User Reviews

I absolutely love musicals, and I bought Gigi last weekend. After seeing it last night, I found it a truly delightful film with a fine breath of bittersweet air about it, and also an entertaining and sophisticated treat. The story about a young girl training to be a courtesan has been done before and is hardly usual for a big screen musical, but you know what, it is intelligently handled. The real joys are in the production values, the music and the performances though.

The film is lavish and just amazing to look at. The costumes are ravishing, the sets are lavish and the scenery is breathtaking. And I have to say the music from Lerner and Loewe is outstanding; the score is enchanting and conducted with precision by Andre Previn and the songs are marvellous especially I Remember it Well and Gaston's soliloquy. The performances are great too, Leslie Caron is really captivating here as the playful-turned-sophisticated Gigi and Maurice Chevalier really brings a twinkle to the eye as Honore. Louis Jourdan looks handsome and is likable as Gaston, Hermione Gingold is brilliant as Mme Alvarez and while lovely Hungarian actress Eva Gabor has little to do she is good as Liane. Vincente Minelli directs impeccably, and Arthur Freed produces just as well. Overall, I loved this film and hope to watch it again, the sheer beauty of the score and the costumes ensures many rewatches. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The capstone of Arthur Freed's brilliant career as producer of some of the best musicals around was this film which sadly marked the end of the musical era on film. You could never produce something like Gigi directly for the screen because the talent wasn't under contract to any one studio. Nor would any studio take a chance on something original for the screen. Musicals would continue to be made, but they would be 90% adaptations from Broadway.

Though the only thing original about Gigi was the musical score. The novel by Colette had been filmed twice before, the first time a silent film from Brazil, the second a dramatic version by the French in 1949. One of these days maybe TCM will broadcast that one and we could compare them.

Just the fact that Gigi was done at all shows a cracking of Hollywood's all abiding Code. Let's face it, we're talking here about a family that raises their daughters to be courtesans. They pray for daughters and at a last resort marry.

Leslie Caron as Gigi is the last survivor and she's being raised by her grandmother Hermione Gingold and her great aunt Isabel Jeans to be the best Madame DuBarry she can be. They have a family friend in Louis Jourdan and the story of Gigi is the story of how Jourdan slowly, but surely starts seeing Gigi in a different light as she grows up and kind of grows on you.

Of course the French quality seal on this Hollywood, but shot on location in Paris, production is provided by that grandest boulevardier of all, Maurice Chevalier. He plays Jourdan's aging roué of an uncle who gets from Lerner and Loewe three numbers that are now permanently identified with him. Chevalier thanks the Deity for the blessings of young nubile females in Thank Heaven For Little Girls, he reminisces or attempts to reminisce about old times with Hermione Gingold in I Remember It Well, and thanks the Deity once again for not having to go through the angst of youthful passion in I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore. Anyone who sees Gigi and sees Chevalier perform these numbers will be an instant fan of his the way I became when I saw Gigi on screen way back in the day.

But the best song of the score is Louis Jourdan's title song which is the climax of a long musical soliloquy in which Jourdan analyzes his feelings for the audience. I'm sure that one of the reasons that Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were attracted to the Gigi project was the fact that they saw an opportunity to write another soliloquy capped off with a hit song the way they did in My Fair Lady. The similarities between what Jourdan does in Gigi and what Rex Harrison does in I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face are readily apparent. I half expect Jourdan to end the film with 'Gigi, where the devil are my slippers.'

Gigi was nominated and won in 9 separate Oscar categories which might be a record in terms of percentage of Oscars nominated for and won. Even though the following year Ben-Hur won a few more and has a record of most Oscars still standing after almost 50 years. Gigi won for Best Picture, for Best Director for Vincente Minnelli, and for the Best Song from a film for the title song. Amazingly enough none of the players got an Oscar nomination in any of the acting categories.

That shouldn't have worried Minnelli though because in his Some Came Running which also was out that year, Shirley MacLaine, Arthur Kennedy, and Martha Hyer all got nominations in those categories. 1958 would have to be the high point in the career of Vincente Minnelli.

One ironic thing I always found with Gigi. It's set at the turn of the last century in Paris and unlike that other MGM Parisian classic, An American in Paris, Gigi was shot entirely on location in the City of Light. The Paris of the height of the Third Republic is captured beautifully, at least our conception of it in the English speaking world. Maurice Chevalier was an adolescent growing up there at this time, but this was hardly his world then. Chevalier grew up in dire poverty in a single parent household with a mother who sacrificed everything so her son could be taught the rudiments of show business where he became an immortal. I'm sure the irony never escaped Chevalier as he was filming Gigi.

