Product Details

• Actors: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac
• Directors: George Cukor
• Writers: John Patrick, Vera Caspary
• Producers: Saul Chaplin, Sol C. Siegel
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: February 24, 1995
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301972333
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,523 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Never heard of Kay Kendall? Chic, leggy, funny Kay Kendall? Check out Les Girls, one of the best moments for the beautiful British actress (and wife of Rex Harrison), whose promising career ended when she died two years after this film's 1957 release. A cheeky musical variation on Rashomon, the film gives three flashbacks on the Parisian sojourn of a dance master (Gene Kelly) and his featured artists (Kendall, Tania Elg, Mitzi Gaynor). The film isn't a peak outing for director George Cukor, and the Cole Porter songs are infrequent and not top-drawer. But there's a kooky dance number inspired by motorcycle gangs (Kelly in Wild Ones territory), and Kendall has a long drunk scene that she handles with regal aplomb. A stuffy suitor asks les girls why they spend their youth scurrying around Europe in a dance troupe: "Is having fun so important?" The film answers a resounding "mais oui." -- Robert Horton

From the Back Cover

Directed by the inimitable George Cukor, Les Girls is a delightful romantic musical comedy featuring a lilting Cole Porter score and sparkling performances by Gene Kelly, Ray Kendall, Mitzi Gaynor, and Taina Elg at their dancing, singing, comic best.

Some years after the break-up of the musical act "Barry Nichols and Les Girls," the members have a reunion under auspicious circumstances. It seems Sybil (Kendall) has published her memoirs of her years with Les Girls, including an amusing anecdote of how Angele (Elg) attempted suicide when Barry (Kelly) spurned her. Angele sues for libel, and in her testimony recounts how it was Sybil who attempted suicide when Barry left her. But we haven't heard Jay's (Gaynor) side of the story yet! Or perhaps only Barry can resolve this musical comedy version of Rashomon? With its witty story, delightful musical numbers, and talented cast, Les Girls is tres great!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gene Kelly's farewell to MGM, July 24, 2006

By 

Robert E. Nylund (Ft. Wayne, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Les Girls (DVD)

The three "That's Entertainment" films highlighted the great musicals made by MGM from 1929 to 1958, but they did not include any of this marvelous late musical film (released in 1957), which was apparently Gene Kelly's final production for the Culver City studio. Released near the end of the great musical era at MGM, "Les Girls" was also the final film to have original songs (and lyrics) by Cole Porter. (Porter's final score was for the 1958 CBS special "Aladdin.")

It is well known how Gene Kelly set such high standards for his musicals, seeking new, innovative approaches to dance on film and how he rehearsed endlessly and demanded the same from his costars. Although this film was directed by George Cukor, there are times when Kelly so dominates the film that it seems almost autobiographical. The energetic, athletic approach to dance, which was acknowledged by friend and colleague Fred Astaire (particularly in the first "That's Entertainment film), is clearly present in this production. The motorcycle gang sequence is particularly imaginative and is a good example of Kelly's efforts to seek fresh approaches to dance on film.

Kelly is partnered with three singing dancers with very different backgrounds: an American, Mitzi Gaynor (who appeared in numerous movie musicals in the 1950s, mostly at 20th Century Fox); an Englishwoman, Kay Kendall (married to actor Rex Harrison and who tragically died from cancer only two years later); and a Frenchwoman, played by Finnish actress Taina Elg.

The film presents three different versions of the same story, in which it appears that Kelly has been romantically involved with one of his female partners. The "truth" emerges during a British libel trial, leading the viewer to wonder what exactly did happen.

Besides the delightful Cole Porter music, the film also has the lavish MGM look, with impressive sets, garish color photography, and elegant costumes. Sadly, the great MGM era was drawing to a close and the studio itself would go into a slow decline.

