This fun movie tells the story of three showgirls who work together in Barry Nichols’ theater in Paris. It’s been a few years since the act broke up, and one of the girls, Sybil, has written her life story and had it published. Angele, the second of the three girls, is suing her for slander. Sybil claims that Angele tried to kill herself, and Angele insists that she did not. We see what happened from Sybil’s perspective as the movie goes into flashback while Sybil is on the stand.
Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly) is a handsome rogue who enjoys flirting with the girls in the show. When Angele (Taina Elg) comes into audition, he’s quite taken with her, but Sybil (Kay Kendall) and Joy (Mitzie Gaynor) both know it will be a passing fancy – he never commits to any one girl for long. When he rejects Angele’s desire to get married, Sybil contends that Angele tried to take her own life.
When Angele takes the stand, we get another flashback from another perspective. This time we see Sybil as an alcoholic who can’t pull herself together. The other girls think that if Barry were more understanding, Sybil wouldn’t have the need to drink, so they convince Barry that Sybil is secretly in love with him. They start a relationship, Barry dumps Sybil, and then she tries to commit suicide. In fact, the only person who comes out innocent in both accounts is Joy.
Finally Barry takes the stand and tells how it all really happened. His testimony clears up everything between Sybil and Angele, puts them back in good standing with their husbands (who were seriously doubting their wives’ fidelity) and smoothes everything over for everyone. But is he really telling the truth?
A fun comedy, this film was much better than I anticipated, and I wonder why it’s not a better known movie. It was unrated.
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