Feeling photography was not his suited profession, Minnelli grew dissatisfied and began reading Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell's 1911 biography of James McNeill Whistler, an American painter.

Inspired by Whistler's art techniques, Minnelli immersed himself in impressionist and surrealist painters, such as Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí.

Taking inspiration from Léon Bakst's designs for the Ballets Russes, Minnelli fashioned a 300 feet (91 m)–tall green and silver curtain to accompany the Art Deco theatrical style.

[32] In July 1933, Minnelli's first art direction assignment was designing a "Water Lily" ballet, a Cuban potpourri illustrated with a backdrop of fighting cocks, a Big Top interior for a circus number, and a Rue de la Paix dress shop to display the Roxettes.

Starring Beatrice Lillie, Ethel Waters, and Eleanor Powell, the Broadway musical centered on a married couple who flee the United States, and travel across Europe, Africa, Japan, and the West Indies.

[38] In his New York Times review, Brooks Atkinson praised Minnelli's efforts, writing: "Without resorting to opulence he has filled the stage with rich, glowing colors that give the whole work an extraordinary loveliness.

"[48] Time magazine also applauded: "Sharing credit with Wynn for the show's success is able Vincente Minnelli, trained in the hard school of movie stage-shows, who directed it and designed the scenery.

"[49] Inspired by the musicals Pins and Needles and Four Saints in Three Acts, Minnelli began developing a surrealist fantasy titled The Light Fantastic, with Beatrice Lillie in mind to star.

"[62] Based on the 1940 musical by Vernon Duke and John La Touche, Cabin in the Sky tells the story of Petunia (Ethel Waters), a devout woman, who prays for the soul of her gambler-husband "Little" Joe Jackson (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson).

[68] A loose remake of Spite Marriage (1929), Skelton plays Joseph Renolds, a tailor's assistant, who becomes enamored with Constance Shaw (Powell), a Broadway star, and attends every performance of her Civil War melodrama.

Ponedel refined her appearance, which included extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line and removing her nose discs and dental caps.

[83] Adapted from the 1943 magazine short story by Ludwig Bemelmans and Jacques Théry, the film tells of two con men (Astaire and Frank Morgan) who are hiding from extradition in South America.

James Mason had wanted to play the role of Flaubert, while Louis Jourdan and Alf Kjellin (billed as Christopher Kent) were lent onto the film courtesy of Selznick.

[102] During production, Minnelli notably filmed an elaborate waltz sequence, utilizing 360-degree pan camera movements accompanied to Miklós Rózsa's pre-recorded instrumental score.

[109] Critical reception was positive, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times calling the film "equally wonderful" when compared to the book, with "all the warmth and poignancy and understanding that makes the Streeter treatise much beloved.

During a lunch meeting at the Romanoff's, MGM producer John Houseman showed Minnelli a screenplay draft titled Memorial to a Bad Man based on a short story by George Bradshaw.

Lana Turner was hired to portray Georgina Lorrison, the "beautiful"; when both casting choices were announced, the trades questioned: "when these two get together..."[123] The story focuses on Jonathan Shields (Douglas) and his Hollywood rise by manipulating three individuals: actress Georgina (Turner) whom he deceives by professing his love, director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan) whose picture he expropriates, and screenwriter James Bartlow (Dick Powell) who loses his wife to a scandalous affair.

Fred Astaire was cast as Troy Hunter, while the writers Lester and Lilly Marton (portrayed by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) were loosely based by Comden and Green.

[180] Frank Sinatra was cast as David Hirsh, alongside Shirley MacLaine, Martha Hyer, and fellow Rat Pack member Dean Martin as Bama Dillert.

[196] A review in Time magazine praised Holliday for her "showmanly style" while noting Minnelli "manages to jog and jazz and jigger a merely middling book and some fairly forgettable tunes into one of the year's liveliest and wittiest cinemusicals.

[219] Adapted from George Axelrod's 1959 play, the story involves Charlie Sorrel, a womanizer who is shot by a jealous husband and returns to Earth reincarnated as a beautiful blonde.

[221] Released in November 1964, it received mixed reviews from film critics, with Bosley Crowther negatively stating "Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis [are] so sadly cast in distasteful roles that it causes even a hardened moviegoer to turn away from it in pain and shame.

Intended as a vehicle for the star couple, Martin Ransohoff devised an original story of a love affair between a married Episcopalian minister and a free-spirited single mother.

Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews were considered for the lead roles, but MGM president James Aubrey shut down development by 1969 due to the declining commercial success of musical films.

It is bright, it is romantic, it is solidly produced, it centers on an expertly comedic performance by Barbra Streisand and a charming if remarkably unpersuasive turn by Yves Montand as a psychiatrist, it is inventive, it is innocent.

"[276] In 2012, film historian Ronald Bergan contrastingly wrote: "What distinguished Minnelli from most of the other directors on the MGM roster was his mise-en-scène – his elegant compositions within an individual frame – the relation of objects and people, the interplay of light and dark, the pattern of colour.

"[277] Joseph Andrew Casper noted Minnelli's metteur en scène as "essentially expressionistic" by which he uses decor to create "a spatial-temporal continuum, albeit researched and dramatically related, filtered through the director's spirit.

"[278] Basinger agreed: "His filmed universe was one of fantasy and reality mixed, of dreams and deceptions, and of a decor that is always carefully researched, designed, and executed with the purpose not only of being rewarding in and of itself, but also of defining character and setting.

"[279] Throughout his career, Minnelli directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Spencer Tracy, Gloria Grahame, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley MacLaine, and Martha Hyer.

[280] During filming for Some Came Running (1959), Minnelli spent hours setting up a single shot because he wanted a Ferris wheel in the background, or a vase to hold the right kind of flowers.