What's not to like about Gigi, a wonderful musical score, a magical setting, and some fine performances in a perfectly cast company of players. Thank heaven indeed.

It's the start of 20th century Paris. Honoré Lachaille (Maurice Chevalier) is an old cynical playboy. His nephew Gaston (Louis Jourdan) is a famous womanizer and bored with everything except his friendship with Madame Alvarez (Hermione Gingold) and her young fun-loving granddaughter Gigi (Leslie Caron). Gigi is sent to her Great Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans) to be groomed as a courtesan. Gaston and Gigi wish to have their old relationship but are forced to change.

Alan Jay Lerner delivers a 'My Fair Lady'-like script. In fact, it's sold based on Lerner-Loewe's Broadway success. The visual is a brightly-colored over-the-top extravaganza. There are great catchy tunes like "I Remember It Well" and "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". However, this is too broad. It's too stage-like in its execution at times. This is a big French meal that is too rich for my taste.

In Paris in 1900, Gigi (Leslie Caron) is raised by her grand-mother and grand-mother 's sister to be a whore. Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan) is a futile playboy that is contributing for the 'formation' of Gigi. Honore Lachaille (the boring and grinner Maurice Chevalier) is the futile grand-father of Gaston. This politically incorrect story may be a great success in the past, for the values of 1958, but now-a-days it is a shame. With the exception of the lovely Gigi, all the characters are not charismatic (actually they are repulsive). The grand-mother and her sister are caftan, Gaston and his grand-father are futile, and the poor Gigi in the end indeed can not resist and becomes a whore! Even the songs are old-fashionable and boring. The splendid photography makes the movie worthwhile. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Gigi"

Gaston Lachaille is a wealthy playboy but, unlike his Uncle Honore, he is fed up with Parisian society with the pressure to marry and to be seen. Meanwhile Gigi is a fresh-faced young girl who's family want her to fit into this same society and have her in ongoing training to be an eligible young lady around town; even if she doesn't understand the Parisians one little bit and can't bring herself to care about the many society rules and pieces of etiquette. While Gaston tries to rejoin the society of women and whimsy, he develops a platonic friendship with Gigi – but is that all it will ever be? Following the success of My Fair Lady comes a film that has a great deal in common with it visually and in regards the songs; you could nearly blend the two together and, plot aside, at times it wouldn't seem that strange a mix. Of course, for those who loved the former then this will be a good thing and indeed, the film is pretty good if not what I had hoped for. I think it may be because I have heard the songs and have heard good things about Gigi that I maybe expected it to be more than a colourful musical – but that is really all it is. The plot is very thin and it didn't engage or interest me very much at all; the songs are memorable and well written and it is they that kept me interested. The story relies heavily on the lead characters of Gaston and Gigi, which is a problem because, although they have the usual pluck required by musicals, they were never real people that I cared about.

Of course the whole film looks great – colourful and lavish with a nice sense of humour and I did quite enjoy it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it didn't have much substances behind all the tunes, colour and humour. The cast try hard and mainly provide the sort of performances you would expect from the genre at the time. Caron is quite charming as the title character and does well, delivering a tomboy while also being feminine and a possible romantic interest. Jourdan is a bit flat and didn't impress me that much – although that may have been part of his character rather than performance. Of course Chevalier pretty much steals every scene he is in with a delightfully comic performance and many of the best songs.

Overall, fans of musicals (specifically My Fair Lady) will find much to enjoy here. I'm fairly indifferent to the whole genre but I did find it reasonably enjoyable. The songs are good and the performances are as required but it is hard to shake the feeling that a very thin plot is stretched out to a running time that it cannot comfortably fill. A good musical but not a great film.

Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy (Louis Jourdan) and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long.

This is apparently a film about fashion, because Gigi is all about fancy clothes. When bundled up, she looks very much like Madeleine (which, for all I know, is normal in France). But underneath? Some bold, wild patterns! Gigi is a role that seemed tailor-made for Audrey Hepburn, and I guess that some people wanted her to have it, though Leslie Caron nails it. Is Caron as big a name as Audrey? Goodness, no. But perhaps she ought to be.

