Les Girls

Les Girls (also known as Cole Porter's Les Girls) is a 1957 American CinemaScope musical comedy film directed by George Cukor and produced by Sol C. Siegel, with Saul Chaplin as associate producer. The screenplay by John Patrick was based on a story by Vera Caspary. The music and lyrics were by Cole Porter.

It stars Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, and Taina Elg, and the cast also includes Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, and Patrick Macnee.

Plot summary
Barry, Joy, Sybil and Angele were formerly members of the cabaret dance troupe "Barry Nichols and Les Girls". Years after the group has dissolved, Sybil, now Lady Wren, publishes a tell-all memoir containing details of her days in the theatre, and makes a point of detailing Angele's alleged suicide attempt after Barry ended their affair. Angele is outraged by Sybil's claims and sues her for libel. The case goes to trial where the two women relate the history of the troupe as they recall it, however, they each remember matters very differently.

Sybil remembers Angele as an easy, deceitful woman who tried to keep her engagement to a man named Pierre from Barry to keep her affair going, but ultimately jeopardized both relationships when her lies were revealed. Angele remembers Sybil as a drunkard who was madly in love with Barry - and that Angele herself had no relationship with Barry at all. According to Angele, Sybil was promised to another man from England - Gerald - who upon finding out the nature of her relationship to Barry, started a physical altercation with him. This led Sybil to once more abuse alcohol and then attempt suicide, feeling as though she had ruined both relationships.

Finally Barry takes the stand to reveal that neither of the girls' stories were quite right. All along, Barry had actually been pursuing Joy romantically. Pierre and Gerald had asked Barry to fire Angele and Sybil so that they may end their careers and get married, but Barry insists firing them will only make things worse. He concocts a plan that involves faking a hear condition and suggests that it will result in him having to close the theatre. The three women, distraught at the sudden news, all agree to quit for his sake. However, he reveals the truth to Joy at his apartment who at first finds him despicable, but quickly learns to forgive him when she realizes his good intentions.

As they both return to the girls' apartment, they realize a gas leak has occurred and Angele, along with Sybil, had both collapsed in their drunken stupor following their farewell party to Barry, and were exposed to the toxic gas. They were both rescued but never reunited after that... until the trial. With the case now settled that there was no suicide attempt, but rather both women had misunderstood the gas leak as a suicide attempt on behalf of the other, they reunite outside the courtroom to make amends. As Barry leaves, it is revealed that he had indeed ended up marrying Joy, though she doubts his claim that he had not fooled around with Angele and Sybil at all.

Cast

 * Gene Kelly as Barry Nichols
 * Mitzi Gaynor as Joy Henderson
 * Kay Kendall as Lady Sybil Wren
 * Betty Wand provides the singing voice of Lady Sybil Wren
 * Taina Elg as Angele Ducros
 * Jacques Bergerac as Pierre Ducros
 * Leslie Phillips as Sir Gerald Wren
 * Henry Daniell as judge
 * Patrick Macnee as Sir Percy
 * Stephen Vercoe as Mr. Outward
 * Philip Tonge as the associate judge
 * Barrie Chase as a dancer (uncredited)

Musical numbers

 * "Les Girls" – Barry, Joy, Sybil and Angele
 * "You're Just Too, Too" – Barry and Sybil
 * "Ca, C'est L'Amour" – Angele
 * "Ladies-in-Waiting" – Joy, Sybil and Angele
 * "Why Am I So Gone (About that Gal)?" – Barry

Background notes

 * The story by Vera Caspary was inspired by an article which appeared in The Atlantic – a reminiscence of a dancer's touring years. Miss Caspary's version turned the memoir into a point of dispute and raised questions about the nature of truth. As only the title was used from Miss Caspary's story for the screenplay, she joked that she was the highest paid writer in the world, as she was paid $80,000 for writing just two words – "Les Girls"
 * Les Girls was Gene Kelly's last musical under his contract at MGM which began in 1942.
 * Les Girls was the last film score by Cole Porter and the next-to-last score of his career.
 * The film's original female leads were to have been played by Leslie Caron, Cyd Charisse, Jean Simmons and Carol Haney.

Awards and honors

 * Les Girls won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Orry-Kelly and was nominated for two other awards, Best Art Direction (William A. Horning, Gene Allen, Edwin B. Willis, Richard Pefferle) and Best Sound (Wesley C. Miller).
 * The film won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy and for Best Actress, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg together.
 * 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – nominated

Sequel
Immediately after the film was released, tentative plans were announced for a sequel called Les Boys. While it did not come to pass, it did inspire Harry's Girls, a sitcom starring Larry Blyden which ran on NBC for 15 episodes in the fall of 1963.

Box office
According to MGM records the film made $2,415,000 in the US and Canada and $1,450,000 elsewhere, but because of its high production cost lost $1,635,000.

Choreography
Les Girls was a major vehicle for choreographer Jack Cole, and one of the first films to feature the role of choreographer in the opening credits.