Party Girl is a superior Nicholas Ray movie. I know, I know, sounds a bit extreme but I maintain.
Boy meet Girl, they fall in Love, and the world turns nasty. It's them against the World, actually. Will Love win, in the end?
The plot is surely thin but who cares? It does not need to be elaborate or even simply complicated as it is about Love, et c'est si simple l'Amour.
Cyd and Robert play two lonely souls who simply forgot they, once, had a heart. The set is Chicago in the early Thirties and all the action occurs indoor or by night, as in "Alias Nick Beal", except for a very brief moment of pure happiness in Europe (where else?). It is love at first sight, they just do not know it. But this is not that easy of course.
Robert is a virtuoso solicitor who works for the local mafia, Cyd is a more or less washed- up dancer who survives by "partying" with the mafiosi. The first encounters are not particularly successful as he seems made of Kevlar and covered with Teflon and she is ashamed of what she became. Soon, however, Robert sees himself through her eyes like in a mirror and shame strikes him as well. Love, of course, washes everything. But the Mafia and the Law, like modern Greek gods, look at the poor lovers and decide to use them as pawns in their chess game.
I would not dare to say that Douglas Sirk could have filmed "Party Girl" but this is neither a real thriller nor a pure Film Noir, it is a melodrama. This is why, the plot, you know... What is interesting is the fact that, if the gangsters are evil, the cops, or more precisely the district attorney office, are not angels at all. The Law, as the outlaw, plays its little dirty game using dirty tricks. As we all know, the end justifies the means. But in this case, what is the actual target of the district attorney: to clean the street of Chicago of vice and crime or to get a senator's chair? Caught between the hammer and the anvil, Robert and Cyd are trapped (the name of the movie in French). In the end, there is only one way to find redemption and it is uncompromising love.
Nicholas Ray manages to be flamboyant in a minor mode, like chamber music. What is absolutely mesmerizing is his use of color. Jean-Luc Godard (an absolute fan of Ray: "Ray is Cinema") said something about the colours in movies looking more real than the colours in real life. This is definitely the case in "Party Girl". The very claustrophobic atmosphere of the movie is reinforced by the dark shades which are dominating the scenes. And then, a flash of bright red or yellow or green or blue literally pierces and tears up the screen. The incredible beauty of the colour range used by Nicholas Ray and the contrast he creates with it makes you shiver. A good example is the two dance numbers (when you have Cyd Charisse in your movie, it is a sin not to have a dance number). Of course, the choreography is not of the level of "Band Wagon" or "Silk Stockings" but we need to remember that Cyd is a dancer in a club owned by gangster not at the Ballet de l'Opera de Paris. And even if the choreography would be from your average truck driver, it is still Cyd Charisse dancing...
The three main actors are doing a very fine job. Cyd Charisse is neither Eleanor Parker or Joanne Woodward but she is playing her part with real talent. A pity her character is reduced to passivity in the second part of the movie (she is still incredibly beautiful). Robert Taylor is excellent in a more developed character. At the beginning, he is the cynical and sad solicitor who wears a mask to hide the emptiness of his soul. Then gradually, timidly, he goes back to life (the scene where he pleads with passion for the life of Cyd Charisse at the end can be put on perspective with his professional and cold pleadings at the beginning of the movie). Lee J. Cobb is also brilliant playing "Rico" (one of the numerous variations on the Capone's theme Hollywood gave us over the years). His acting is a perfect mix of "Comediante/Tragediante". His Rico plays at being on surface the vulgar, over the top gangster, who laughs a lot and looks a bit dumb. But then, when things go wrong, Rico takes off his mask and the cold-blooded killer shows his real face. The manipulative and cruel Rico is deeply chilling.
A very short scene needs to be mentioned (it is actually a single shot): a young dancer committed suicide in her bathroom. In classic Hollywood, the girl would be shown lying in the water, her head resting on one side of the bathtub, in a very sanitized fashion. Nicholas Ray shows us (very briefly, thanks Hays Code) a bathtub full of dark red blood. The girl is kneeling with just her wrists in the water, her face is hidden by her hair. It is sinister, it looks more like an execution than a peaceful departure. The reality of death.
