Party Girl (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Party Girl (1958) – N. Ray

With Cyd Charisse in the lead, of course there must be dancing in the plot – even in a gangster flick (1950s gazing back at 1930s here).  So, she’s a showgirl and she falls for Robert Taylor’s mob lawyer (the kind of mob lawyer who is ashamed of what he does…or she makes him feel that way).  Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum suggests that this film fits in with director Nicholas Ray’s penchant for featuring flawed people learning to cope with life (and often coming together in the effort) although perhaps the widescreen technicolor presentation and Lee J. Cobb’s usual scenery-chewing distracted me from the smaller story.   Taylor is a fine actor but Charisse seems, um, less so … except in those dance sequences where suddenly her character seems to embody all of the intensity that is otherwise lost on the screen.  If only there were more of these sequences, the film might have become something stranger and more compelling.  As it stands, it’s enjoyable but doesn’t levitate you.