The girls

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Movie
German title The girls
Original title Les Girls
Country of production United States
original language English ,
French
Publishing year 1957
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director George Cukor
script John Patrick
production Sol C. Siegel
for MGM
music Cole Porter
camera Robert Surtees
cut Ferris Webster
occupation

The Girls is an American film musical by George Cukor from 1957. It was based on a story by Vera Caspary . Alternative film titles are Girls and Les Girls - The Dancers .

action

A book causes a stir. It was written by the former dancer Sybil, who wrote down numerous anecdotes from her active time as a dancer. One is that her former roommate, colleague and friend Angèle out of love for a man suicide wanted to commit. The man, however, was not her future husband and then fiancé - Angèle is now suing Sybil for defamation .

In court, Sybil first describes her view of things. She and Joy Henderson shared an apartment in Paris and were employed in the Barry Nichols and Les Girls revue at the Parisien theater. The young Angèle auditioned for Barry and was hired as the third main dancer. She moves in with Sybil and Joy and soon begins an affair with Barry, who both want to keep secret from the two women in vain. One day, however, Angèle's fiancé, Pierre, whom Angèle used to pretend to be a nurse, appears in town. Barry, on the other hand, knows nothing about Pierre, he would never have hired Angèle if he had known about a relationship. When Angèle notices that Pierre is in the audience during a performance, she is completely upset, tries to hide behind her fellow dancers and leaves the stage prematurely. When she does not show up for a subsequent dance performance with Barry and embarrassed him, Barry dismisses her from the theater. When Sybil comes to her apartment a short time later, Angèle has turned on the gas. She only comes to again in the hospital.

According to Sybil, Angèle is allowed to present her point of view the next day. She came to Paris and lives in an apartment with Sybil and Joy. Sybil, however, has a drinking problem that all three women try to hide from Barry. When he comes to the women's apartment one day, Angèle can convince him that Sybil only drinks because she is secretly in love with him. Instead of firing Sybil, Barry takes special care of her and the two become a couple. Sybil stops drinking and the revue goes on tour through Europe. After Rome , Vienna and Madrid she comes to Granada , where Sybil meets her almost forgotten admirer and almost fiancé Gerald. He wants to bring Sybil back to Great Britain and even offers Barry his own theater for the revue. He's not averse, but Sybil wants to be with Barry and not go back to Gerald. So she lies to both men about why a cooperation is not possible and in the end there is a fight between the two men. Barry reveals to Sybil that he only began to love her out of pity and Sybil falls again on alcohol. She appears drunk and is therefore fired by Barry. When Angèle comes to the apartment, she smells gas and is able to open the windows before she passes out and wakes up in the hospital, where Sybil has already disappeared.

Since the statements of Sybil and Angèle contradict each other, Barry is heard at the end. He confirms that all three women were employed in his revue in Paris and lived together. While Sybil and Angèle went out a lot, he felt drawn to Joy, who is down to earth and prefers to stay at home with a book and footbath and also keeps the men at a distance. Reluctantly, she allows him to take her home and rejects his love because she associates marriage with true love. Once at his apartment, Barry receives a visit from Pierre and Gerald, who both would rather have their fiancés with them than continue in his review. Barry also likes the idea of ​​performing alone with Joy in his own theater and so he remembers a plan. He pretends to have a heart condition. The worried Joy secretly convinces Sybil and Angèle how to quit in the Revue so that Barry is spared. They follow their request - when Barry Joy confesses to having invented this only for Gerald and Pierre, Joy leaves him furious. Barry storms to her apartment and smells the smell of gas - he finds Sybil and Angèle passed out in the apartment. A gas pipe had come loose. Both women are taken to a hospital.

Since the alleged suicide has now turned out to be an accident, the lawsuit is dropped. Sybil and Angèle are reconciled with the public and Barry goes to his waiting car. In turn, Joy sits. She is now his wife and has followed the trial. Like the man who walks around in front of the courthouse every day with the "What is Truth" sign hanging around his neck, she now suspects that even Barry did not tell the full truth. Some statements by Angèle and Sybil fill gaps in Barry's story, in Joy's opinion, - which Barry acknowledges with the sigh “My goodness, this has to start again”.

production

Orry-Kelly designed the costumes .

Numerous titles are sung in the film, for which Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics. Kay Kendall was dubbed by Betty Wand:

  • Les Girls - Gene Kelly, Kay Kendall / Betty Wand, Mitzi Gaynor, Taina Elg (dance and singing)
  • Ça c'est l'amour - Taina Elg (dance and song)
  • Ladies in Waiting - Kay Kendall / Betty Wand, Mitzi Gaynor, Taina Elg (dance and singing)
  • You're Just Too Too! - Gene Kelly, Kay Kendall / Betty Wand (dancing and singing)
  • Why Am I So Gone (About that Gal)? - Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor (Gaynor only dance, Kelly dance and singing)
  • The Rope Dance - Gene Kelly, Taina Elg (dance only)

criticism

The lexicon of international films described The Girls as "the most conventional of the few [...] musicals that Cukor staged". In the “female footnote to the Rashomon game about truth”, the film works with “flashbacks that are interesting in terms of color and dramaturgy”.

Awards

The Girls was nominated for three Oscars in 1958 and won the award in the “ Best Costume Design ” category .

In the same year the film received two Golden Globes . It was awarded in the category “ Best Film - Comedy or Musical ”. Taina Elg and Kay Kendall shared the award in the “ Best Actress - Comedy or Musical ” category .

As the best musical actress Mitzi Gaynor was honored with a Laurel Award in 1958 for Die Girls . The Girls received the 1958 WGA Award from the Writers Guild of America for best written American musical .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Ed.): Lexicon of International Films . Volume 3. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1990, p. 1335.