Les Girls/Silk Stockings (DVD, 2004, 2-Disc Set)

LES GIRLS: An original, unconventional musical boasting some of MGM's finest talents of the time, LES GIRLS tells the tale of a performing troupe of three charming girls who discovered that their romantic adventures got in the way of their act. The dynamite combination of Barry (Gene Kelly), Angele (Taina Elg), Joy (Mitzi Gaynor), and Sybil (Kay Kendall) are the former members of Barry Nichols and Les Girls, a popular European cabaret act. Years after the group is dissolved, the now Lady Sybil Wren faces a libel suit after publishing a scandalous account of the group in her memoirs. All the former partners are called into court to give their own widely contradicting accounts of those long-ago events, whereupon the film becomes a sort of musical RASHOMON. LES GIRLS is a dazzling adaptation of Vera Caspary's novel, featuring Cole Porter's last score.SILK STOCKINGS: Musical remake of the 1939 classic film NINOTCHKA. An alluring, but aloof, female Communist (Cyd Charisse) visits Paris on an assignment to evaluate three Russian officials. But when she meets a charming U.S. filmmaker (Fred Astaire) there, her perspective on the world changes -- and the chilly bureaucrat soon finds herself melting in his arms. And it's not long before she's enjoying such decadent western pleasures as jazz, makeup, and silk stockings. The classic Cole Porter songs include "Too Bad", "Paris Loves Lovers", "Silk Stockings", and "Fated to be Mated."