While I agree with many of the ambivalent comments from other reviewers,"Can-Can" can only be fully appreciated on the giant Todd-AO screen,along with 6-track stereo. This becomes evident with the thrilling musical direction of Nelson Riddle.Besides the rich,stylish orchestrations,we have the equally stylish,sophisticated music of Cole Porter. The composer is well served with the two French actors.Louis Jourdan,not thought of as a singer,delivers the smoothest rendition of 'You Do Something To Me' I have ever heard. Maurice Chevalier is charming,as always and his 'Just One Of Those Things',along with the attractive presence of Louis Jourdan,provides one of the film's best moments. Now for my reservations.I feel that Frank Sinatra is miscast.He is far too glib and smug and seems to be moving in a different time-zone to most of the other players.Shirley MacLaine is also embarrassing at times;too American and shrill.Having said that,she has some bright moments and her dancing with Juliet Prowse in the final 'Can-Can' number is really exciting(provided it can be viewed on the giant screen). It's just a pity,given the talent involved,that "Can-Can" on film does not seem to totally satisfy very many people.Even so,there is clearly much left to enjoy.

With my dad's birthday coming up in a weeks time,I started to search around for a DVD that he would enjoy.Struggleing to locate a suitable title,I suddenly remembered him mentioning a while ago about being very keen in taking a look at the DVD of the musical Can-Can,which led to me heading down to a seedy nightclub,in the hope of seeing the dance performed.The plot:1896: Montmartre.Being the owner of a nightclub where the illegal Can-Can dance is performed, Simone Pistache uses all her charms to make anyone in power overlook the nightclub,with Pistache's close friend (and lawyer) François Durnais cutting deals with anyone who tries to shut the club.Since having recently joined the high-court,judge Paul Barriere has been searching for a method he can use to clean the decay from the streets.Setting his sights on the Can-Can club, Pistache begins to realise that she must hit some super high-kicks,in order to stop Barriere's plans in its tracks.View on the film:Bringing the stage show to the big screen,director Walter Lang and cinematographer William H. Daniels give the title a stylish water colour appearance,which help to give the striking dance numbers a real fairy tale feel.Allowing the stage origin roots to overlap with the movie,Lang disappointingly never allows the viewer to be placed in the middle of the action,thanks to Lang always keeping the camera at a safe distance,which despite making the dance numbers something which can be fully seen,does lead to the central drama feeling rather stilted.Matching Lang's directing,the screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley, Charles Lederer and Abe Burrows fails to warm the relationship between François Durnais (a smooth Frank Sinatra) and Simone Pistache (an excellent Shirley MacLaine) by attempting to show Paul Barriere (a wonderfully stuck-up Maurice Chevalier) gradually warm to the Can-Can,which the writer's are unable to make be a natural transition for the character,thanks to the ' moral guardian' side Barriere being spread on thickly during the first half,which leads to this Can-Can sadly being unable to finish with style.

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."

**SPOILER** This is a cute story that is well produced and acted. There are some very good numbers worth watching and the treatment of Paris by Americans is always amusing.However, the ending is a huge disappointment as it doesn't follow from the characters' evolution through the film; rather it falls back on the idea that Mr. Sinatra had to be the one who got the girl. Perhaps Frank was just tired of filming that day and wanted to wrap it up. In any case, the ending reinforces an idea that even in the 60's was anachronistic (a girl from the slum will only be happy or comfortable with a guy from the slum) and which today is certainly a big obstacle to enjoying the film entirely.