Customer Reviews

Give a Girl a Break [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i think this film, Give a Girl a Break," is very good, and the choreography alone in it, makes it well worth watching. Debbie Reynolds does some lovely dance numbers. Also Marge and Gower Champion really shine in this film and in my opinion do some of their best dance numbers in it. It doesn't have the most interesting plot, bt is worth it for the song and dance. I think any fan of 50's musicals would enjoy it. It's colorful and a fun film to watch. I have to nore, the costumes are first rate, some of the lovliest I've seen in musicals.

"Give a Girl a Break" was Stanley Donen's first film after "Singin in the Rain." It features a rare opprotunity to see director Bob Fosse dance on film. His numbers with Debbie Reynolds are the highlights of the film.

While this film does not stand up to many classic movie musicals, it is a definite must for anyone with a fondness for Debbie Reynolds or Bob Fosse. Absolutely worth owning.

Oh woe is me..All of this talent and, I cant enjoy it because its on a lousy VHS tape instead of a glorious DVD!

Debbie Reynolds was so cute in this film. If you don't know the plot it's about three girls that audition for the same leading part. Three men involved with the show each favor a different girl. Of course Gower picks Marge Champion. Bob Fosse plays a young stage hand? (not sure what his job title is) and wants Debbie, who he seems to like, to get the part. I never saw Bob Fosse in a role like this before. Stanley Donnen had a difficult time with the dancers in this film. Bob Fosse went along with him, but the Champions didn't. The Champions ended up doing their own choreorgraphy, and Bob did the numbers that he was in.

This is a great dancing musical.
My only complaint to Warner Brothers, is that it would have benefited from a better digital transfer.
The colours are muddy, and there are a few blemishes that were inherent on the Technicolor positive.

This little MGM musical dropped off the radar and has been missing for years. Thankfully it is now available and to MGM musical fans a 'must have'.

GIVE A GIRL A BREAK is one of the best MGM musicals, and should be among the 10 best list of Hollywood musicals, and not in the last place. Imagine: Gower Champion, Bob Fosse and Stanley Donen together, plus charming Debbie Reynolds and brassy Marge Champion. I suggest the number four of MUSICALS OF THE DREAM FACTORY with GIVE A GIRL A BREAK, INVITATION TO THE DANCE (Gene Kelly directing and dancing), YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (Astaire and Minnelli, what else?), LOVELY TO LOOK AT (Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, the Champions), I LOVE MELVIN (Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor and a terrific score) and perhaps SMALL TOWN GIRL because there were Ann Miller and Bobby Van. You can't miss that, for sure!

The year was 1953, and the Dream Machine called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios was still up and running full-tilt before the predations of TV kicked in a year or two later and shut the assembly line down. GIVE A GIRL A BREAK, directed by Stanley Donen (his follow-up to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN) and starring Debbie Reynolds (already a vet), Bob Fosse, and Marge and Gower Champion (the Philadelphia husband-and-wife team who had first set TV on fire then went on to dance in a number of Metro vehicles) are the talent, and they all strut it beaufully. This particular confection is a little light on plot, but has lots of varied musical numbers. When you can see an insanely over-Technicolored production number with effects like levitating confetti (reverse-motion), that indeed is entertainment. But people who haven't yet been exposed to the canon of better-known MGM musicals from that same period (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, SINGIN', THE BAND WAGON, SHOW BOAT, KISS ME KATE, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS and others) will probably want to give those solid shows a viewing first.