With all due respect to the host of talented actors and writers with whom Vincente Minnelli worked, if I had to boil down his greatest strengths to two words they would be composition and color.

Minnelli started as a stage designer and costumer, and he brought that visual flair to the cinema. Even the worst of his movies always look beautiful. If you’re not blown away by the story, just follow the camera and drink in all the glorious reds and yellows.

Those primary colors were Minnelli’s go-to palette, but he found room for the whole rainbow. Watching his movies compared to the drab desaturated images of most modern releases is like Dorothy stepping into Oz.

Early in his career, Minnelli favored the squarish Academy ratio. When competition from TV ushered widescreen Cinemascope images into theaters, he pushed back, wondering how you could fit dancers’ heads and feet in the frame without shrinking them down and surrounding them with dead space.

But he adapted with a vengeance, composing some of the most glorious widescreen images of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Even in his melodramas, he found ways to populate every inch of the screen with new surprises, often moving the camera to reframe characters and shift tones mid-scene.

Before I get to some lovely examples, a few words about today’s Song of the Day. This is my favorite scene from Gigi, a rueful encounter between the rakish Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) and Mamita (Hermione Gingold), the one who got away. I love how Minnelli creates an artificial sunset behind them as they sing.

And here’s a selection of screenshots from Minnelli’s films that emphasize his use of composition and color. Enjoy!