George Cukor was often said to be a "woman's director," but he was actually very gifted and imaginative. He had a special way with musicals, as demonstrated by his work on two legendary Warner Brothers films: the 1954 version of "A Star Is Born" with Judy Garland and James Mason, and the 1964 adaptation of "My Fair Lady" with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

The Hollywood musical declined, of course, in the late 1950's due to the increasing popularity of rock music. Elvis Presley actually made a series of musicals for MGM, which were quite successful, because his movies included the music most young people wanted to hear. The more traditional musicals faded, even at MGM (which was so noted for its musical, produced mainly by Arthur Freed or Joe Pasternack), with most future productions focusing on adaptations of successful Broadway shows. MGM's final original musical was Lerner and Loewe's "Gigi," released in 1958.

Although this film wasn't showcased in any of the "That's Entertainment" tributes, it is still very entertaining and it gives us yet another opportunity to enjoy the dancing and singing of the Gene Kelly, this time with three very capable partners.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'SWONDERFUL, 'SFABULOUS, 'STO BE SEEN OFTEN!, June 11, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Les Girls (DVD)

Rarely seen - but retored to TOTAL fabulousness on this PRISTINE DVD ~ THIS IS A MUST-SEE!

ESPECIALLY, if you have never heard of the much, much lamented and sadly missed KAY KENDALL ~ what a fabulous performance! Miss Kendall is funny, witty, charming and she sings too! As for 'that' drunk scene ! AND - yes, in one or another way it IS a musical version of 'Rashomon ' seen through various bejewelled eyes and gloves!

Dance numbers? Different and timeless.

Sound? Great restoration by the experts.

AND the rest of the ladies? TANIA ELG, and MITZI GAYNOR [STILL 'HERE']form just a perfect trio with Miss Kendall. {Tania's audition is quite a hoot - as is the rather avant-garde Mitze Gaynor 'Wild Ones' [cycle gang] dance number with Icon Gene Kelly}.

Mr. Kelly is a smart, sexy, seductive and utterly brilliant leading man ~ a gracious legacy!

You cannot fail, but to be yanked out of the blues with this one!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I'm no good ... nobody wants my cigarettes!", November 20, 2006

By 

Sanpete (in Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Les Girls (DVD)

This film is a treasure. It isn't just a lush, vibrant showcase for minor Cole Porter and major dance routines; it's also a delightful romantic comedy with a clever twist. The one point where I disagree with Amazon's review by Robert Horton is this: the film is a peak outing for director George Cukor. Everyone understands their role perfectly; each actor is well cast and plays well off the others; each gets the most out of a sharply written script.

The film is basically three accounts of the same story (as in Rashomon), each from the obviously self-protecting viewpoint of a different person. You might expect this to be tedious or redundant, but it's skillfully done, with very little repetition, so it's fresh each time. The title of the film comes from a musical/dance revue troupe based in Paris, run by and starring American Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly), and featuring three wonderful and very different women, "Les Girls." Nichols, judging from the three stories, falls in love with each of them. There are strong hints, though, along with some inconsistencies, that suggest none of the stories is the whole truth, and that none is too far from the truth either.

Horton (and others I see) is right to single out Kay Kendall, a beautiful tall thin glass of comedic, vocal and dance talent who would steal the show if the others weren't also at the top of their game. I wonder how much of her drunk scenes was improvised: her take on Bizet's Carmen (which leads to the perfectly tossed-off line I put in my title) is hilarious. She's the only-slightly-proper British corner of the Girls.

The other two Girls, the very French (though actually Finnish) Taina Elg and the All-American Mitzi Gaynor, are also beauties and real all-around talents. The song and dance numbers are great fun, especially the "Ladies in Waiting" romp that the Girls take center stage in. Kelly and Gaynor also have a memorable number, choreographed by Kelly himaself (the rest were done by Tony winner Jack Cole), which is built around a parody of Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang persona from The Wild One.

The costumes and wardrobe live up to the Parisian setting (and the Oscar they won for Edith Head), a pleasure to look at. The orchestrations are full and fun, especially for the Brando parody, with its rich saxes and punchy brasses. The film looks gorgeous on DVD. A great treat.

The main DVD extra is an 8-minute behind-the-scenes piece about the film narrated by a much older and still engaging Taina Elg, well put together and well worth watching. There is also an extended trailer (which informs us twice that "Les Girls" rhymes with "playgirls") and a cute 1954 cartoon short called "The Flea Circus," which concerns a troupe of singing and dancing fleas, not otherwise related to the main feature.