User reviews

This is another film which was often shown on TV (twice on the local channel alone!) but I hadn’t bothered with until now; it’s recently been released as a 2-Disc Set by Fox but, in view of its middling reputation, opted to acquire the film by itself.

To begin with, the DVD presentation had its good and bad points: the film was made available in its “Roadshow Version” – running 142 minutes against the “General Release Version” which eliminated 11 minutes of extraneous music (Overture, Intermission, Entr’ Acte and Exit Music); unfortunately, time seems to have taken its toll on the negative as there were several instances of color fluctuation throughout! As can be surmised, I decided to give the film a whirl as part of my ongoing marathon to commemorate the 10th anniversary from the passing of its male lead – Frank Sinatra; curiously enough, given his reputation as one of the foremost American singers, he appeared in few vintage musicals over the years…and it’s certainly a tribute to his acting talent that his non-musical work (often in hard-hitting, even groundbreaking films) has tended to overshadow this more familiar aspect of his personality – at least on the silver screen!

Anyway, to get back to the film proper: I found it quite engaging and its considerable length not overly taxing – and this, to a large degree, is thanks to the formidable star cast (which, apart from Sinatra, included Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan). The first two had already appeared together – albeit in dramatic roles – in SOME CAME RUNNING (1958), while the others had been wonderfully teamed in the same genre and a similar ambiance in GIGI (1958). Ironically, both these films were helmed by a master stylist – Vincente Minnelli…so, perhaps, Fox should have struck a deal with MGM to acquire his services for CAN-CAN – but, given director Lang’s previous musical success with THE KING AND I (1956), they obviously thought he could do no wrong. The fact is that his handling is sterile and more accommodating to the Widescreen ratio than the necessities of the plot and characters – filming events from a distance and rarely cutting or even moving the camera; this lazy approach (which still landed him a nomination from the Directors' Guild Of America!) is doubly frustrating when viewed on a small screen!!

Apparently, the production went through a lot of script changes (Sinatra’s role, reportedly, wasn’t even in the stage original to begin with!), songs were dropped and replaced by other Cole Porter standards which don’t really fit in (such as Jourdan’s “You Do Something To Me”); the rest of the soundtrack isn’t particularly outstanding (unlike that of GIGI, for instance) but a number of tunes are cleverly reprised (sometimes with variations and by different characters) during the course of the film. It was nice, too, seeing two world-renowned singers with such different styles as Sinatra and Chevalier come together (and having fun with it); Chevalier and Jourdan’s roles, then, are virtual carbon copies of their GIGI characterizations – but it’s a formula that seems to work (even if it’s not as central to the main plot this time around, Jourdan having been relegated to The Other Man type).

MacLaine did few musicals as well but her vivaciousness (as a dancer and owner of an establishment which finds itself frequently in trouble with the law over the forbidden “Can-Can” dance, but who manages to charm the stuffy judge at the trial) ensures that her numbers emerge as the show’s highlights: the Apache Dance, the drunken recital of a vulgar song at her engagement party to Jourdan (at the instigation of lawyer Sinatra, who loves her but is unwilling to commit himself) and the “Garden Of Eden” sequence (intended to demonstrate that “Sin wasn’t invented in Montmartre – it was only perfected there”!). Two other important figures (though both severely underwritten) are those played by Juliet Prowse and Frenchman Marcel Dalio as the nervous but devoted manager of the “Bal De Paradis” (the latter was a versatile actor in his native land, but he was stuck with this kind of unrewarding role during his long tenure in Hollywood!); the former appears as a leading dancer at the club and MacLaine’s prospective rival – interestingly, the two actresses’ physiognomies are strikingly similar – for Sinatra’s attentions (a situation which is indirectly played upon during the afore-mentioned “Garden Of Eden” number, apart from which they’re teamed for the climactic Can-Can performance…to the predictable enthusiasm of the formerly disapproving head of a female Legion Of Decency-type group).

