French Cancan (1954)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

Jean Renoir (adaptation)
André-Paul Antoine (idea)

Release Date:

16 April 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Drama | Romance

Plot:

This comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.

Plot Keywords:

Moulin Rouge | 1890s | 1880s | Period Piece | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Henri Danglard
Françoise Arnoul	...	Nini
María Félix	...	Lola de Castro de la Fuente de Espramadura 'La Belle Abbesse'
Anna Amendola	...	Esther Georges
Jean-Roger Caussimon	...	Baron Walter
Dora Doll	...	La Génisse
Giani Esposito	...	Prince Alexandre
Gaston Gabaroche	...	Oscar, le pianiste
Jacques Jouanneau	...	Bidon
Jean Parédès	...	Coudrier
Franco Pastorino	...	Paulo, le boulanger
Michèle Philippe	...	Eleonore
Michel Piccoli	...	Le Capitaine Valorgueil
Albert Rémy	...	Barjolin
France Roche	...	Beatrix

Also Known As:

Only the French Can (USA) (cut version)

Runtime:

102 min | USA:93 min (1956 version) | West Germany:87 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Hong Kong:I

Company:

Franco London Films

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa #17930 delivered on 17 December 1954.

Soundtrack:

Madame Arthur

Marvelous!

The story is simple but the execution is marvelous. A Belle Epoque impresario, down on his financial luck, is going to open a new club, the Moulin Rouge, with a new dance, the French cancan. He encounters a working girl and makes her a dancer. She'll become a star. There are several crises to overcome before that happens.

The movie is Jean Renoir's tribute to show business, and he puts it on the screen with color, verve, humor, and humanity. There are wonderful performances by all the actors. The leads are Jean Gabin as Henri Danglard, the impresario; Francoise Arnoul as Nini, the girl who'll become a star; and Maria Felix as Lola de Castro, an overwhelmingly tempestuous beauty and Danglard's lover at the start. Gabin exudes confidence, worldly humor and dedication to show business. He even dances a bit. Arnoul is first rate, too. It looks like she was doing her own dances, and as an actress think of a young Leslie Caron with brains and charm.

The climax of the movie is the opening of the club, with Felix's star dance, comic songs, a whistler, a Danglar-discovered singer, all moving toward the introduction of the French cancan. The crises happen and are resolved. Then the cancan explodes. Dancing girls come bursting out from the stage, the front of the theater, through posters, down ropes from the balcony. The house swirls with the black tie and tails of the swells and the garish colors of the dancers' gowns. The cancan number lasts probably ten or fifteen minutes or so, all music and gaiety, all high kicks and splits. It's amazing when row after row of the dancers, moving toward the camera through the audience, leap up, legs extended straight forward and backward, backs arched, then land on the dance floor in full splits. I didn't know whether to shout or wince.

The last scene of the movie is outside the club, shot from the cobblestone street looking at the entrance. It's a medium shot and from the side street a happy, inebriated fellow in black tie and top hat staggers across, pauses to tip his hat at the camera, then staggers off. A completely charming ending.

This really is a marvelous movie.