Stylish MGM musical tells the story of a scruffy French lass in 1890s Paris groomed to be a mistress by her grandmother. "Gigi" is often referred to as the jewel in director Vincente Minnelli's crown, yet the picture is more ornate pomp and circumstance than delicious musical entertainment. This was the second filming of Colette's novel, following the 1949 non-musical French version starring Danièle Delorme (which gave way to the Broadway success starring Audrey Hepburn). Leslie Caron has the title role here and she's charming, as is Louis Jordan as Gaston, though both are in danger of being swallowed up by the over-production. Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor make up the hammy supporting cast, while the songs by Alan Jay Lerner (also the screenwriter) and Frederick Loewe contain the clipped wit of Broadway's best--a good thing, since those musical numbers are really the only instances in which the picture lifts off. 'Prestigious' and glossy, the film is big on exuberant trimmings, as it were, but it doesn't linger lovingly in the memory. Nine Oscar nominations with nine wins, including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography for Joseph Ruttenberg, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design for Cecil Beaton, Best Editing, Best Song for "Gigi" composed by Lerner and Loewe, and Best Musical Scoring for Andre Previn. **1/2 from ****

My summary is from both the opening and closing scenes of "Gigi", as sung by the legendary Maurice Chevalier on the streets of Paris as couples ride by in horse-drawn carriages. Leslie Caron, 27, plays Gigi, and Louis Jourdan, 39, fine French actor, plays her eventual suitor, Gaston. It came on the heels of "My Fair Lady", and considered a "knock-off" with lyrics by the same Lerner and Lowe team. "Gigi" was nominated for, and won, 9 Oscars for 1958, including best picture. However, none were for acting. Although very well done, and Caron is one of my all-time favorites, the story is rather simple and predictable, but fun.

Gigi is a joyous but poor young lady, almost a tomboy, cared for by her grandmother, who, along with the old aunt, are trying to "refine" Gigi, teaching her manners, how to sit and stand lady-like, how to pour coffee, how to select a cigar for her beau, how to recognize fine jewelry. All "material" things, hoping to help her find a gentleman to marry.

Meanwhile Gaston, who is handsome and rich, has a "reputation" in Paris with the beautiful ladies, but he finds all that boring, boring, boring. After he finds his current lady, played by Eva Gabor, locked in an embrace with her dance instructor, Gaston dumps her and finds him later playing a friendly game of cards with Gigi. She wins, and Gaston has to take Gigi and her aunt to the sea, where Gaston and Gigi have a great time together.

At first she resists, then he resists, but as the film ends they decide to get married. "Thank Heaven for little girls!"

"Gigi" is your typical 1950s and 1960s musical comedy, with bright costumes, light acting, mandatory songs by each character, but no large production numbers. Very enjoyable.

Vincente Minelli again proves his abilities as a director with "Gigi," a glorious Hollywood musical starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier, and Hermoine Gingold, with screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Lerner and Lowe.

"Gigi" is the story of a young girl (Caron) in the France of the 1900s. She is being educated to become a courtesan, though she seems blissfully unaware of this, being a tomboy. Her mother is the member of an opera chorus and can only be heard vocalizing; she is basically raised by her grandmother (Gingold) and aunt (Isabel Jeans). Gaston (Jourdan) is a wealthy family friend, the nephew of a former lover (Chevalier) of Gigi's grandmother. He loves to come by the overstuffed apartment and spend time with Gigi and her grandmother, eating and playing cards. When he invites the enthusiastic Gigi somewhere, he doesn't realize the scandal it will cause and that Gigi is, in fact, not a little girl anymore. It's time for an "arrangement" to be made for her, and her grandmother approaches Gaston, who agrees to take care of her. Gigi, however, has fallen for Gaston, and this isn't her idea of love.

With eye-popping set and costume design by Cecil Beaton, delightful performances and lovely songs, "Gigi" is a sure winner. This film revived the career of Maurice Chevalier, who sings "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" as well as the haunting "I Remember it Well" with Gingold, "It's a Bore" with Jourdan, and the charming "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore." Jourdan does his own singing and has the title song and a Soliloquey which is similar to "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?" from "My Fair Lady." (In fact, "Say A Prayer for Me Tonight," sung by Gigi (Caron is dubbed by Betty Wand) is cut from "My Fair Lady.") There are many comparisons to "My Fair Lady" - certainly the scene at Maxim's is similar to the Ascot Gavotte, and Gigi's transformation can be compared to Eliza's.

Caron is a delightful Gigi, a childlike and playful young girl who blossoms into a beautiful, sophisticated woman. Jourdan makes a handsome and likable playboy, and Gingold is great as Gigi's down to earth grandmother and protector.