In the end, while this film can’t be considered a classic musical as such, it still seems to me to have been unfairly maligned – as some fantastic talent has been assembled in the service of a charming (albeit unsurprising) narrative to provide colorful (if uninspired) entertainment which the genre was capable of during its studio-system heyday…

"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

I was all set to dislike "Can-Can" for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is Frank Sinatra cast in a musical set in 1896 France...Frank Sinatra??), but the film is a lot of fun. Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine are in good spirits throughout this pleasing adaptation of the stage-success about a dance-hall proprietress who defends her right to perform the scandalous title-named dance, deemed lascivious in its day. It runs a little too long, and MacLaine is more comfortable in her love scenes with Ol' Blue Eyes than with Louis Jourdan (who doesn't match up well with Shirley at all--he looks puny next to her), but otherwise it's surprisingly enjoyable and Juliet Prowse gives her small part as a dancer a great deal of zest. **1/2 from ****

Well, Can-Can is not a total loss, but it's not a 10-star gem of a movie either, but - it IS entertaining, but the biggest problem that I see with the film is that everyone looks like they're embarrassed to be in the movie with each other because no one is actually looking at each other when they're saying their lines. Look at the scene where Shirley McClain is making up the story as to how Louis Jourdan was trying to overcome her sexually and the scene goes something like this:

SHIRLEY: And I fought him and fought him and stuggled, but what could a person do? MAURICE: [embarrassed to say] Uh - submit - of course! SHIRLEY: [slightly glances at thim and them says loudly] SUBMIT?

The film just kinda lays there and doesn't do anything. Come on - it's not Gigi! It was really a re-uniting of Louie and Maurice because of their hit movie Gigi and that's about where the uniting ends, but there are some highlights to the film. Shirley McClaine's apache dance with the guys while Louis Jourdan looks on is a great number, and the Adam and Eve Ballet is quite good and Shirley's line before the ballet is wonderful when she says something like this: "Be it known that sin may have been invented in the Garden of Eden, but it was perfected in Monemart!"

It just seems like all they're doing in the film is walking through their dress rehearsal without putting any oomph into the acting, and at the same time the some of the costumes are so tacky that they look like we did as kids when we played dress-up as adults! And, look at the scene before Maurice and Louis sing "Live and Let Live". It looks like it was inserted on purpose so that they could have the opportunity to sing the song, and the scene in which Maurice sings "It Was Just One of Those Things". Even that looks like it was inserted on purpose just to give him a chance to sing a song, but the songs are great even though most of them were never in the original broadway play such as "You Do Something To Me", "Let's Do It", and "It Was Just One of Those Things", "It's Alright With Me" [which is slow and a very boring rendition], and oddly enough "I Love Paris" a duet between Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier was deleted from the movie and only heard in the the original soundtrack album, and the Oveture and beginning Credits of the video, that is if you have the first video version of Can-Can in which you get the Oveture, Intermission Music, and Exit Music with all the musical numbers letter-boxed, and why they deleted "I Love Paris" from the movie is beyond me since it was the hit of the show. Again, Hollywood has been known to do some dumb stuff!

Juliet Prowse's big number "Maids From France" is quite good, but it's obvious why she's in the scene with Frank Sinatra when he sings "It's Alright With Me" because at that time they were having an affair, and I guess if it was alright with them it should be alright with us, but later he would marry Mia Farrow and since Frank was Italian it was only obvious that his kids would call her "Uh-Mama Mia"!

Anyway, I sure wish they would re-release the original video version of "Can-Can" or a whole widescreen version on D.V.D.. Other songs from the Broadway Show were deleted from the movie such as "Never Give Anything Away" "Al-e-Vou-Zon" [which is only used in Shirley McClains apache dance as a melody] "There Is No Trick To A Can Can" which is just used as a melody for the Can-Can at the end of the movie, and again even though they deleted a singing version of the hit of the play "I Love Paris", at least they use the melody of it in the Adam and Eve Ballet, but Shirley McClains drunken version of "Come Along With Me" is delightful, and here goes the insanity of Hollywood again, at the end of the film when the Paddy-Wagon is pulling away with Shirley and Frank in it - the chorus is singing the last lines of "I Love Paris"!

So - why didn't Louis get Shirley in the end? Well, it's obvious that she was in love with Frank Sinatra all the time, but more than that; "Once a Rat Packer; always a Rat Packer"!

