(Review originally written at 7 December 2006)
This is an enjoyable and good late MGM musical.
This is a good genre movie, from genre specialist George Cukor, with all of the typical and formulaic elements present in it. It's cheerful looking and slightly over-the-top, like it should be. The story is of course once more about love and the musical business.
The story might sounds formulaic and simple but it is yet the story that makes this movie distinct itself from other genre movies and make this an original one. The story is told from three different point-of-views in a courtroom, after each other. The storytelling is obviously inspired by Akira Kurosawa's "Rashômon". Does this storytelling work out perfect in this movie? I have to say no. Although it works original, it also tends to make the movie needlessly tiresome after a while. It's not always interesting or refreshing enough to follow the story from the three different viewpoints. Unlike "Rashômon", you as the viewer often feel cheated about what the real truth is. The three different stories too often make each other weaker, instead of stronger and more intriguing, even though it still makes the movie as a whole original and refreshing. So you can really say that the story and storytelling is one of the stronger- as well as one of the weaker points of the movie.
Gene Kelly is good in his role but really the main characters of the movie are the three girls. They mostly carry the movie and make the movie a delight to watch. The movie further more also features some other great supporting actors, such as; Patrick Macnee and Leslie Phillips. The characters are all fun and have some good chemistry, even though they are all far from well developed or written.
The sets, costumes (Oscar-winner) and the musical numbers are great looking, like you always should expect from a genre movie like this one, from the MGM-studios. This movie will surely not disappoint the fans.
It's a good and even one of the better and more fun musicals from the MGM-studios.
7/10
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