Nicholas Ray est le Cinema.
Boy meet Girl, they fall in Love, and the world turns nasty. It's them against the World, actually. Will Love win, in the end?
The plot is surely thin but who cares? It does not need to be elaborate or even simply complicated as it is about Love, et c'est si simple l'Amour.
Cyd and Robert play two lonely souls who simply forgot they, once, had a heart. The set is Chicago in the early Thirties and all the action occurs indoor or by night, as in "Alias Nick Beal", except for a very brief moment of pure happiness in Europe (where else?). It is love at first sight, they just do not know it. But this is not that easy of course.
Robert is a virtuoso solicitor who works for the local mafia, Cyd is a more or less washed- up dancer who survives by "partying" with the mafiosi. The first encounters are not particularly successful as he seems made of Kevlar and covered with Teflon and she is ashamed of what she became. Soon, however, Robert sees himself through her eyes like in a mirror and shame strikes him as well. Love, of course, washes everything. But the Mafia and the Law, like modern Greek gods, look at the poor lovers and decide to use them as pawns in their chess game.
I would not dare to say that Douglas Sirk could have filmed "Party Girl" but this is neither a real thriller nor a pure Film Noir, it is a melodrama. This is why, the plot, you know... What is interesting is the fact that, if the gangsters are evil, the cops, or more precisely the district attorney office, are not angels at all. The Law, as the outlaw, plays its little dirty game using dirty tricks. As we all know, the end justifies the means. But in this case, what is the actual target of the district attorney: to clean the street of Chicago of vice and crime or to get a senator's chair? Caught between the hammer and the anvil, Robert and Cyd are trapped (the name of the movie in French). In the end, there is only one way to find redemption and it is uncompromising love.
Nicholas Ray manages to be flamboyant in a minor mode, like chamber music. What is absolutely mesmerizing is his use of color. Jean-Luc Godard (an absolute fan of Ray: "Ray is Cinema") said something about the colours in movies looking more real than the colours in real life. This is definitely the case in "Party Girl". The very claustrophobic atmosphere of the movie is reinforced by the dark shades which are dominating the scenes. And then, a flash of bright red or yellow or green or blue literally pierces and tears up the screen. The incredible beauty of the colour range used by Nicholas Ray and the contrast he creates with it makes you shiver. A good example is the two dance numbers (when you have Cyd Charisse in your movie, it is a sin not to have a dance number). Of course, the choreography is not of the level of "Band Wagon" or "Silk Stockings" but we need to remember that Cyd is a dancer in a club owned by gangster not at the Ballet de l'Opera de Paris. And even if the choreography would be from your average truck driver, it is still Cyd Charisse dancing...
The three main actors are doing a very fine job. Cyd Charisse is neither Eleanor Parker or Joanne Woodward but she is playing her part with real talent. A pity her character is reduced to passivity in the second part of the movie (she is still incredibly beautiful). Robert Taylor is excellent in a more developed character. At the beginning, he is the cynical and sad solicitor who wears a mask to hide the emptiness of his soul. Then gradually, timidly, he goes back to life (the scene where he pleads with passion for the life of Cyd Charisse at the end can be put on perspective with his professional and cold pleadings at the beginning of the movie). Lee J. Cobb is also brilliant playing "Rico" (one of the numerous variations on the Capone's theme Hollywood gave us over the years). His acting is a perfect mix of "Comediante/Tragediante". His Rico plays at being on surface the vulgar, over the top gangster, who laughs a lot and looks a bit dumb. But then, when things go wrong, Rico takes off his mask and the cold-blooded killer shows his real face. The manipulative and cruel Rico is deeply chilling.
A very short scene needs to be mentioned (it is actually a single shot): a young dancer committed suicide in her bathroom. In classic Hollywood, the girl would be shown lying in the water, her head resting on one side of the bathtub, in a very sanitized fashion. Nicholas Ray shows us (very briefly, thanks Hays Code) a bathtub full of dark red blood. The girl is kneeling with just her wrists in the water, her face is hidden by her hair. It is sinister, it looks more like an execution than a peaceful departure. The reality of death.
Nicholas Ray est le Cinema.