Interative Menu
Taina Elg hosts Cole Porter in Hollywood
Vintage cartoon: "Flea Circus"
Theatrical Trailer

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."