Starring
Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jasques Bergerac,
Leslie Phillips, Henry Deniell, Patrick Macness. Directed by George
Cukor. (1957/114 min).
Les
Girls is notable for being Gene Kelly's last MGM musical. While
it pales in comparison to his crowning achievements with the studio (Singin' in the
Rain and An American in Paris), the movie is not without
charms of its own.
Sybil
Wren (Kay Kendall) has just published a tell-all book about her time
with Les Girls, a dance group led by Barry Nichols (Kelly), which also
includes Joy Henderson (Mitzi Gaynor) and Angele Ducros (Taina Elg).
As the film opens, Angele is suing Sybil for libel, claiming that
events in the book are complete lies, particularly the chapter which says Angele attempted suicide after having her heart broken. Taking
the stand in her defense, Sybil recounts the incident, in which
Angele falls in love with
Barry while engaged to her fiancee, Pierre, who isn't even aware
she's a dancer.
The
next day, Angele tells her version, which has Sybil turning into a
drunken lush because she's the one in love with Barry...or at-least that's
what they tell Barry to keep him from dropping her from the show.
It turns out Sybil has a fiancee, too, who obviously isn't happy with her or Barry. Finally, Barry himself takes the stand with what he says actually
happened, which mostly involves circumstances surrounding his pursuit
of Joy.
 |
| Gene's birthday wish? A chair. |
This
is merely a wrap-around story to showcase Kelly doing what
he does best: performing elaborate song-and-dance numbers with one or
more of his co-stars, the best one being Kelly and Gaynor in an
amusing send-up of The Wild One. But Les Girls isn't
quite a full-blown musical in the traditional sense. Rarely does a
character actually break into song during the story itself. A
majority of the Cole Porter numbers featured are performed onstage before an audience. It doesn't make them any less entertaining,
though, especially for Gene Kelly fans.
Despite
the suicide angle, the tone of Les Girls is congenial and laid-back, happy to bounce from one predicament to the next with some
snappy singing and dancing along the way. There's little substance
beneath the shiny surface, but who wants that in a musical?
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTE:
"Cole Porter in Hollywood: Ca C'est L'Amour" - Hosted by
co-star Taina Elg, this is just as much about the cast and production
of Les Girls as it is about Porter.
CARTOON
SHORT: Tex Avery's "The Flea Circus"
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW.
No comments:
Post a Comment