French Cancan

Hitherto hard to find, this film is now part of the Criterion Collection set, “Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir,” and kicks off my personal mini-retrospective of Renoir films. This oh-so-Impressionist rendering of the Moulin Rouge story is something I’ll have to show at the Clark someday. Widely considered one of the great backstage musicals, it features Jean Gabin as the impresario and ladies man, who puts together stage shows to appeal to Belle Epoque French society across the bounds of class and propriety, making his way from bellydancing to a revival of the high-kicking tease of the title, leading to a big finale which defines the word “rollicking.” (1955, dvd, n.) *7*