Une fille très avertie

It is a long time since I have sat alone and laughed out loud at a film, but this one made me chuckle, chortle and hoot enough times to make it an immediate success in my mind. Most of my laughter was because of Shirley MacLaine, who gives a wonderful performance -not as quirky as she is in many of her other films of this period, but full of fabulous subtleties in facial expression, tone of voice, body language and screen expression. Being a big fan of David Niven too, I was delighted to see how good the chemistry between him and MacLaine was -he often plays a little bewildered to her forthrightness, and is a perfect match to her good-meaning clumsiness ..always the gentlemen! The other actors give great performances ..especially Gig Young, and the film is superbly cast right down to the smallest one-liner part: they all have their little moments and are allowed to shine, which adds to the enjoyment of the film. The story swings along nicely and is thoroughly enjoyable, even though you know where its going ..but that may be part of its charm.

This is a wonderful film. I loved Gig, David, Shirley, and even the guy who played Ross! They were GREAT! Meg Wheeler (Shirley) goes out into New York nieve and innocent and planning to stay that way. Little does she know that she's going to run into three men, two of them who plan on change her more...well....romantically. Little does she know that she's going to meet one guy...Sophisticated, a little snotty, but very reliable and when the time comes...He wants to change her physically so that she can hook up with his brother! It obviously takes a lot of talent to play a girl who has to be so many women at once to please one man and Shirley is your girl! You will love me. Trust me, ask any gir- Well no. Ask ANYBODY!

Shirley MacLaine made her film debut a scant four years earlier in The Trouble With Harry and in her third film, Around the World in 80 Days, co-starred with David Niven. Reportedly they did not get along on the set, Niven felt she wasn't suited for the part of a Hindu princess and after seeing it I think you would agree.

MacLaine really made her mark in the following year by blowing all the rest of the cast off the screen in Some Came Running. Had it not been the year for Susan Hayward's I Want to Live, Shirley would have gotten her Oscar back in 1958. David Niven had won his Oscar in 1958 for Separate Tables so both of them were box office then.

Seemed only natural team them up again and this time MacLaine is most suitable for her role as a hopeful career girl in Ask Any Girl. Shirley's fresh from the country having made her way to New York in the hopes of getting a career going and/or landing husband. She develops quite a few potential suitors along the way.

Ask Any Girl is a combination of Sabrina plus elements of any number of Doris Day vehicles that came out at that time. Eventually Shirley winds up at an advertising agency run by two brothers. Older brother David Niven runs the agency and younger brother Gig Young views the place as fertile ground for female companionship.

MacLaine exasperates Niven, she's not real good at anything, but he's given up all hope in Young just settling down and tending to business. He sees maybe MacLaine just might be what Young needs, or maybe just what the elegant, but stuffy Niven needs.

The principal players go through roles they were all seasoned veterans at handling. Ask Any Girl is pleasant enough entertainment though looking back I wonder just what the very outspoken feminist Shirley MacLaine thinks of this husband hunting woman she plays here.

Great comedy. Typical of the era. I have watched it at least 50 times. Each time you get a different perspective. David Niven and Gig young are brothers in a research firm David Niven (Miles Doughton) does all the work; while Gig Young (Evan Doughton) does all the researching mostly on female subjects. That is until Shirley MacLaine (Meg Wheeler) and David Niven applies the research to Gig Young. To this day, I can still use the proposition lines from Rod Taylor (Ross Tayford). He challenges Meg to have a mature relationship.

David Niven also plays similar characters in "The Statue" (1971), and "Prudence and the Pill "(1968). One of his best performances can be found on Amazon.com is "The Impossible Years"

This is the film where I first fell under the spell of the quirky heroines SHIRLEY MacLAINE seemed to embody in her early screen roles--and continued to play long after the charm had worn off.

But here she's refreshingly innocent, naive, quirky, good-natured and easy to like. In fact, she has to carry the film even though she's playing opposite such pros as David NIVEN (rather stuffy here), GIG YOUNG (casual, relaxed performance), and ROD TAYLOR (always good in light romantic comedies).

But it's MacLaine's show all the way as a girl who stumbles into a job at a market research firm run by two brothers, opposite types, one of whom (Niven) decides to shape her into the kind of woman his brother should fall in love with. Naturally, his little scheme backfires and he ends up falling in love with his creation. If you detect a touch of "My Fair Lady" here, you're right.

Passes the time quickly in an era where most films did exactly that, lasting no more than an hour and a half.