GAZING 'Can-Can9 Dances In BY HELEN BOWER Free Pratt Movl Critic With Mr. K. as advance man, "Can-Can" has arrived at the Madison Theater in swirls of ruffled white petticoats, madly intricate dances and a luscious background of Cole Porter's lovely music all in Technicolor and Todd-AO. Remember how Mr. K. was grinning at the can-can dance staged for him last summer at 20th Century-Fox studio until his Missus called him to heel. Then he blasted the dance as "lewd" and "pornographic") The madcap romance of Shirley MacLaine as the cafe proprietor with Frank Sinatra as her non-marrying lawyer gives these two stars great romp room for performances best suited to them. Pixy Shirley is a dancing demon see that Apache number. She is also a true "gamine" type, and has never been sweeter or prettier. Sinatra sings again, at last. He's back where he belongs, leaving the heavy, serious roles to others. Nobody can beat him at the happy-go-lucky heel sort of thing. FOR BALANCE, stars Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan are eminent legal lights in the Paris of 1896 who begin by frowning upon the outlawed can-can dance. Jourdan is even more charming than In "Glgi" as he falls in love with the girl he intended to send to jail. The story follows the girl's see-saw reaction between an honorable proposal of marriage from Jourdan and her old attraction to Sinatra, who belongs to her world of Montmartre. Fortunately the see-saw stops just this side of monotony. "Can-Can" will also be remembered as the movie that introduces another brilliant dancer. Juliet Prowse. She's a Leslie Caron type, but more piquant. She leads the can-can ensemble and later stars as the serpent with Marc Wilder and Miss MacLaine in the spectacular "Adam and Eve" fantasy. For creating this and the other dance numbers, Heimes Pan rates top credit. THE LIST of Cole Porter favorites incjudes ."Live and Let Live." "Just One of Those Things," "You Do Sonaething to Me" and. of course, "C'Est Magnifique." Wisely, since Genevieve Is not in the cast, the memorable and haunting "I Love Paris" Is not sung by anyone. Rather oddly, it Is background music for the "Adam and Eve" sequence and is heard again toward the last. Just as the "severe woman" (Ann Codee) is finally convinced that the can-can is great fun, moviegoers will find "Can-Can" brisk and amusing entertainment, fast - stepping and melodious. It can be viewed in the real comfort of those new seats at the renovated Madison, where the new wide screen has been installed and the sound "surround" is excellently modulated. Strike Won't Darken Our 'White Way' The actors' strike which threatens all of New York's Broadway theaters will have no effect in Detroit. The national company of "Flower Drum Song," currently in its last week at the Riviera Theater, is specifically exempted from the strike. Joe Heidt, represents tive for the Northland Playhouse, said package deals booked into summer theaters are not under the type of contract used on Broadway. Northland will open as scheduled on June 14, he said, and so far as he knows none of Michigan's many theaters will be affected. Vanguard Playhouse will open its musical show, "The Boy Friend," on schedule next Wednesday. Three electrifying performances... W I' Ltunri r ill H -1 LBLBLRG-StATON I THE SCREEN'S EXPLOSIVELY jam TIIE A Perl i'ii Wk ROBERT SIHAUSS CHARLES McGMW U M U Sc-Mfl.7bjVAU.NnNl Color by
