Love Letters to Old Hollywood

Les Girls is such a unique musical, I’m surprised there isn’t more out there about it. For Gene Kelly, it was his last starring musical for MGM and it was his only teaming with the wonderful director George Cukor. Cole Porter’s last film score increases its pedigree, as well as the fantastic contributions of Mitzi Gaynor and Kay Kendall. But what amuses me the most about Les Girls is its structure. It can’t be easy to create original material for one of the oldest genres there is, yet this film does a beautiful job in my opinion. You see, the narrative focuses on a trio of girls who worked in an entertainment act together, with Gene Kelly as their manager/choreographer/director/co-star (he basically does it all, like Kelly himself). However, the film is broken up into three sections, each section from a different person’s viewpoint. Let’s see if I can explain it… We start in a London courthouse. Sybil (Kendall), or Lady Wren as she’s now known, has written her memoirs abo...

Rainy days are great. Nothing beats sitting in a cozy chair under a blanket, drinking something hot, and watching a classic film. Unfortunately, college discourages that. They'd rather you go to class and basically have no fun. But once class is over, all bets are off. Unless you have pressing homework. But then once that's out of the way--what, it's 1 am? Once in a while, though, you'll get lucky and your whole afternoon will be open for some great one-on-one time with movies while outside is a complete mess. I haven't done a list lately, so why not do one now? Here are my favorites for a rainy day. Laura. When I first saw this noir classic, I wasn't that enthralled. Now I'm absolutely in love with it. Vincent Price is hilariously pathetic (in such a good way); Clifton Webb is so sophisticated but such a jerk; Dana Andrews is superbly subtle; Judith Anderson is her usually great self. But I think we all know who owns the film--the gorgeous and gifte...