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IMDbPro

Can-Can

  • 1960
  • Approved
  • 2h 11m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan in Can-Can (1960)
Montmartre, 1896: the Can-Can, the dance in which the women lift their skirts, is forbidden. Nevertheless, Simone has it performed every day in her nightclub. Her employees use their female charms to let the representatives of law enforcement look the other way - and even attend the shows. Then the young ambitious judge Philippe Forrestier decides to bring this to an end. Will Simone manage to twist him round her little finger too? Her boyfriend, Francois, certainly doesn't like to watch her trying.
Play trailer2:25
1 Video
29 Photos
ComedyMusical

In 1896 Paris, a female nightclub proprietor fights against the forces of public morality for the right to feature her performers doing the risqué dance, the Can-Can.In 1896 Paris, a female nightclub proprietor fights against the forces of public morality for the right to feature her performers doing the risqué dance, the Can-Can.In 1896 Paris, a female nightclub proprietor fights against the forces of public morality for the right to feature her performers doing the risqué dance, the Can-Can.

  • Director
    • Walter Lang
  • Writers
    • Dorothy Kingsley
    • Charles Lederer
    • Abe Burrows
  • Stars
    • Frank Sinatra
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Maurice Chevalier
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    2.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Walter Lang
    • Writers
      • Dorothy Kingsley
      • Charles Lederer
      • Abe Burrows
    • Stars
      • Frank Sinatra
      • Shirley MacLaine
      • Maurice Chevalier
    • 38User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 5 wins & 7 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:25
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos29

    Nikita Khrushchev watches on as Frank Sinatra performs on the set of the film "Can-Can" at 20th Century Fox' Hollywood studio 09-19-1959
    Nikita Khrushchev visits with Frank Sinatra, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan and Shirley MacLaine on the set of the film "Can-Can" at 20th Century Fox' Hollywood studio 09-19-1959
    "Can Can" Frank Sinatra at Fox Studios during a break from filming, 1959. Modern silver gelatin, 12x9.5, signed. $750 © 1978 Bob Willoughby MPTV
    "Can Can" Warren Beatty and Joan Collins visit Shirley MacLaine on the set 1959 20th
    Sammy Davis, Jr. and his wife, Loray White Davis, at the "Can Can" premiere in Hollywood, CA, 1960.
    Sammy Davis, Jr. and his wife, Loray White Davis, at the "Can Can" premiere in Hollywood, CA, 1960.
    Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, and Juliet Prowse in Can-Can (1960)
    Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine in Can-Can (1960)
    Frank Sinatra and Juliet Prowse in Can-Can (1960)
    Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine in Can-Can (1960)
    Shirley MacLaine and Marc Wilder in Can-Can (1960)
    Shirley MacLaine in Can-Can (1960)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra
    • François Durnais
    Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley MacLaine
    • Simone Pistache
    Maurice Chevalier
    Maurice Chevalier
    • Paul Barriere
    Louis Jourdan
    Louis Jourdan
    • Philipe Forrestier
    Juliet Prowse
    Juliet Prowse
    • Claudine
    Marcel Dalio
    Marcel Dalio
    • Andre - the head waiter
    Leon Belasco
    Leon Belasco
    • Arturo - orchestra leader
    Nestor Paiva
    Nestor Paiva
    • Bailiff
    John A. Neris
    • Jacques - the Photographer
    Jean Del Val
    Jean Del Val
    • Judge Merceaux
    Ann Codee
    Ann Codee
    • League president
    Frank Baker
    Frank Baker
    • Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Benjie Bancroft
    • Club Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Herman Belmonte
    • Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Eugene Borden
    • Police Officer Chevrolet
    • (uncredited)
    Buddy Bryan
    • Dancer
    • (uncredited)
    Carole Bryan
    • Gigi
    • (uncredited)
    Charles Carmen
    • Knife Thrower
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Walter Lang
    • Writers
      • Dorothy Kingsley
      • Charles Lederer
      • Abe Burrows
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      During filming on 19th September 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev visited the set on Sound Stage 8 with his wife Nina. He reportedly was shocked by the open sexuality on display, condemning the film as pornographic and depraved: "The face of mankind is prettier than its backside... The thing is immoral. We do not want that sort of thing for the Russians."
    • Goofs
      About 34 minutes in, when Philipe tries to close the window in Simone's boudoir, the whole wall shakes as he struggles with the window, indicating that it is a set wall and not a real building.
    • Quotes

      François Durnais: You look like a broken umbrella.