A beautiful, warm film, guided by Minelli's delicate direction, Gigi is a must-see and is one of the all-time great Hollywood musicals.

"La Belle Epoque",just before WW1 is just a cliché.Was it so beautiful?Was it the lost paradise?Certainly not.When he depicted France (it was not the first time : see also "Madame Bovary" feat also Louis Jourdan as Rodolphe Boulanger ;"An American in Paris " "lust for life" and "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse" was yet to come),Minnelli gave a par excellence "Hollywoodian " sanitized depiction.It 's not necessarily pejorative: "Madame Bovary " had the best Emma I know (Jennifer Jones),"AN American in Paris" is dazzling ,"lust for life " beats hands down the FRench "Van Gogh" version with Jacques Dutronc.

"Gigi" is a different matter.A musical remake of feminist Jacqueline Audry's adaptation of Colette's novel in 1948.That was actually a trilogy ,featuring the same actress,Danièle Delorme" ,of which "Gigi " was the first volet.

Visually,"Gigi" is a splendor ,all red and gold, except for the scene when Gaston wanders aimlessly in the night and where black becomes a true color.But except for Gigi herself I can't find an endearing character in the story."La Belle Epoque" was certainly the good old time,but only for rich bourgeois selfish bon vivant such as Gaston ,his uncle et al.Gigi's grandma and aunt ,like it or not, are making a "Cocotte" (courtezan) of their protégée.But ,and Colette's feminist side takes the upper hand,Gigi (played by French Leslie Caron: this is the only Minnelli movie feat three FRench leads) strikes back....even if what the FRench used to call (still do) "un Beau Marriage" is par excellence the bourgeois dream.

I do not go much for "Gigi"'s score;compared with those of "brigadoon" ,the songs are not very tuneful,never really exciting ;and as for the words,well" thank you Heaven"! But the lyrics are often spoken (anyway if Chevalier was primarily a singer,Jourdan was not),or sung like a dialog,which probably had a strong influence on French Jacques Demy who made the first all-musical film ever with "les Parapluies de Cherbourg" ,a work where every line of dialog was sung.Minnelli's vision of Paris would certainly influence Demy too as far as his depictions of Cherbourg and (Les Demoiselles de) Rochefort are concerned.

When I read that Louis Jourdan died several weeks ago, I suddenly felt a jones to watch Gigi, having previously watched him in Octopussy and Swamp Thing. He's quite dashing here as Gaston especially when singing. Leslie Caron is convincing playing the title role both as a young girl and then when she matures in social graces. And then there's the legendary Maurice Chevalier as the experienced uncle. Certainly he added to his iconic status when warbling both "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore". Those and other tunes by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe are pretty enjoyable and reminiscent of their songs for their Broadway success of My Fair Lady which would eventually be adapted intact for the movies several years later. Mom and me enjoyed this very much so on that note, Gigi is highly recommended. P.S. The version I watched on DVD also had an alternate commentary track narrated by movie historian Jeanine Basinger with some choice remarks by star Leslie Caron.

Hollywood rarely has chosen musicals as its best picture Oscar winners.

In 1958, they did, honoring Gigi with 9 Academy Awards. How well deserved this picture was.

The great musical numbers by such an appealing, endearing cast can never be forgotten.

From the title song, that also copped the Oscar to The Night they Invented Champagne, the film literally sparkles with such performances from Leslie Caron in the title role, to Louis Jourdan, surprisingly very appealing in a musical, for this veteran dramatic actor.

Of course, there is the unforgettable Maurice Chevalier as the man about town again courting his true love, a wonderful Hermione Gingold. Ah yes, he may not have remembered it that well, but are those twosome great.

Gigi matures to our very eyes and what a pleasure it is to see this view.

Gay Paris was never lovelier. O to return to those times. Magnifique! ****

In 1900 Paris, charming "teenager" Leslie Caron (as Gigi) is raised to be a potential mistress for rich and handsome Louis Jourdan (as Gaston Lachaille). Instead - wouldn't you know it - the two fall in love. While it has a flimsy, predictable storyline that does not support its running time, there are exquisite sets, gorgeous Cecil Beaton costumes, breathtaking locations, and award-winning Joseph Ruttenberg cinematography. Masterfully, "Gigi" won all nine of the nine "Academy Awards" for which it was nominated, including "Best Picture" of the year and "Best Director" Vincente Minnelli...