Strangely enough, the weakest aspect of this musical is the quality of the songs. Most of them are fairly mediocre, and fail to stay in the memory for long. But otherwise, "Can-Can" is a smashing entertainment. Lavishly produced and gorgeously photographed, this is one expensive movie where the money were spent with care and taste (unlike, for example, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" which, despite its big budget, looked cheap). The story may be a little thin, but it's suspenseful, too: you can never predict with absolute certainty if MacLaine will choose Sinatra (who is wonderful) or Louis Jourdan (who is as sly and charming as he was when he played the villain in "Octopussy"). But above everything else, this movie is a feast for the eyes!

What does an old musical set in France need? Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan, of course! And since there's also singing and a cute dancer who likes showing off her legs, what else does it need? Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine! Can-Can has Shirley, both French charmers, and Ol' Blue Eyes.

Set in the 1800s, when the can-can dance was forbidden in France because it was too risqué, Shirley MacLaine decides to buck the system and allows her and her nightclub dancers show off their legs. Lots of dancing from choreographer Hermes Pan, lots of pretty costumes, lots of Cole Porter songs, and a love triangle that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time, Can-Can is definitely one to see if you like old musicals. I've seen them all, and while this one doesn't make it to the top shelf in my collection, I'm glad I saw it. Many famous songs come from this movie, including "I Love Paris", "Let's Do It", "Just One of Those Things", and "It's All Right With Me", so if you like any of those, rent it during your next musical-fest weekend.

While I agree with many of the ambivalent comments from other reviewers,"Can-Can" can only be fully appreciated on the giant Todd-AO screen,along with 6-track stereo. This becomes evident with the thrilling musical direction of Nelson Riddle.Besides the rich,stylish orchestrations,we have the equally stylish,sophisticated music of Cole Porter. The composer is well served with the two French actors.Louis Jourdan,not thought of as a singer,delivers the smoothest rendition of 'You Do Something To Me' I have ever heard. Maurice Chevalier is charming,as always and his 'Just One Of Those Things',along with the attractive presence of Louis Jourdan,provides one of the film's best moments. Now for my reservations.I feel that Frank Sinatra is miscast.He is far too glib and smug and seems to be moving in a different time-zone to most of the other players.Shirley MacLaine is also embarrassing at times;too American and shrill.Having said that,she has some bright moments and her dancing with Juliet Prowse in the final 'Can-Can' number is really exciting(provided it can be viewed on the giant screen). It's just a pity,given the talent involved,that "Can-Can" on film does not seem to totally satisfy very many people.Even so,there is clearly much left to enjoy.

The performers do not sing Cole Porter the way the best of singers can sing Cole Porter. Doris Day in "Lullaby of Broadway" sings "Just one of those things" wearing a tuxedo in a way that outshines Maurice Chevalier. Bob Hope singing "You do something to me" excels in a way that Louis Jordan cannot. Frank Sinatra and Shirley McClain singing "Let's do it" ends up as tepid as it gets as compared to almost anyone else's rendition. That these are all masters of the singer's craft makes for an astounding realization--the knack for singing a Cole Porter song is not for everyone or for every vehicle. One wonders how other singers handle interpretation of these songs in the same play. The movie was disappointing because the performances were disappointing.

Shirley MacLaine is a delight as the owner/operator of an 1895 Paris Night Club. The problem: A new, "disgusting" dance craze called the "Can Can" has swept Paris, and Shirley's night club seems to be the only place that dares to perform it nightly. Money man Frank Sinatra, who also is the on-again-off-again fiancé of the owner, attempts to bribe the authorities to turn a blind eye to what's going on at the club. Law man Louis Jourdan also falls for Shirley, while an ever-wise Maurice Chevallier tries his best to play cupid.

The musical numbers are wonderful, especially Shirley MacLaine's solo "Come Along With Me", The MacLaine/Sinatra duet "Let's Do It" and the grand finale "Can Can". -- This film cost 6 million dollars to produce, which was a lot in 1960. I'm glad they went through with it, because this is one of my favorite film musicals. They don't come much better than this!