    • Crazy credits
      Opening credits prologue: Montmartre-1896
    • Connections
      Featured in Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      I Love Paris
      (uncredited)

      Music by Cole Porter

      Lyrics by Cole Porter

      Sung by chorus over the beginning and end credits

    User reviews38

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    CAN-CAN (Walter Lang, 1960) **1/2
    This is another film which was often shown on TV (twice on the local channel alone!) but I hadn’t bothered with until now; it’s recently been released as a 2-Disc Set by Fox but, in view of its middling reputation, opted to acquire the film by itself.

    To begin with, the DVD presentation had its good and bad points: the film was made available in its “Roadshow Version” – running 142 minutes against the “General Release Version” which eliminated 11 minutes of extraneous music (Overture, Intermission, Entr’ Acte and Exit Music); unfortunately, time seems to have taken its toll on the negative as there were several instances of color fluctuation throughout! As can be surmised, I decided to give the film a whirl as part of my ongoing marathon to commemorate the 10th anniversary from the passing of its male lead – Frank Sinatra; curiously enough, given his reputation as one of the foremost American singers, he appeared in few vintage musicals over the years…and it’s certainly a tribute to his acting talent that his non-musical work (often in hard-hitting, even groundbreaking films) has tended to overshadow this more familiar aspect of his personality – at least on the silver screen!

    Anyway, to get back to the film proper: I found it quite engaging and its considerable length not overly taxing – and this, to a large degree, is thanks to the formidable star cast (which, apart from Sinatra, included Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan). The first two had already appeared together – albeit in dramatic roles – in SOME CAME RUNNING (1958), while the others had been wonderfully teamed in the same genre and a similar ambiance in GIGI (1958). Ironically, both these films were helmed by a master stylist – Vincente Minnelli…so, perhaps, Fox should have struck a deal with MGM to acquire his services for CAN-CAN – but, given director Lang’s previous musical success with THE KING AND I (1956), they obviously thought he could do no wrong. The fact is that his handling is sterile and more accommodating to the Widescreen ratio than the necessities of the plot and characters – filming events from a distance and rarely cutting or even moving the camera; this lazy approach (which still landed him a nomination from the Directors' Guild Of America!) is doubly frustrating when viewed on a small screen!!

    Apparently, the production went through a lot of script changes (Sinatra’s role, reportedly, wasn’t even in the stage original to begin with!), songs were dropped and replaced by other Cole Porter standards which don’t really fit in (such as Jourdan’s “You Do Something To Me”); the rest of the soundtrack isn’t particularly outstanding (unlike that of GIGI, for instance) but a number of tunes are cleverly reprised (sometimes with variations and by different characters) during the course of the film. It was nice, too, seeing two world-renowned singers with such different styles as Sinatra and Chevalier come together (and having fun with it); Chevalier and Jourdan’s roles, then, are virtual carbon copies of their GIGI characterizations – but it’s a formula that seems to work (even if it’s not as central to the main plot this time around, Jourdan having been relegated to The Other Man type).

    MacLaine did few musicals as well but her vivaciousness (as a dancer and owner of an establishment which finds itself frequently in trouble with the law over the forbidden “Can-Can” dance, but who manages to charm the stuffy judge at the trial) ensures that her numbers emerge as the show’s highlights: the Apache Dance, the drunken recital of a vulgar song at her engagement party to Jourdan (at the instigation of lawyer Sinatra, who loves her but is unwilling to commit himself) and the “Garden Of Eden” sequence (intended to demonstrate that “Sin wasn’t invented in Montmartre – it was only perfected there”!). Two other important figures (though both severely underwritten) are those played by Juliet Prowse and Frenchman Marcel Dalio as the nervous but devoted manager of the “Bal De Paradis” (the latter was a versatile actor in his native land, but he was stuck with this kind of unrewarding role during his long tenure in Hollywood!); the former appears as a leading dancer at the club and MacLaine’s prospective rival – interestingly, the two actresses’ physiognomies are strikingly similar – for Sinatra’s attentions (a situation which is indirectly played upon during the afore-mentioned “Garden Of Eden” number, apart from which they’re teamed for the climactic Can-Can performance…to the predictable enthusiasm of the formerly disapproving head of a female Legion Of Decency-type group).

    In the end, while this film can’t be considered a classic musical as such, it still seems to me to have been unfairly maligned – as some fantastic talent has been assembled in the service of a charming (albeit unsurprising) narrative to provide colorful (if uninspired) entertainment which the genre was capable of during its studio-system heyday…
    helpful•13
    1
    • Bunuel1976
    • May 19, 2008

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 27, 1960 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Jack Cummings' Production of Cole Porter's Can-Can
    • Filming locations
      • Paris, France(stock footage of the evening barge sequences)
    • Production company
      • Suffolk-Cummings Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $6,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 11 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.20 : 1

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