum a long, the script witty and the costumes wonderful, making the whole film very easy on the eye.
Not surprising then that the film won 9 Oscars, including best picture, director, cinematography, costume design, and song.
Worth forking out for provided you don't mind the DVD quality issues. Personally, don't regret it in the least

Thank Heaven for Little Girls
This is a fun musical that is worth rewatching. Apologies to readers as with out comparing to the book this film is first rate. And for those viewers that poses large high definition devices it is also fun to watch the background from clouds to furniture.

The year 1900. The place Paris. The story of the coming of age of a little girl, Gigi (Leslie Caron.) And the coming of age of those (Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, and Hermione Gingold) interested in Gigi's coming of age. Mixed throughout in the appropriate places are relevant songs and visual filters.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli who is well known for Brigadoon (1954), and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970). Original music by Frederick Loewe Camelot (1967) (music: "I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight"), and Brigadoon (1966) (TV) (music: "I'll Go Home With Bonnie Jean").

"A new fair lady"
"Gigi" suffers from a rather far-fetched plot, which may not necessarily appeal to modern taste. A young girl is raised by her grandmother in Paris and is educated in social manners by her grandmother's sister. The grandmother has her heart set upon Gaston, a rich, handsome, and bored young man who happens to love Gigi as a little sister. The old lady's purpose is not marriage, as one might expect; rather, Gigi is to become Gaston's concubine. Happily, however, Gaston realizes that she is more important to him than that and eventually asks for her hand in marriage.

Even though the plot is not entirely to my personal taste, "Gigi" is quite an enjoyable film, and definitely worthy of being included into a musical lover's collection. As a musical, it has great songs, which I've really enjoyed, and for which one would want to play it repeatedly: "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "It's a Bore," "The Night They Invented Champagne," "Gigi," "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well," "I'm glad I'm Not Young Anymore" are a few notable examples of lovely and catchy tunes, with lovely, lovely lyrics. They are also skilfully integrated within the plot, setting off the characters' state of mind or even stages in their emotional growth. "Gigi," for example, besides being a great song, also marks the moment when Gaston realizes that she is not a little girl anymore and that he has feelings for her. The decors are rich and colourful - I have especially noted the deep red of the grandmother's living room, and the Paris settings. Costumes are also lavish, from Gigi's dress to the suits of clothes worn by Gaston and his uncle.

Louis Jourdan plays a handsome Gaston, set off by his bachelour uncle, played by Maurice Chevalier. Leslie Caron does a good job in the title role, though I couldn't help the feeling that Audrey Hepburn, who was offered the role but declined, would have done better. Hepburn had a seemingly natural talent at playing young girls who go unnoticed and who eventually surprise everyone by becoming the quintessence of elegance. Caron is lovely, but I was sorry that she wasn't Hepburn. As it is, however, the movie is enjoyable, and certainly one that I will want to rewatch. I gave it 4 stars simply because I feel it isn't on the same par with other great pieces of the genre, of which "My fair lady" is the most obvious example. Incidentally, the short extra featurette on the DVD informs us that soon after its release, "Gigi" was advertised as the story of "a new fair lady," "as popular on screen as 'My Fair Lady'is on the stage."

All in all, I have seen better plots, and yet, I do recommend "Gigi." The plot may not shine, but it is a happy one, and the songs are very good, so I've enjoyed it and I think I'll enjoy it even more on a second viewing.