Can-Can is a 1960 musical film

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 made by Suffolk-Cummings productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

. It was directed by Walter Lang

Walter Lang

Walter Lang was an American film director.-Early life:Walter Lang was born in Memphis, Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piqued his artistic instincts and he began learning the various facets of filmmaking...

, produced by Jack Cummings and Saul Chaplin

Saul Chaplin

Saul Chaplin was an American composer and musical director.He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York.He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley...

, from a screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley

Dorothy Kingsley

Dorothy Kingsley was an American screenwriter, who worked extensively in film, radio and television.-Biography:...

 and Charles Lederer

Charles Lederer

Charles Lederer was a prolific and well-connected American film writer and director of the 30s to the 60s, from a prominent theatrical family with close ties to the Hearst dynasty.-Early life:...

, loosely based on the musical play

Can-Can (musical)

Can-Can is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and a book by Abe Burrows. The story concerns the showgirls of the Montmartre dance halls during the 1890s....

 by Abe Burrows

Abe Burrows

Abe Burrows was a Tony and Pulitzer-winning American humorist, author, and director for radio and the stage.-Early years:...

 with music and lyrics by Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

, with some songs replaced by songs from earlier Porter musicals. Art direction was by Jack Martin Smith

Jack Martin Smith

Jack Martin Smith was a highly successful Hollywood art director with over 130 films to his credit and nine Academy Award nominations which ultimately yielded three Oscars.-MGM:...

 and Lyle R. Wheeler

Lyle R. Wheeler

Lyle Reynolds Wheeler, , was an Academy Award-winning American motion picture art director....

, costume design by Irene Sharaff

Irene Sharaff

Irene Sharaff was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her work earned her five Academy Awards and a Tony Award.- Background :...

 and dance staging by Hermes Pan

Hermes Pan (choreographer)

Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally celebrated as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:...

. The film was photographed in Todd-AO

Todd-AO

Todd-AO is a post-production company founded in 1953, providing sound-related services to the motion picture and television industries. The company operates three facilities in the Los Angeles area.-History:...

. It was, after Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur (1959 film)

Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...

, the top grossing film of 1960.

The film starred Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...

 and introduced Juliet Prowse in her first film role. Sinatra, who was paid $200,000 along with a percentage of the film's profits, acted in the film under a contractual obligation required by 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

 after walking off the set of Carousel

Carousel (film)

Carousel is a 1956 film adaptation of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name which, in turn, was based on Ferenc Molnár's non-musical play Liliom. The 1956 Carousel film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King...

in 1954.

Musical score

The film contains what critics now consider some of Cole Porter's most enduring songs, including "I Love Paris

I Love Paris

"I Love Paris" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1953. The song was introduced by Lilo in the musical Can-Can.Was the title of Michel Legrand's most popular album, which included an orchestral arrangement of the song...

", "It's All Right With Me

It's All Right with Me

"It's All Right With Me" is a popular song written by Cole Porter, for his 1953 musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Peter Cookson as the character Judge Aristide Forestier.The song is also used in the Cole Porter musical High Society...

", and "C'est Magnifique

C'est Magnifique

"C'est Magnifique" is a 1953 popular song written by Cole Porter for his 1953 musical Can-Can, where it was introduced by Lilo and Peter Cookson The song has become a standard, despite weak performance in the 1953 charts...

." (At the time of the show's premiere in 1953, however, many critics complained that Porter was now turning out material far below his usual standard.) Some of the songs from the original Broadway musical were replaced by other, more famous Porter songs, including "Let's Do It

Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love

"Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" is a popular song written in 1928 by Cole Porter. It was introduced in Porter's first Broadway success, the musical Paris by French chanteuse Irène Bordoni for whom Porter had written the musical as a starring vehicle...

", "Just One of Those Things" and "You Do Something to Me

You Do Something to Me

"You Do Something to Me" is a song written by Cole Porter. It is notable in that it was the first number in Porter's first fully integrated-book musical Fifty Million Frenchmen...

." Oddly enough, "I Love Paris" is sung by the chorus over the opening credits, instead of being sung in the actual story by Sinatra. A version by Sinatra, however, was featured on the movie soundtrack album

Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...

.

Plot alterations

The plotline of the musical was also revised. In the stage version, the judge was the leading character. In the film, it is the lover (Sinatra) of the nightclub owner (Shirley MacLaine) who is the lead, and the judge (played by Louis Jourdan) forms the other half of a love triangle not found in the play.

International controversy

During the filming, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

 famously visited the 20th Century Fox studios and was allegedly shocked by the goings-on. He took the opportunity to make propagandistic use of his visit and described the dance, and by extension, American culture as "depraved" and "pornographic."

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

, 1961:

• Nominated – Best Costume Design
• Nominated – Best Original Music Score

Golden Globe Awards, 1961:

• Nominated Best Motion Picture, Musical

Grammy Awards, 1961:

• Winner – Best Motion Picture Soundtrack