As Mr. Jordan's uncle, Maurice Chevalier (Honoré Lachaille) memorably sings the sly "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and, with Ms. Caron's grandmother Hermione Gingold (Madame Alvarez), the classic "I Remember it Well". Betty Wand dubs the singing for Ms. Caron on the bubbly "The Night They Invented Champagne" and others. And, Mr. Jourdan's own French-accented "Gigi" is another Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe highlight. The otherwise lightweight and derivative MGM soundtrack LP received saturation play, and was #1 for ten weeks of its over two year chart run.

******* Gigi (5/15/58) Vincente Minnelli ~ Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold

Based on Anita Loos' play, out of the novel written by Colette, Gigi snatched a ream of Academy Awards and promptly became the course of much debate and criticism for ever and a day it seems. The problem, as most musical aficionados will attest, is that Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe rehashed their previous stage hit "My Fair Lady". Which to an extent is true, hell they even slotted in one of "My Fair Lady's" thrown away songs, "Say A Prayer For Me Tonight", into Gigi's bubbly mix. But on its own terms, Gigi is still a vibrant and rewarding picture that holds up well with each passing year.

The story had already been done as a French film directed by Jacqueline Audry in 1950, and a year later it had been played dramatically straight on Broadway with Audrey Hepburn in the title role. So for sure it was already a well formed story. Lerner & Loewe merely added their "Fair Lady" formula, got the talented Vincente Minnelli to direct it and broke out from the studio to utilise the Parisian locations. A touch heavy at almost two hours long, one still can't help getting wrapped up in some wonderful tunes and Cecil Beaton's gorgeous period costumes. The cast may be a mixed bunch, with it at times feeling like a competition to see who can be the most "French," but with the spiky dialogue being wry and tart, and one of "those" finales, it's a winner and highly recommended to fans of the musical genre. 7/10

I found Gigi to be fairly entertaining, although I'm not really sure what actually happened. There really is no plot to speak of, and the musical numbers are short and not very melodious. Gigi and Gastons acting is pretty good and the characters have chemistry. The supporting cast don't add much, as far as plot and acting, mostly just filler dialogue. Most scenes are fluff. Well made costumes and a few cute moments. Ending was all dramatics and no quality.

It's almost as if Lerner & Lowe were competing with themselves when they decided to write the music for "Gigi" -- once again, a story about a girl being transformed into a young woman of charm (a Parisian courtesan) just as Eliza was being molded into another creature by Professor Higgins. And that's not the only similarity. The songs all have a "My Fair Lady" similarity -- from 'The Night They Invented Champagne' to 'Gigi' to 'The Parisiennes' -- all bear the flavor of their previous work in sound and content. And yet they work beautifully for this story set in the city of love and starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Herminone Gingold and Maurice Chevalier.

Production-wise, it's almost too lavish for its own good. Vincente Minnelli wrings every bit of artistic decor in the trappings, giving the viewer an almost claustrophobic feeling for the interior scenes. The outdoor shots are just as lavish--Louis Jourdan singing the title song among the fountains and architecture of French landmarks.

The cast is perfect. Leslie Caron makes an enchanting Gigi, Louis Jourdan is impossibly handsome as Gaston, and all of the other players were cast with a discerning eye.

But there is no denying that no matter how distasteful some will find the story of training a girl to become a courtesan to be (or how politically incorrect by today's standards), the score is as sparkling as the champagne they sing about. While, in my opinion, the score does not surpass "My Fair Lady" in range and cleverness, it certainly did well enough in winning nine Oscars, including the one for Best Picture of 1958. By all means, it has to be considered one of the last great musicals from the MGM period.

Only drawback: it's a bit overlong and could have used some editing for the slow moments.

Movie musical takes place in France in 1900. Teenage tomboy Gigi (Leslie Caron) is madly in love with an adult man (Louis Jourdan) but he just sees her as a little girl. Her aunt (Hermione Gingold) is trying to bring her up to be a proper lady. Jourdan does start to realize Gigi is a woman...but doesn't want to marry her.

Very colorful and energetic MGM musical--easily one of the best musicals of the 1950s. The costumes and settings are wonderful (and won Academy Awards) and makes you believe that you are in 1900! In fact it received nine (I believe) Academy Awards--among them best director and best picture. The songs are great--there's not really a bad one among them (although the title song is kind of dull).

The acting is great too--Caron is full of life and her transformation from teenager to woman is totally believable. Gingold is great as her aunt and Jourdan is tall and VERY handsome. Also Maurice Chevalier pops up to instruct Jourdan every once in a while.

