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The Girls of Les Girls
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See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks in Movie Talk!
I recently had the pleasure of meeting the Finnish-born dancer and actress Taina Elg, star of this week's DVD Tuesday pick, the musical Les Girls (1957). Hear me out before you stop reading because you don't like musicals — I'm not wild for them generally, but over the years I've been steered to some great ones by friends in the know. Les Girls is a little gem I discovered on my own, and all because someone sent me an Ask FlickChick query (scroll down) about what had become of the gamine Miss Elg. I discovered that she was alive, well and living just a few blocks from me, and subsequently had a thoroughly delightful phone conversation with her, some of which wound up in my answer. Then last week I found myself at a publicity event where I was able to meet Miss Elg in the flesh and she was even more charming. Right then and there, I decided to try to turn a few people on to the criminally underrated Les Girls.
Les Girls is the Rashomon of MGM musicals, and if you can't imagine such a thing, well, there's the first reason to check it out. It opens in England in the then-present day, as a high-profile libel case is about to start at the Old Bailey. The defendant is Lady Sybil Wren (Kay Kendall), who's recently published a racy memoir of her days in post-WWII Europe as a member of the cabaret revue Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly) and Les Girls. The other two "Girls" — French ballerina Angele (Elg) and American hoofer Joy (Mitzi Gaynor) — take strenuous exception to Lady Sybil's version of events, and use their day in court to set the record straight. Of course, each has her own version of who was having an affair with whom and callously two-timing her fiancé in the process, who was a gin-soaked harridan and who tried to kill herself, setting the stage (as it were) for a series of contradictory flashbacks.
For a long time, Les Girls was available only as a carelessly panned-and-scanned tape, but in 2003 it finally came to DVD in all its wide-screen splendor. To be fair, the Cole Porter score isn't his best… but second-rate Porter isn't chopped liver. The production numbers are really clever, including a spoof of biker-movie posturing and a Martha Graham-style modern dance parody; Kelly contributed some of the film's dance numbers because credited choreographer Jack Cole fell ill during production. And the costumes are terrific: Those backless Marie Antoinette outfits are so low, low, low that if it weren't for the big blue bows, they'd have been illegal in several states. Thank goodness Les Girls were appearing in oh-so-continental Europe. Patrick McNee, later of TV's The Avengers, plays a barrister. And the Girls themselves are a terrific mix: Gaynor is the curvy, uncomplicated, girl-next-door type, Elg is all European sophistication (wink, wink) and really shines in the flashback that paints her as a gold-digging little minx, and Kendall is a revelation, a cool, lanky Brit with devastating comic timing. Sadly, Kendall — who was married to Rex Harrison — died of leukemia only two years after Les Girls was released.
Things to consider:
How do you feel about the flagrant artificiality of classical musicals: Love it, hate it, just don't get it?
Do you find it easier to suspend disbelief in backstage musicals, where the production numbers spring from the show business setting?
How about newer musicals — Rent, Chicago, Idlewild , Dreamgirls?
Do you have a favorite musical (or musicals)?
Any you hate with a passion?
Send your movie questions to FlickChick;.
Previous DVD Tuesday blogs:
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The Queen
Expresso Bongo
I'm Not Scared
Shocking Grindhouse Double Bill! — Scanners and The Candy Snatchers
Don't Look Now
Re-Animator
Casino Royale
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800073953#comments">Pi
The Prestige
13 Tzameti
The Departed
Suspiria
Kiss and Make Up
Kiss Me Deadly
The Long Good Friday
What Alice Found
The Devil's Backbone
The Descent
The Devil Wears Prada
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets/Jack Palance Interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
Also: This week's new DVD releases
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May 7, 2007 6:28 PM
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I myself am a HUGE fan of old musicals. I love, love, love Gene Kelly. I owns several of his musical movies and several others. I've seen hundreds of them. I have also seen Les Girls, but it was not my favorite. I think musicals are just fun, that is all they really are fun. I love the dancing, I could watch Kelly and Astair dance for hours. I don't think the newer musicals have the same kind of magic the older ones did back in their day. But I am a fan, I even own Chicago and Moulin Rouge. But there was something about the costumes, the dancers, the dances, the actors/actress' that was magical. Nothing beats Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain, or Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I could go on and on...
My top 5 are: Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Molly Brown, Guy's & Doll's and Summer Stock. The 40's & 50's to me were truly a golden era for musicals. My mother thinks I am truly out of my element because I am in my late 20's and if I could meet anybody in or out of the world it would be Gene Kelly.