It's 1896 Montmartre, Paris. Simone Pistache (Shirley MacLaine) is a leading Can-Can dancer in her nightclub. François Durnais (Frank Sinatra) is her lover and lawyer. They are shocked to be raided by the cops. Young Judge Philippe Forrestier (Louis Jourdan) had signed off on the charge of lewd dancing. The law is almost 100 years old and few wanted to enforce it other than Forrestier.

This is adapted from a musical play with music from Cole Porter. With the actors involved, all the parts for a classic musical is here. The issue is that the sum of the parts add up to be less than a whole. There is a central problem. Forrestier keeps going back and forth. It's hard to be sure about him. One could root for Simone to go with him except he keeps backtracking. Neither side of the love triangle is that appealing. Maybe the plot needs an actual villain who isn't in the triangle and isn't willing to back down. He needs to be dangerous. The threat needs to be higher and more constant for the stakes to be elevated. Overall, it's a lesser musical with some forgettable fun.

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!

Hit Broadway musical about a Parisian judge falling in love with a brass nightclub owner was converted to a vehicle for then Hollywood heavyweight Frank Sinatra by the addition of a second love interest, the club owner's pal and lawyer. Neither Sinatra nor Shirley MacLaine make any attempt to blend into the period or place (just as well, 2 hours of 'The Chairman' faking a France accent would have been exorable) so all the French flavour comes from Gallic pros Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jorden. The score includes a hodgepodge of Cole Porter songs, some from the musical, some not, and strangely, a duet of Sinatra and Chevalier singing the standard "I Love Paris" was cut out of the release. The dancing is generally good, especially by Juliet Prowse, the 'snake' in the weird 'Garden of Eden' sequence. The final Can-Can number, although a bit chaste for a dance banned by the authorities for its ribaldry, is energetic and impressive although I was somewhat disappointed that it performed to music written for the show rather than to Offenbach's "Infernal Gallop", the music usually associated with the dance. Not a bad Broadway adaptation but not one of the great ones.

I watched on TV, since I loved the songs of the original show, well sung by Lilo, and Peter Cookson. This movie's singers don't do the songs well at all.

Shirley Maclaine's talk is annoying--- after a while I couldn't take her high pitched, silly voice, and muted it. Sinatra doesn't fit the movie, and his songs don't work. The ballet at the end is silly and boring. I finally turned it off!

And it includes an 'Apache' dance, with Maclaine and 3 men. Was hard to watch a man throwing a woman around.

Wikipedia says -- "the dance is sometimes said to reenact a violent "discussion" between a pimp and a prostitute. It includes mock slaps and punches, the man picking up and throwing the woman to the ground, or lifting and carrying her while she struggles or feigns unconsciousness. Thus, the dance shares many features with the theatrical discipline of stage combat. In some examples, the woman may fight back."

Who wants to watch this silly, tasteless stuff? And tepid boring actors with a lousy script? But it you like the stars, you might tune in briefly just to see how they waste their talent. Then listen to the original Bwy show with Cole Porter songs well done.

Another Cole Porter Broadway show makes it Hollywood, but not intact. Can Can retained most of its score, but 20th Century Fox added some other Porter standards like Let's Do It. Just One of Those Things, You Do Something To Me. And of course the book was sanitized by the Hollywood censors.

Briefly the plot is a girl who's a Can Can dancer played by Shirley MacLaine has to choose between two men of the legal profession. Upright judge, Louis Jourdan and less than scrupulous attorney, Frank Sinatra. Maurice Chevalier is an older judge who knows all of them and presides over the film like an avuncular grandfather.

The performers all do justice to the Cole Porter score and the best musical moment is Frank Sinatra's singing of It's All Right With Me. He's singing it to Juliet Prowse who was his main squeeze at the time. It's one of Sinatra's best musical moments on film, a perfect mating of singer and song.

I'm sure glad neither Sinatra or MacLaine attempted any kind of phony French accent. Sinatra tried a Spanish one in The Pride and the Passion and the results were hilarious.

Shirley MacLaine before she came to Hollywood was in the chorus of Can-Can on Broadway so she was a perfect fit for her part as Simone Pistache the cabaret owner where the illegal Can-Can is performed.

