Can-Can

I was all set to dislike "Can-Can" for a variety of reasons (not the least of which is Frank Sinatra cast in a musical set in 1896 France...Frank Sinatra??), but the film is a lot of fun. Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine are in good spirits throughout this pleasing adaptation of the stage-success about a dance-hall proprietress who defends her right to perform the scandalous title-named dance, deemed lascivious in its day. It runs a little too long, and MacLaine is more comfortable in her love scenes with Ol' Blue Eyes than with Louis Jourdan (who doesn't match up well with Shirley at all--he looks puny next to her), but otherwise it's surprisingly enjoyable and Juliet Prowse gives her small part as a dancer a great deal of zest. **1/2 from ****