Saturday Night Cinema: Les Girls (1957)


Tonight’s Saturday Night Cinema feature is an MGM musical, albeit an unusual one, directed by the great George Cukor, and starring Gene Kelly  and Cole Porter music. I love an MGM musical and Cukor, Cole and Kelly… need I say more?

Les Girls is the Rashomon of MGM musicals. The film is told in flashback, as Mitzi Gaynor and Taina Elg, two-thirds of a popular cabaret trio, attempt to legally block the third, Kay Kendall, from writing her memoirs. Each of “Les Girls” has her own Screen Shot 2014-02-08 at 4.20.16 PMinterpretation of the group’s previous professional and amorous escapades. To make sense of these wildly diverse recollections, the court must rely upon a fourth party to straighten things out. Enter Gene Kelly, the dancing star who organized “Les Girls” in the first place. But can Kelly be believed?

The New York Times film review: Les Girls (1957)

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The Screen: ‘Les Girls’ By Bosley Crowther,  NY Times published: October 4, 1957

RUDYARD KIPLING’S thesis that the female is deadlier than the male—a perilous estimation with which most females officially disagree—is wittily and brightly illustrated in Sol C. Siegel’s musical picture, “Les Girls.” This CinemaScope and color presentation opened at the Music Hall yesterday.

But in spite of resentment of the thesis, it is doubtful if any of the female sex will want to challenge the implication or the feminine behavior in this film. For its cast of exquisite performers, under George Cukor’s fine directorial hand, makes feminine ferocity about as charming as anyone could possibly want it to be.

Rest assured that the thesis is not developed in this particular case by the assortment of zoological specimens that Mr. Kipling put on display. Rather it is demonstrated by three handsome young ladies in a troupe of vaudeville entertainers playing Paris and the continental wheel. And the representative of masculinity against whom their comparative ferocity and trickery are gauged is their boss, an American dancer, whom Gene Kelly joyously plays.

The three young ladies in this adroit production are Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg, the latter a Finnish ballerina who has been waiting for a break at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But the charm and delight of the picture are derived as much from a sleek and quippy script, excellent Cole Porter music, fine direction and gay décor as from “les girls.” At least, we should say that all elements blend harmoniously.

Actually, the story by Vera Caspary was based on an article that appeared, of all places, in The Atlantic—a reminiscence of a showgirl’s touring years. But Miss Caspary’s story turns the memoir into a point of ferocious dispute. Is the story of those years, as recollected by one of the dancers, completely accurate or it is a slanted reflection of the teller’s egoism and revenge? Indeed, what is truth, when it is sifted through a woman’s vanity?

The way Miss Kendall tells it, while defending a libel suit brought by one of the other young ladies on account of things said in Miss Kendall’s book, this young lady (Miss Elg) was a siren who threw herself at Mr. Kelly when she joined the troupe and two-timed a prim French baron. It is a very spicy tale Miss Kendall tells.

But Miss Elg, on the stand, bears different witness—and it is all very charmingly portrayed in the deliciously detailed flashbacks that constitute the substance of the film. According to her, she was a loyal and kindly troupe member who, indeed, had a terrible time keeping Miss Kendall from beating the bejabbers out of booze. In order to help the poor young lady, she engineered a romance between her and Mr. Kelly, which led Miss Kendall, in turn, to two-time an English suitor. Quite a different presentation of “the truth.”

However, when Mr. Kelly gets on the stand, he tells a third and noticeably less ferocious story. He says he actually loved Miss Gaynor and had to ditch the others in order to get her into an act all their own. It is Mr. Kelly’s story that demonstrates the lesser deadliness of the male.

It is a lively pot-pourri of gossip and slander, contrived into a play by John Patrick, that tumbles forth in “Les Girls.” It might be called slightly satiric, but it is really a spinning adult farce—if anything, just a bit too complex, maneuvered and elusive at the end. And Mr. Porter’s new songs, interpolated mostly as numbers done by the troupe, are agreeably mischievous and daring.

Most lively and clever of “Les Girls” is Miss Kendall, who leaps forth in this film as a formidable match for Beatrice Lillie as a light comedienne. In a number she does with Mr. Kelly—a rollicking thing called, “Just Too Too”—she spins through a complex of hoofing that might stagger a veteran star. And she mimics an operatic diva in a screaming drunk scene to wake the dead.

Miss Elg, too, is brilliantly funny; Miss Gaynor shows her usual dancer’s charm and Mr. Kelly is more winning in this picture than he was in “An American in Paris”—which is some! Leslie Phillips as an English suitor, Jacques Bergerac as a French one and Henry Daniell as an English judge are also droll.

The scenery, costumes and other details of production are as rich as can be. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and everybody have a joy and delight in “Les Girls.”

On the stage at the Music Hall are Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade, dancers; Charles Manna, comic, and the Glee Club, Corps de Ballet and Rockettes.

The Cast
LES GIRLS, screenplay by John Patrick; based on a story by Vera Caspary; music and lyrics by Cole Porter; directed by George Cukor; a Sol C. Siegel Production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the Music Hall.
Barry Nichols . . . . . Gene Kelly
Joy Henderson . . . . . Mitzi Gaynor
Lady Wren . . . . . Kay Kendall
Angele Ducros . . . . . Taina Elg
Pierre Ducros . . . . . Jacques Bergerac
Sir Gerald Wren . . . . . Leslie Phillips
Judge . . . . . Henry Daniell
Sir Percy . . . . . Patrick MacNee
Mr. Outward . . . . . Stephen Vercoe
Associate Judge . . . . . Philip Tonge

The Truth Must be Told

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Thanks for sharing!