For reasons I don't understand a duet with Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier singing I Love Paris was cut, though it remained in the original cast album. Blockheads at Fox, what were they thinking?

It also would have been nice to have some Paris location shooting for this film, it was all done at 20th Century's backlot where Nikita Khruschev paid a historic visit and said this was an example of western immorality and decadence. You couldn't buy that kind of publicity.

Verdict on this film, well as Old Blue Eyes sang:

RING-A-DING DING DING, C'est Magnifique.

Musicals were all the rage during the '50s and the '60s; this outing certainly met the demand for this type of show at the time. The art form does not quite have the following today (2022) that was huge back then. And this is a good, but not great example of the genre. I found the Belle Epoch setting to not match the 50s hairstyles and makeup glaring. The acting and musical numbers/dancing is really good, but the script just is not there. I thought Shirley looked great throughout and the fact is, you probably watch the film for her performance.....the rest is quite middle-of-the-road. Predictable. Fun.

'Can-Can' from personal opinion is one of Cole Porter's best later musicals, and there was so much talent involved in this film. It's just sad that something that should have sparkled like diamonds fell as flat as over-egged soufflé despite some very great things.

There's more to the problem than it being a butchered treatment of the Broadway hit, including a mangled re-written story with an additional character to cater Frank Sinatra, omitted songs and changes to lyrics. Pretty much all of the problems with 'Can-Can' are to do with how it fared on its own terms, which is while nowhere near one of the duds in musicals it's one of the classics either, if anything a missed opportunity.

Despite how this all sounds there is a good amount to like about 'Can-Can'. The film is visually stunning, opulently produced and photographed with spectacular gorgeousness. Porter's music and songs, even with how they're treated (most inexplicable being the lyric liberties in the title song, the original ones are brilliant and part of what makes 'Can-Can' one of Porter's better later musicals), are still superb. Especially the very touching "It's All Right With Me", sung (or crooned) beautifully by Sinatra.

Parts of the script has wit and charm, especially with Maurice Chevalier. Chevalier and Louis Jourdan give the film's two best performances, the former performing with a humorous twinkle and effortless charm and the latter having an urbane likability. Juliet Prowse also proves herself to be a wonderful dancer, and the choreography and musical numbers are really where 'Can-Can' really picks up in the interest value.

Yet, 'Can-Can', despite the music, Chevalier and Jourdan and the production values, never makes one properly feel like they've been transported to late 19th century Paris. Part of it is to do with the mostly anachronistic and talky script (especially in the courtroom parts that really dragged the film down pace-wise), and a larger part is do with the miscasting of the two leading roles. There is no denying that Sinatra sings beautifully with impeccable phrasing and breath control, but he is too contemporary and completely fails to bring personality, let alone any endearing traits, to a total sleazebag of a character. Shirley MacLaine is also too American, annoyingly shrill and doesn't look like her heart was completely in it.

As a result of the numerous changes, despite some moments, the story suffers consequently, the material needed more wit, emotion and life than what the film provides. Sluggish pacing in the non-musical moments and a rather too overlong length doesn't help. It's indifferently directed, the "Garden of Eden" sequence despite great dancing and choreography is overblown and goes on for far too long and the ending, with Simone's decision completely ringing false, feels like a cheat.

On the whole, some definite great things but considering the source material and talent 'Can-Can' should have sparkled so much more. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Set in 1890s Paris, the Broadway show on which the film is based was a huge success, with its fabulous and naughty can-can dance, recreated here by Juliette Prowse, the most watchable performer in the entire film. The music of Cole Porter-"You Do Something to Me," "C'est Magnifique," "It's All Right with Me," "Let's Do It," and "I Love Paris"---is worth all the waiting through pointless debates over the immorality of the can-can. Frank Sinatra is his usual sophisticated self, although it's hard to buy him as French. In fact, the biggest mistake in the film is having Frenchmen Maurice Chevalier (whose charms have always been lost on me) and Louis Jourdan around to make us believe we are in Paris; Prowse fakes a French accent reasonably well, but Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine twanging away in American English, make the contrast quite grating on the ears. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013