The greatest movie ever!

Excellent but underrated film

A Major Disappointment

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The music isn't one of the best from Cole Porter and it features a strangely subdued Gene Kelly. There's a reason Cukor was called a woman's director, because in this film the women are the focus and are they hilarious! I never heard of Kay Kendal before watching this movie. Her unique beauty and comedic timing are genius. It is the worlds loss that she passed away so soon. Top notch performances, sumptuous costumes and choreography make this musical a must see.

The plot for this film is a lot like taking the Kurasawa film "Rashomon" and combining it with "An American in Paris". The final product, while pretty to look at, it pretty dreadful--overly long, overly familiar and amazingly slight.The film begins with Angèle (Taina Elg) suing Sybil (Kay Kendall) following the publication of Sybil's tell-all book "Barry Nichols and Les Girls". What follows is a Rashomon-style plot where each of the particulars in the story tell their account of what happened back when they were a successful dance team--and each has a completely different idea of what has really occurred--and each thinks they were Barry's one love. So why wasn't I in love with this film? The biggest problem is that the characters are generally unlikable--especially the very manipulative Barry (Gene Kelly). As for the dancing, I hated it but it all depends on what style music you like. If you like big production numbers and lots of very modern dance, you'll probably like it. I prefer musicals where the singing and dancing are more integrated into the plot-- such as in the infinitely more successful film from this same period, "Gigi". Also, the film just lacks originality, as it did borrow so heavily from "Rashomon". But most importantly, I just found the film overly long and pretty dull. Pretty to look at...but dull.

There are fabulous talents involved in this film, but the result is not as good as I expected. Cole Porter's songs are surprisingly undistinguished, and there's not quite as much singing and dancing as there could be. The settings and costuming are great however, and keep the eye entertained. Love those 50's wasp waists and bouffant skirts! The screenplay is sharp, the acting good, and the intriguing story keeps bowling along.Predictable it's not. Kay Kendall displays her talent for comedy, but for me the standout is Mitzi Gaynor. She is a snappy little actress and a lithe and fluid dancer. In this vehicle she outclasses Gene Kelly who falls short of his usual charm. Taina Elg (who?)is pretty enough, but to me does not have any charisma. Overall, while witty and entertaining, the story is lacking in warmth and romance. Maybe it's too witty: the stuff about relationships is pretty cynical. To summarize, it falls short on delivering the magic of the great musicals. You won't fall asleep, but you won't be singing or dancing around the living room either. 6 out of 10.

Cole Porter's score is far from his best and you probably would never guess that George Cukor directed it and Gene Kelly, although he dances as well as ever, isn't well served by either the script or indeed the choreographer, (it's virtually a supporting role). But what it has in spades are the Les Girls of the title; Mitzi Gaynor, (she's the 'sassy' bundle of fun), Taina Elg, (the gold-digger) and that great leggy British comedienne Kay Kendall who is not particularly well served by the script either but who is so graceful and witty and sophisticated she can lift the material. She isn't as good here as she was in "Genevieve" but she is better than anyone else in the movie and she won a Golden Globe for it, (though Elg, too, is a duplicitous little spitfire and is probably better here than in anything else she did). It looks fabulous, (Orry-Kelly's costumes won an Oscar), but, as we know, looks aren't everything. Nobody's finest hour, then, but neither is it totally negligible.