Les Girls (1957)

Instant Favorite.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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 in the last original score he wrote showed that even with all of the tragic health problems he had suffered through, he could still write witty words and hummable music with this rather obscure MGM musical, the last Gene Kelly did for the studio. Playing once again an American in Paris (as well as the rest of Western Europe), he is a cabaret star involved in romantic scandal with the three "les girls" (no relation to the Australian drag queens of the same name from "Priscilla Queen of the Desert") he performs with in a lavish Moulin Rouge like cabaret show. The three girls are Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg, and they each have to tell their side of the story when one of the girls suddenly attempts suicide. "What is truth?" an observer outside the courtroom writes on a banner he carries. In this era of even worse obsession with public scandal of performers, this musical is very modern in its thinking, and thanks to a jet-perfect screenplay and the wonderful songs surrounding it, "Les Girls" is a gem worthy of being re-discovered, and even better in my opinion than Kelly's previous visit to Paris back in 1951.The songs vary, from spoofing "The Wild Bunch" ("Why am I So Gone About That Girl?") with Kelly in Brando gear, a wonderful art deco title song, and the extremely campy "Ladies in Waiting" with lyrics that are just as witty as Porter's songs for his series of hit musical comedies on Broadway of the 1920's, 30's and 40's (many of them set in Paris where he was the toast of the town). As heard on the original soundtrack album, "Ladies in Waiting" is a definite drag number, here performed by women in vintage Bourbon era costumes, and seen twice, one with one of the characters intoxicated and altering the lyrics in her boozy state.The acting honors go to Kay Kendall here, a delightful British actress whose career was cut short by leukemia. Her character seems oh so sophisticated and cool, but as the audience learns in the second part of this episodic story, her character has a major battle with the bottle. In her duet with Kelly, "You're Just Too Too!", she is delightfully lovable and eccentric, and her fun performance won her a Golden Globe (in a tie with her co-star, Taina Elg). Elg plays the most sensitive (and neurotic) of the three, and her solo, Ça c'est l'amour", is truly profound. Gaynor's chorus girl is the most undeveloped, although she gets to be the femme fatal in the "Wild Bunch" spoof which has a very colorful red based set, offshot by the black waitress outfit that Gaynor wears and Kelly's leather motorcycle jacket. Also prominent in the film are Jacques Bergerac as Elg's society born fiancée, Leslie Phillips as the British nobleman who entices Kendall with the possibility of a title and vinegar voiced Henry Daniell (a veteran of villain roles) as the sour faced judge. This is a spectacular musical to look at (as well as delightfully funny), and I am surprised that as well liked as reviewers here have made it that it isn't more well known. The story does slow down in the later moments, and like artistic flops "Yolanda and the Thief" and "The Pirate", it may seem pretentious to some. It should come as no surprise that its director was George Cukor, who would later have another more well known musical triumph with the film version of "My Fair Lady". For me, the important factor of this musical is the idea of "What is Truth?", the multiple conflicts of sensitive Elg, boozy Kendall and down to earth, realistic Gaynor when paired with the Pal Joey like egotistical Kelly who ends up with some health issues in the final sequence. The obsession with personal scandal today remains fresh, and perhaps it is a bit ahead of its time in its seemingly knowing of the future of court T.V. where fifteen minutes of fame becomes the obsession of so many non-public figures. With many MGM musicals having been adapted for the Broadway stage, this one seems one of the more deserving, perhaps because of the fact that it simply isn't as well known as the over-abundance of classics ("An American in Paris", "Meet Me in St. Louis", "Gigi") that have been done, often with mixed results.

While I really do like this film, every time I hear "Ca C'est L'amour", I'm reminded how similar it is to "C'est Magnifique". Anyone else notice the obvious similarity in the music and the lyrics between the two songs? "Love is wonderful. When love goes away, it's terrible. When love comes back, it's wonderful again." I think Porter simply did a rewrite of "C'est Magnifique", and hoped nobody would notice.Otherwise, I think this is a well-done film. Although the music isn't the best, it is serviceable. One disappointment is that the "Ladies In Waiting" number has so much peripheral stuff going on (Elg trying to hide her face, Kendall drunk), that you don't get the full impact of Porter's "naughty" lyrics.

Though made near the end of MGM's Golden years, LES GIRLS was a stylish and entertaining musical that brought to mind the Japanese tale "Rashoman" where we are given one story told from three very different points of view. The film opens with Lady Sybil Wren (the late great Kay Kendall), an elegant British bombshell, being taken to court for libel after the publication of a book she wrote about her experiences as the member of a song and dance troupe known as Les Girls. What we then get is a flashback where we meet Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly)the leader of the act and his girls, the aforementioned Sybil, a bubbly American named Joy (Mitzi Gaynor)and an exotic French beauty named Angele (Taina Elg). According to Sybil, Barry toyed with her affections, making her think he loved her, but Angele's version of the story reveals he made her feel the same way, but Barry, now married to Joy, does finally take the stand and tells his version of what happened, which is apparently what really happened. Stylish direction by George Cukor, a surprisingly meaty screenplay for an MGM musical, and some great musical sequences make for an offbeat but nonetheless richly entertaining film, which, if truth be told, is effortlessly stolen by Kay Kendall, whose luminous performance as Sybil lights up the screen, especially in a riotous comic duet she performs with Kelly called "You're Just Too Too.." Kendall was a supremely gifted actress taken from us much too soon and this film is ample proof of that. A nearly forgotten and underrated MGM classic.