A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

What does an old musical set in France need? Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan, of course! And since there's also singing and a cute dancer who likes showing off her legs, what else does it need? Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine! Can-Can has Shirley, both French charmers, and Ol' Blue Eyes.Set in the 1800s, when the can-can dance was forbidden in France because it was too risqué, Shirley MacLaine decides to buck the system and allows her and her nightclub dancers show off their legs. Lots of dancing from choreographer Hermes Pan, lots of pretty costumes, lots of Cole Porter songs, and a love triangle that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time, Can-Can is definitely one to see if you like old musicals. I've seen them all, and while this one doesn't make it to the top shelf in my collection, I'm glad I saw it. Many famous songs come from this movie, including "I Love Paris", "Let's Do It", "Just One of Those Things", and "It's All Right With Me", so if you like any of those, rent it during your next musical-fest weekend.

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 night club. Her employees use their female charm to let the representatives of law enforcement look the other way - or even attend the shows. But then the young ambitious judge Philippe Forrestier decides to bring this to an end.Musicals are hit and miss, as are most films. This one is rather successful because it has a great cast, a nice plot (a risqué criminal plot!) and music without an over-reliance on the songs. (May be it is just me, but some musicals get to be too overbearing because of the abundance of music, even when it is good.) Although I do not find it convincing that Sinatra is French, he does a fine job as a devious defense attorney!

Cole Porter had a mixed bag with his last group of Broadway musicals after Ethel Merman moved onto Irving Berlin. Only one of them, "Kiss Me Kate", was a smash hit both critically and financially, and two ("Can- Can" and "Silk Stockings") were fairly successful. Several flops ("Around the World in 80 Days" and the underrated "Out of this World") made Broadway life difficult for the ailing composer. For the movie version of "Can-Can", the basic story remained but much of the score changed with a hot box office cast brought into play the leads.The legal system is battling the nightclub area of Monmarte with women's groups protesting against the allegedly dirty dance. But the judges enjoy it just as much as the tourists and locals who go to see the jumps, twists and splits of the sexy chorines lead by Shirley MacLaine. Among the legal eagles involved are "Gigi" co-stars Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan, with MacLaine supported by none other than "Pal Joey", Frank Sinatra, re-teaming them after "Some Came Running". An overlong movie is broken up by a perky musical score, not one of Porter's best on stage, but a few songs stand out as classics.The lyrics have been taken out of the title song which MacLaine, Juliet Prowse and the Can-Can girls perform with great exertion. "C'est Magnifique", "I Love Paris" and "Live and Let Live" have all become standards, and of the other lesser known songs, MacLaine's drunken "Come Along With Me" is the most amusing. There's an Adam and Eve ballet, an Apache Dance (of course!) and the wittiness of Porter's lyrics which reflects his "Parisian" era seen earlier on Broadway in shows like "Fifty Million Frenchmen" and "Paris" which claimed some of his more risqué lyrics. All in all, there's nothing special about this likable but over-stuffed piece of fluff, but the performers all put their best foot forward (or dancing shoes) and the direction by Walter Lang is swift in spite of the running time. While this may not stand out as a classic among the golden age of movie versions of Broadway musicals, it certainly doesn't rank up there with some of the disasters, either.

The film would have been more provocative had they shown more scenes regarding this forbidden dance raging in Paris circa 1900.The film was certainly not one of Shirley MacLaine's better performances. She does show a simpleness marked in her Oscar nominated performance in "Some Came Running."As always, Maurice Chevalier stars in an advisory capacity, as a magistrate, who still likes the swinging life along with attorney Frank Sinatra. Louis Jourdan is wonderful as the stiff magistrate who finds love with MacLaine.The film may also have suffered because it may very well have been compared to the Oscar winner-"Gigi."