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IMDbPro

Invitation à la danse

Original title: Invitation to the Dance
  • 1956
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Invitation à la danse (1956)
Three different stories are told through notably unusual way - no words, just dance.
Play trailer3:27
1 Video
15 Photos
AnimationFantasyMusic

Three different stories are told through a notably unusual way - no words, just dance.Three different stories are told through a notably unusual way - no words, just dance.Three different stories are told through a notably unusual way - no words, just dance.

  • Directors
    • Gene Kelly
    • Joseph Barbera
    • William Hanna
  • Writer
    • Gene Kelly
  • Stars
    • Gene Kelly
    • Igor Youskevitch
    • Claire Sombert
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Gene Kelly
      • Joseph Barbera
      • William Hanna
    • Writer
      • Gene Kelly
    • Stars
      • Gene Kelly
      • Igor Youskevitch
      • Claire Sombert
    • 22User reviews
    • 8Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 3:27
    Official Trailer

    Photos15

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    Top cast18

    Edit
    Gene Kelly
    Gene Kelly
    • The Clown in 'Circus'…
    Igor Youskevitch
    Igor Youskevitch
    • The Lover in 'Circus'…
    Claire Sombert
    • The Loved in 'Circus'
    Tamara Toumanova
    Tamara Toumanova
    • The Girl on the Stairs in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Diana Adams
    • The Hatcheck Girl in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Tommy Rall
    Tommy Rall
    • The Sharpie in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Belita
    Belita
    • The Femme Fatale in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    David Paltenghi
    • The Husband in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Daphne Dale
    • The Wife in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Claude Bessy
    • The Model in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Irving Davies
    • The Crooner in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    André Previn
    André Previn
    • The Composer at the Piano in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    Carol Haney
    Carol Haney
    • Scheherazade in 'Sinbad the Sailor'
    David Kasday
    David Kasday
    • The Genie in 'Sinbad the Sailor'
    Luigi Faccuito
    • Specialty Dancer
    • (uncredited)
    Diki Lerner
    • Thief in 'Sinbad the Sailor'
    • (uncredited)
    Paddy Stone
    Paddy Stone
    • Speciality Dancer
    • (uncredited)
    Ian Wilson
    Ian Wilson
    • Man Exiting Stage Door in 'Ring Around the Rosy'
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Gene Kelly
      • Joseph Barbera
      • William Hanna
    • Writer
      • Gene Kelly
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews22

    6.41K
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    Featured reviews

    9atlasmb

    The Talent and Imagination of Gene Kelly

    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.
    ccbc

    Amazing Dance with Animation

    The first two segments of this film may or may not impress you, but do watch the third: "Sinbad the Sailor". Kelly plays an American sailor in an exotic Oriental market. He rubs an old lamp and a genie appears, played by an amazingly talented kid. After a bit of messing around,the genie gets a sailor suit, too. Then they open a book to a picture of a wonderous land. The genie transports them inside and all the rest features the two dancers (mostly Kelly alone) dancing with animation.This segment is much longer than any other live-plus-animation sequence until Mary Poppins excepting, possibly Song of the South whose sequences were nowhere near so complex as this. Kelly dances with an animated dragon (that wraps around him), into a harem, is chased by the Sultan's guards, has a long sequence with one harem girl, and then a very long sequence with the guards. This is amazing work for 1952, especially when you remember that every bit of the animation is hand-painted on cels. Hanna-Barbera (then with MGM doing Tom and Jerry directed the animation. (Kelly also did a famous dance number with Jerry in Anchors Aweigh eight years earlier.) Walt Disney advised. This is swell stuff and any fan of animation should give it a look.
    5Doylenf

    Only worthwhile for the dazzling "Sinbad the Sailor" animation...

    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.
    Theatress

    A Must See For All Gene Kelly Fans, or Dancers.

    This film includes three dance interpreted stories, choreographed and starring the great Gene Kelly. The first story is called "Circus" which tells the story of a circus clown who is secretly in love with the Circus Ballet Star who is openly in love with the Circus High-Wire-Walker. The second story is called "Ring Around The Rosy" which tells the story of a bracelet that is past from one silly lover to the next. The third story is called "Sinbad The Sailor" which tells the story of a navy sailor who, while on shore leave in Bagdad, finds a magic lamp that takes him on an animated adventure.

    Each story includes an all star cast of "then" well known dancers who give outstanding performances that only Gene Kelly fans and other dancers could appreciate. It is a delightful film, that will brighten any persons video library.
    7LeonardKniffel

    Artistry Over Audience Appeal

    It might better have been called "Invitation to the Pantomime" because there is no speaking, much less singing, in the film, a production much better suited to the stage. The movie does in fact look like a filmed stage production, and the format and ambitions of the film are not what audiences had come to expect from Gene Kelly. But this was his baby, and he wanted to take filmed dance to entirely new levels of artistic achievement. In many ways, it is a testimony to his power as a choreographer and a star that he was able to pull it off. Nevertheless, beautiful as it is, this is not everyone's cup of tea. Watching the first of the three dance sequences, I longed for Kelly to take that white paint off his mime face and stop mooning over the ballerina. He did, and the next two sequences are more enjoyable, the last being rather fun when animation takes over. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Gene Kelly's original intention was to make a film that would educate mainstream audiences about professional dancing in the world. To this end, he wanted to cast the greatest dancers in Europe for the four segments in leading roles. He himself would appear in only one - the Popular Song sequence, which ended up being cut. MGM, however, refused to allow the picture unless he appeared in all of them. Many of the professionals who worked in the film agreed that this was one of the film's great weaknesses.
    • Goofs
      During the "Scheherazade" sequence, the color of the palace guard's costume changes from green to blue.
    • Connections
      Edited into American Masters: Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer (2002)
    • Soundtracks
      Circus
      Music by Jacques Ibert

      Performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Hollingsworth

      Danced by Gene Kelly, Igor Youskevitch and Claire Sombert

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    FAQ

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 5, 1956 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Invitation to the Dance
    • Filming locations
      • London, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $1,500,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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