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May 7, 2007 8:29 PM
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Literally a couple of hours ago I actually sent FlickChick a question about musicals, specifically about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
I just saw this movie, and it absolutely blew me away. I'm not a huge fan of musicals (I don't dislike them on principle, I just don't really see the appeal), but this one is literally one of my favourite movies of all time. It's unlike any other musical (or movie, for that matter), since it doesn't have any big showstopping numbers, but instead the entire movie is sung. Every single line. Imagine taking a a normal script, and then just singing everything. It completely took my breath away. So that's my favourite musical.
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May 7, 2007 9:27 PM
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I've never been a fan of musicals, and your question Maitland, made me want to examine why. I still don't think I have pinpointed it totally, but it does have something to do with the "fakeness" of it. Chicago is a good example, because if that had been just a regular movie I think I would have enjoyed it. The characters were dark, manipulative and yet you can grow to like them, but the minute someone breaks into song all reality in the film is killed for me. There's an over-the-top number, sometimes with dancers that come out of nowhere, and then the characters go back to what they were doing, or talking about, like a musical number didn't just happen. For me it's silly. Moulin Rouge wasn't so bad, but that was silly and stylistic from the get go; I didn't feel like it was trying to be realistic. "Musicals" that I have liked were all animated, but then that doesn't really count as a musical for me, because again, it goes back to it being unrealistic from the beginning.
Maybe it's also because I generally don't care for that type of music. I really liked A Mighty Wind and it's songs, which were folk and not broadway style. I'm not a big folkie or anything, but the songs were catchy. Maybe I'm reaching, I'm not sure that film could really be considered a musical. Since Les Girls is all singing, as was mentioned above, and is an older film and therefore already out of my reality from the beginning, maybe I'll give it a try and even enjoy it. Thanks for making me question my dislike of musicals, maybe my understanding of it will help me move past it and appreciate them for what they are.
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May 8, 2007 10:47 AM
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I love movie musicals. Errr... let me rephrase that... I couldn't care less if a movie is a musical or not.
And I don't care if the theme is show biz-based or not. But if it is, I don't even mind when the plot involves a Broadway show and the big number involves an elaborate spectacle that could never actually be staged.
My favorites are the early Fred & Ginger pics. As for newer musicals, I tend to dislike them when they have contemporary music because it just does not appeal to me. But I am glad for the resurgence.
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May 8, 2007 2:59 PM
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Maitland, as I'm sure you know, I adore musicals. And you're right: Les Girls rarely gets its due. My favorite underrated musical of all time is It's Always Fair Weather, which was written by the late Comden and Green. The story seems almost contemporary and in a way reminds me a bit of Les Girls, and not just because Gene Kelly stars in both: At the end of WWII, three servicemen buddies vow to reunite 10 years later. Of course when they do, they find that they hate each other. Michael Kidd is a blue-collar diner owner. Kelly is a shady, underworld involved boxing manager. And Dan Dailey is a TV exec involved with a "This Is Your Life" type show hosted by Dolores Gray. Of course music and mayhem ensue, but it's a hilarious critique of an up-and-coming medium (TV) and social politics. If you haven't seen it, check it out!
As for what kind of musicals I prefer, obviously backstage tales are more plausible, because there's a reason for the characters to be singing and dancing. And classics like 42nd Street (it was a movie long before it hit Broadway!), Singin' in the Rain and A Star is Born (with Garland, NOT Streisand) prove why it's an effective format. But there are a ton of wonderful non-backstage tuners: On the Town, An American in Paris, Gigi that prove you don't need a theatrical setting to be magical.
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May 8, 2007 3:38 PM
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As a kid, I loved the annual network showings of The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. Also, occasional network airings of My Fair Lady or Singin' in the Rain on Public TV. I've also loved many of the Judy Garland pics' I've rented. And I'm Way glad of the recent movie adaptations of successful Broadway shows like Chicago and Dreamgirls. It's just too bad that these kind of movies seem to have an appeal for more niche audiences than the more family mainstream kind that was more prevalent from the '30s to the '60s when Hollywood was going all out with roadshow attractions after the success of TSOM, MFL, and Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. At least now, we don't have non-singers dubbed by Marni Nixon, though I liked her too...
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May 8, 2007 3:53 PM
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How do you feel about the flagrant artificiality of classical musicals: Love it, hate it, just don't get it?
