Can-Can (1960) HD online

Complete credited cast: | |||
![]() | Frank Sinatra | - | François Durnais |
![]() | Shirley MacLaine | - | Simone Pistache |
![]() | Maurice Chevalier | - | Paul Barriere |
![]() | Louis Jourdan | - | Philipe Forrestier |
![]() | Juliet Prowse | - | Claudine |
![]() | Marcel Dalio | - | Andre - the head waiter |
![]() | Leon Belasco | - | Arturo - orchestra leader |
![]() | Nestor Paiva | - | Bailiff |
![]() | John A. Neris | - | Jacques - the Photographer |
![]() | Jean Del Val | - | Judge Merceaux |
![]() | Ann Codee | - | League president |
Although it is never explained in the film why the Can-Can was illegal, it is because most of the time the girls who performed the dance did not wear panties.
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."
Gwen Verdon won the 1954 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical for "Can-Can".
A duet of Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier singing Cole Porter's "I Love Paris" was deleted from the release print, although the song is performed by a chorus at the beginning and end of the film. The Sinatra-Chevalier audio has been presented on Capitol's 1960 movie-soundtrack LP and 1990 CD, plus on an EMI CD import from Britain in 2000, but the film footage has yet to surface. Rendered solo by Mr. Sinatra, recorded in Los Angeles on April 13, 1960, and arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle (who served as the film's music arranger and conductor), a second "I Love Paris" originally was released later that year on a Capitol 45-rpm single. In 1998, the label added the solo "I Love Paris" as a bonus track on Mr. Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me" CD reissue.
During the opening song, François Durnais (Frank Sinatra) says 'You'll never make it' to a very short man with a taller woman. The man, carrying a painting, is a reference to Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. This is one of several glaring examples of Sinatra's blatant refusal to adapt his performance style to suit the film's time period.
Fox offered the property to Marilyn Monroe, but the actress turned it down.
The Broadway production of "Can-Can" opened at the Shubert Theater in New York on May 7, 1953 and ran for 892 performances.
On Broadway, the starring role of La Mome Pistache was played by German chanteuse Lilo, with the supporting role of Claudine portrayed by [link=nm089386. Once the show began performances, it became apparent that Verdon's role was actually the more arresting of the two, which forever skewed the property, to the extent that star Shirley MacLaine - herself a gypsy who had stolen The Pajama Game (1957) (1954) away from its leading lady and landed a Hollywood contract - insisted on collapsing the material of Pistache and Claudine into one role, Simone. This left Juliet Prowse, who portrayed what was left of Claudine, with precious little screen time.
In both the stage and film versions of Can-Can (1960) (1960), the plot's conflict revolves around the relationship between the club proprietor and a judge of the Parisian court. On stage, the two characters resolve in each other's arms. The ending of the film is perplexing in that, once the two characters have reached their compromise, Simone (Shirley MacLaine) randomly pairs off with Francois (Frank Sinatra). This is one of several awkward plot points that scenarist Dorothy Kingsley was unable to smooth over as she attempted to weave Sinatra's character into a plot that did not warrant his presence.
Porter slipped a gay reference into the title song "Can Can" that somehow slipped past the censors in the 50's. "If in Lesbos, a pure Lesbian can, Baby, you can can-can too."
Frank Sinatra's production company was the engine that powered the film, which explains why his character, Francois, which did not exist in the Broadway show, was inserted into the plot. With no pains taken to disguise his American accent, Sinatra is noticeably out of place in 1890s Montmartre, going so far as to ad lib his trademark "ring a ding ding" during the song "C'est Magnifique."
Between the deleted songs from the stage play and three tunes interpolated from other Cole Porter shows, only two ensemble numbers, "Maidens Typical of France" and "Can-Can," are performed in the same context as they had been on Broadway.
Despite its over length, the film virtually omits the show's immortal hit song, "I Love Paris," which is relegated to one brief choral stanza sung under the credits. Critics at the time were quick to note the irony, especially given the fact that Maurice Chevalier, the song's logical interpreter, was in the cast.
Frank Sinatra was at the peak of his power as a Hollywood player during the making of this project, as demonstrated by his casting Rat Pack member Shirley MacLaine as Simone, and his decision to play variations of his own image rather than develop a character (indeed, Sinatra's role did not exist in the stage production). Additionally, Sinatra retrenched his solo number, "It's All Right With Me" from a driving ballad to one of his trademark slow-going saloon songs.
In the Garden of Eden ballet, Eve was portrayed on stage by the character of Claudine. When it was decided that Simone (Shirley MacLaine) would assume the role of Eve on screen, the character of Claudine (Juliet Prowse) was relegated to portraying the snake.
Musical director Nelson Riddle was tasked with creating an authentic musical background for the film, which takes place in 1890s Montmartre. However, the charts Riddle created for his frequent collaborator Frank Sinatra - particularly "C'est Magnifique" and "Let's Do It" - are noticeably more pop-like, and Sinatra renders them much like his studio recordings of the era, minus any attempt to incorporate the film's period or style.
Frank Sinatra's Suffolk Productions was instrumental in hiring Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier for roles in Can-Can (1960) (1960), as the two had been instrumental in creating the Gallic flavor that infused the Oscar-winning Gigi (1958) (1958). Jourdan is happily cast in the central role of the starched judge whose inflexibility fuels the plot, but Chevalier's role - like Sinatra's - was invented purely as a means of justifying his presence in the film and does not function in the plot in any germane way.
Following Silk Stockings (1957) (1957), this was the second consecutive film adaptation of a Cole Porter show to present the title song as an instrumental only, minus the lyrics.
The show's plot is essentially a battle of wills between two characters, one male, one female, who, in the bargain, fall in love. This delicate balance was fatally tipped in the film version by the addition of two male characters - played by Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier - whose superfluous presence distracts from the matter at hand.
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