Tre ragazze di Broadway

For such a great cast (Debbie Reynolds, Gower and Marge Champion and Bob Fosse) and being directed by Stanley Donen, 'Give a Girl a Break' could have been a classic. Instead it was a modestly enjoyable film that could have been much better.

Visually, although the budget apparently wasn't huge, 'Give a Girl a Break' still looks pleasing with handsome costumes and sumptuous use of colour. The songs have garnered indifferent reactions, sure there are better songs in musicals but the songs here are pleasant and fun enough, especially for Ira Gershwin's (brother of George) very clever lyric writing. "In Our United State" and "Nothing is Impossible" stand out.

The best things about 'Give a Girl a Break' are the dance routines and the dancing. The choreography is nothing short of dazzling, especially in "In Our United State", "The Challenge Dance" and "Applause Applause". The dancing of it is even better, with electrifying work from the Champions, Fosse and Helen Wood.

Debbie Reynolds' performance is the most consistent in the cast, whereas everybody else were most successful in the dancing but less comfortable everywhere else Reynolds excelled in every aspect of her performance and gives her character spunk and perky charm.

On the other hand, the story is incredibly lightweight and too often so uneventful that the film does drag at times outside of the musical numbers. The dialogue has a tendency to be clumsy and some parts downright silly.

As an overall performance, Reynolds comes off best while the acting is stiff from particularly the likes of Wood and Kurt Kasznar and the singing very much variable (Reynolds and Wood faring best). Donen's direction is not always involving and occasionally a bit gimmicky.

In summary, modestly enjoyable musical that does enough right but it doesn't have much distinction and the wow factor comes in spades rather than as a consistent whole. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This movie was a great and pleasant surprise. Besides being very entertaining, one can see the future styles of these 2 legendary Broadway giants. Champion's numbers are tight, synchronized, and beautifully realized . And strong . Fosse- what can I say- what a delight !! While Fosse often spoke of his limitations as a dancer, the reality is he was a brilliant one , and in his dance numbers here he already is exhibiting a unique and original style that is athletic, jazzy, sexy and charming . He was an American original . The music in this movie is very good , and serves to show off the talents of its stars. Debbie Reynolds is quite good. This movie is for Broadway and dance fans.

As compared to the product that was coming out of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM during this time, Give A Girl A Break is definitely in the rank of second rate MGM musicals. Still it's not too bad with the accent definitely on the dance as opposed to the song.

Give A Girl A Break is the title of a revue that producer Larry Keating is putting on and he's having one devil of a time trying to decide which talented dancer to give the lead to, be it Marge Champion, Debbie Reynolds or Helen Wood. He's got three of his people each pulling for a different prospect with Gower Champion putting on a real campaign to get his ex-wife and former dance partner out of retirement.

As a dance team, Marge and Gower Champion made their screen debut in one of Bing Crosby's musicals, Mr. Music over at Paramount. MGM snapped them up and featured them in Showboat and Lovely to Look At. After Everything I Have Is Your's, Give A Girl A Break was MGM's second attempt to feature them as leads. As good a dance team as they were, Marge and Gower were just not strong enough to carry a film on their own.

This was a dancing film and as such no great song hits came out of the score that was written by Burton Lane and Ira Gershwin. But the Champions, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse, and Helen Wood could definitely dance to it.

If the plot sounds somewhat familiar I think MGM dusted off the script to one of their biggest hits, Ziegfeld Girl about three Ziegfeld Follies aspirants and updated it somewhat. It's also a much lighter treatment, none of the three dancers has anything happen as bad as what happened to Lana Turner in that film.

Give A Girl A Break will never be one of the great MGM musicals on anyone's list, but it's a pleasant diversion. And I can't believe that Bob Fosse had such a luxurious head of hair back in the day.

Acrobatic musical from 1953 that spreads screen time between three couples instead of the usual romantic pair. Apparently the movie flopped at the box office (IMDB) despite MGM pedigree. For a musical the screenplay is more plot heavy than usual as three dancers compete for the lead in a Broadway musical. Not only does this divide screen time between the three, but generates unusual suspense for this kind of film. After all, which of the trio of talents will be selected. Also unusual is the general absence of romantic dance numbers. Instead it's flying feet, acrobatic tumbles, and super wide leg-splits-- no Astaire-Rogers here. That's surprising since the Champions would be expected to cuddle up in a few routines, but instead they're separated by plot wrinkles. So, all in all, I suspect normal audience expectations were let down.

Nonetheless, Reynolds projects her usual charm and sparkle. But will she win. In my view, screen time should have featured her, with Marge and Gower, who are better dancers than actors, in support. At the same time, the incredibly nimble Fosse makes a compact visual match for Debbie. Anyway, MGM injects its usual color splash along with a load of extras. And fans of acrobatic fast shoe should find much to marvel at. Meanwhile, that opening marathon of the splits still has me crossing my legs. Amazing what they can do.

While certainly not one of MGM's "classic" musicals, GIVE A GIRL A BREAK has its moments of fun and suspense. Of the three girls auditioning for a role in a musical, which one will land it. The audition itself is quite strange in that each of the three girls just dances a couple of minutes and all three do a different number. Shouldn't they be doing the same one? Also, this is supposed to be a musical revue, yet no one is asked to sing or do a scene. Aside from that, there are many moments of real entertainment, especially be two soon-to-be Broadway choreographers, Bob Fossee and Gower Champion. Debbie Reynolds is in there doing her usual perky singing and dancing to good effect. The unknown Helen Wood, while not very convincing in her acting scenes, is one hell of a dancer. Reminds one of Cyd Charisse, but with a warmer quality. GIVE A GIRL A BREAK is part of the Warner Archive collection with a fairly good disc pressing. For those who enjoy the "old style" musicals with a weakish plot but great musical numbers, this is one to see.