I do have a few minor quibbles--Chevalier (who was 70 at the time) singing "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" while leering at some teenage girls--I realize this was done in a more innocent era but it comes across as pretty unsettling today. There's totally dreadful back projection when Jourdan and Chevalier are talking (and singing) in a carriage. And the RED walls of Gingold's apartment really were getting to me. Also this movie gets too lively at times--I was exhausted just watching some of the numbers! Still, this is a lively fun movie. Highly recommended.

It has to be unprecedented. Like the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Nine Oscar nominations and nine wins: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color; Best Director - Vincente Minnelli; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Song for the song "Gigi"; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture - André Previn; Best Picture; and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Alan Jay Lerner.

One of the greatest musicals of all time with incomparable stars like Leslie Caron (The L-Shaped Room, Lili), Maurice Chevalier (The Big Pond, The Love Parade), and Louis Jourdan (The First Olympics: Athens 1896, Octopussy).

The sights and sounds of this film will stay forever, and the songs we all know are repeated here: "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", "It's a Bore", and "I Remember It Well".

What a show!

Paris, 1900. Gigi (Leslie Caron) is a young woman living with her mother. Gaston is a wealthy womaniser who has grown tired of the romantic intrigues, and everything else, of Paris. Gigi is sent to her Great Aunt Alicia to learn etiquette and the ways of a courtesan. Gaston is an old friend of Gigi's family and they have known each other for a while. Gigi and Gaston are just friends but over time their relationship develops into something more.

It was with some trepidation that I watched this. I generally dislike musicals, though there are many exceptions. On the upside I really enjoyed Leslie Caron in Lili and hoped that this movie would capture that same charm that made Lili so good.

Sadly, no, not really. For all the sweetness and innocence of Leslie Caron as Gigi, this movie is quite dull and unengaging. It's not even due to it being a musical - the plot is bland and uninteresting. I really don't care about the pretentious, snooty ways of French high society and Machiavellian romantic machinations. The fact that many of the machinations seem to be about old men chasing around very young women/girls, and reveling in this, makes the movie a touch creepy too.

The music is of the usual intrusive variety, i.e. song suddenly appears in the middle of dialogue and doesn't really fit in very well, and is largely forgettable.

Somehow this movie won the 1959 Best Picture Oscar. How this beat Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Defiant Ones, I do not know.

Vincente Minnelli was a director who just always kept on doing what he was best at; making charming, happy, romantic, musical comedies, even at the time the genre was already beginning to get very outdated. But he really had the last laugh with this movie. It was his most successful one and it even won 9 Oscar's.

And yes, I also was quite taken by this movie. It's far from the best or most original one within its genre but I just can't help liking about every bit of it. It's being brought all as such pleasant light entertainment that you just can't help enjoying it, no matter how sappy and ridicules the movie and its story can all get at times. It's still of course also a movie with a serious story in it but even that gets brought in a very colorful way. I even couldn't get bothered with the rather odd concept of having an older guy fall for a young teenage girl and everybody thinking that it's a completely normal and acceptable thing in this movie. Guess that it also still was, not only at the time period this movie got set in but also at the time that this movie got made.

The movie is a musical but it's a well concealed one. The musical numbers don't come and go at its predictable moments and they are also simply quite good numbers, performed by the movie its main cast. All of these moments aren't as distracting from the movie and its story as often is the case with these sort of movies. Musical numbers often tend to slow the movie down a bit. In this movie they actually help to make the movie a charming and irresistible one.

It's still being a movie that got completely done in the style of the movies from the golden era of the genre. So yes, the movie is an old fashioned one but it simply still all works well for the movie. No big surprise, considering that it had Vincente Minnelli at the helm. He's perhaps still the biggest and best known name with the musical movie genre.

Also refreshing to not see Judy Garland as the main lead for his movie for a change. They were already divorced at the time and even though he made quite a few genre movies without her, people still known the both of them for their collaborative works. But just like he had previously done with his movie "An American in Paris", he picked Leslie Caron as the main lead. And she was absolutely great and real charming. Also a great accomplishment from her that she managed to play and look like a young teenager very convincingly, even though she was already close to her 30's at the time. But even better was Louis Jourdan, who basically is always great to watch in any sort of role. Still it's surprising to see him perform and even sing in a musical movie such as this one.

Simply one charmingly entertaining movie to watch.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/