gavin6942
Montmartre, 1896: the Can-Can, the dance in which the women lift their skirts, is forbidden. Nevertheless Simone has it performed every day in her night club. Her employees use their female charm to let the representatives of law enforcement look the other way - or even attend the shows. But then the young ambitious judge Philippe Forrestier decides to bring this to an end.Musicals are hit and miss, as are most films. This one is rather successful because it has a great cast, a nice plot (a risqué criminal plot!) and music without an over-reliance on the songs. (May be it is just me, but some musicals get to be too overbearing because of the abundance of music, even when it is good.) Although I do not find it convincing that Sinatra is French, he does a fine job as a devious defense attorney!
TxMike
I was 14 when this movie came out. I never saw it back then but thanks to the marvels of modern TV I was able to catch it on the "Movies!" channel. Watching it is fun to see how much movie-making has changed over my lifetime. Even though most of the characters are Parisian French they speak in American English. Filmmakers just wouldn't do that today.Frank Sinatra, about 44, was in the featured role as Durnais. But my favorite is Shirley MacLaine, about 25, as Simone Pistache. She was the owner and operator of the Parisian nightspot where lady dancers did the illegal, they raised their skirts while dancing to reveal the petticoats underneath. So much of the story is local puritans trying to prosecute and close down the nightspot, while François was trying to romance Simone.One of my long time favorites, dancer Juliet Prowse, has a role as Claudine, and of course she is the featured dancer in production numbers. But MacLaine also shows us that she can dance also, because that is how she got started in show business.All meaningless fluff but good entertainment. It was good to also see great French actors, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan.
Nazi_Fighter_David
"Can-Can" is a feeble and obvious attempt to match the wit and high professional gloss of "Gigi." The cast even included Maurice Chevalier, still enjoying the quiet pleasures of old age as a tolerant judge named Paul Barriere, and Louis Jourdan, cast here as an upright young judge named Philippe Forrestier
After Judge Forrestier becomes amorously involved with the café owner Simone Pistache (Shirley MacLaine), and legally involved with her shifty lawyer boyfriend (Frank Sinatra), he is no longer the same man
"Can-Can" is a musical film that virtually embodies the reasons for the decline of the genre in the sixties
Except for its appropriately gaudy costumes and for the exuberant performance by dancer Juliet Prowse as a cancan girl, the musical is without joy or genuine style under Walter Lang's unfocused direction
The Cole Porter score reveals the composer at his most ersatz Parisian
The two of the central roles are grotesquely miscast: Sinatra, who seems to have arrived to Paris by way of New Jersey, creates no discernible or even vaguely likable character in François
MacLaine does well in the musical portions, but her Pistache is simply shrill and unappealing
Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan work hard at injecting some life into the dull proceedings
Chevalier with his trademark shrugged-shoulders, laissez-faire attitude toward life and love, expressed to such songs as "Live and Let Live" and "Just One of Those Things," and Louis Jourdan with the French charm he displayed so prominently in "Gigi." For all their efforts, however, Can-Can emerges as a flat soufflé
jogrant
**SPOILER** This is a cute story that is well produced and acted. There are some very good numbers worth watching and the treatment of Paris by Americans is always amusing.However, the ending is a huge disappointment as it doesn't follow from the characters' evolution through the film; rather it falls back on the idea that Mr. Sinatra had to be the one who got the girl. Perhaps Frank was just tired of filming that day and wanted to wrap it up. In any case, the ending reinforces an idea that even in the 60's was anachronistic (a girl from the slum will only be happy or comfortable with a guy from the slum) and which today is certainly a big obstacle to enjoying the film entirely.
AD