I don't think there is any way to make breaking into song backed by unseen musicians while in traffic or on a ship or about to get your head chopped off so I take the artifiality as a given when I watch a classic musical.
Do you find it easier to suspend disbelief in backstage musicals, where the production numbers spring from the show business setting?
Musicals like A Hard Day's Night or Jailhouse Rock-if those qualify as such-where the characters appear with instruments or other musicians seem less aritficial and are, for me, sometimes easier to enjoy. Would The Producers (the original) be an example? I liked that one a lot.
How about newer musicals ?
For me the problem with newer musicals is not the believability but the music. The likes of the unbelievably boring and repetitive Andrew Lloyd Weber pale in comparison to greats like Rogers and Hammerstein/Hart, Sondheim and Bernstein, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, Lionel Bart etc. Marvin Hamlisch is the only recent composer who comes immediately to my mind (I'm not saying there are no others) who has written truly notable music for musicals. Even a good pop songwriter like Elton John comes up short.
Do you have a favorite musical (or musicals)?
This weekend I saw West Side Story from the beginning for the first time in years. Forgot how good it was. The PBS bookend gave a bit of trivia that Elvis Presley was approached for the role but in another career choking move his manager Tom Parker put the kibosh on it. Would have been intersting. Jailhouse Rock was evidence enough for me that he could have handled the dancing.
Other faves:
Oliver
The King And I
Singing In The Rain
The Producers
Paint Your Wagon (if only for "They Call The Wind Maria")
Guys And DOlls
All That Jazz.
Any you hate with a passion?
Too many to mention but I've already mentioned my disgust regarding Andrew Lloyd Weber. I think Phantom is complete crap.
Don't like Carole Bayer Sager at all even if one of my favorite songwriters-Burt Bacharach-does. Haven't seen all of your examples but I haven't heard any song from any of them that impressed me. All seem cut from the same overblown lyrically vapid rhythmless cloth.
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May 9, 2007 4:39 AM
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Hey SuperJosh79 if the idea of Chicago without the music appeals to you check out Roxie Hart. Ginger Rogers does a production number or two but their great and the film is a real kick-and hilarious to boot.
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May 9, 2007 4:43 AM
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How about newer musicals -- Rent, Chicago, Idlewild , Dreamgirls? - I've never seen any of these. I might watch them somtime, well, except for chicago because I REALLY don't like richard gere.
Do you have a favorite musical (or musicals)? Grease
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May 9, 2007 11:15 AM
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How do you feel about the flagrant artificiality of classical musicals: Love it, hate it, just don't get it?
Love it! I think it gives musicals a kind of surreal quality a lot of that time that appeals to me a lot. I love great set design and musicals often have amazing set designs.
Do you find it easier to suspend disbelief in backstage musicals, where the production numbers spring from the show business setting?
No. I can easily suspend my disbelief which is why I love horror/fantasy/sci-fi, etc. films and I view musicals in the same way I would view a fantasy film I suppose.
How about newer musicals -- Rent, Chicago, Idlewild , Dreamgirls?
I haven't enjoyed a lot of new musicals except Velvet Goldmine and Dancer in the Dark do come to mind. I liked them because they did new things with modern musicals and didn't try to go over old ground, plus the music and stories were great. They also had great casts and were made by great directors.
Do you have a favorite musical (or musicals)?
Some of my favorites are Bye Bye Birdie, West Side Story, The Young Girls of Rochefort, An American in Paris, The Rocky Horror PIcture Show, Tommy, etc. I could go on and on!
Any you hate with a passion?
I thought Moulin Rouge! and Dreamgirls were both horrible. I'm not sure I'd say I "hate them with a passion" but Moulin Rouge! comes pretty darn close even though I loved a lot of the set designs. The use of modern music was just awful in this and the acting was terrible. Everytime I hear Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit from the movie it makes me want to vomit a little in my mouth.
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May 9, 2007 3:35 PM
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Kay Kendall is VERY underrated in this country as a leading Comic Actress.
Not many of her films are available to the masses which is a really a tragedy.
Kay's role in Les girls was so over the top funny & yet fit right in with the whole movies premise that it makes it such an enjoyable musical to watch yet today.
Kay Kendall's other "well known" American Film is the "Reluctant Debutante" which also starred her husband Rex Harrison, Sandra Dee, Angela Lansbury, John Saxon & was directed by Vincent Minnelli.
If you do have the chance to catch any of her films please do so ~ You will be highly entertained by them.
Rings.
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May 10, 2007 6:05 PM
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