Women He's Undressed

A terrific biography of Australian-born Hollywood costume designer (and 3 time Oscar winner) Orry-Kelly. Gillian Armstrong's fun and emotional look at Kelly's often challenging life includes wonderful taking heads; actresses like Jane Fonda and Angela Landsbury, great designers of the more modern era like Ann Roth and Catherine Martin, film and Hollywood historians like Leonard Maltin and others. They tell absorbing stories about the wildly talented, sometimes wildly difficult perfectionist, as well as heartbreaking ones about his personal life as a gay man in Hollywood at a time when being 'out' was still cause for possible unemployment and human banishment. These attitudes and threats led to – among other things - a terribly painful and ultimately cruel break-up of many years from his early lover and one time best friend Archie Leach, later known as Cary Grant.

But what makes the documentary much more interesting than most Hollywood hagiographies are the more theatrical elements Armstrong and screenwriter Katherine Thompson bring to the party. Along with the great stories, clips and still photos there are also actors playing Kerry (an excellent Darren Gilshenan), his mother and others from his life. Kerry enthusiastically narrates his own story in the midst of wonderfully surreal, theatrical and playfully symbolic settings (rowing alone in a tiny boat is a constant metaphor). These sequences paradoxically bring both lightness and depth to the film, giving us a far more personal connection to the man than most screen biographies have. In the end it's both a lot of fun and tremendously sad and informative about the sexual and human politics of Hollywood, and their costs on real human beings (not only gay men, but women both straight and gay as well).

One of those films I almost didn't see since it's not a subject that called out for me, only to be very happily surprised at how much I got out of it.

I liked it. I REALLY liked it. The clips and artsy crafty re-enactments and all.

Some of the other reviewers down graded the film because of the theatrical bits but they made it less cut and DRY documentary. MORE clips would have been nice but the job as it was , was well done !

A must see for any lover of films of the Classic Era.

In WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED, director Gillian Armstrong attempts to uncover the man behind some of cinema's most iconic looks, costume designer Orry-Kelly. Theatrical reenactments & monologues from Orry-Kelly & his mother (played by Darren Gilshenan & Deborah Kennedy), guide us through his life--from his childhood in the small Australian seaside town of Kiama, around the world to New York City (where his roommate is fellow immigrant, Archibald Leach, later known as Cary Grant), to his career in Hollywood, in which he garnered 3 Academy Awards. Interspersed with these staged scenes are interviews with those who knew & worked with Orry-Kelly (Ann Roth, Angela Lansbury, Jane Fonda, to name a few), as well as costume designers, film critics & biographers who have been influenced by his work. Unlike many Hollywood homosexuals of the day, Orry-Kelly refused to hide behind a lavender marriage or staged identity, as his old flame Cary Grant would hardly acknowledge their past together. Being his authentic self may have fueled a drinking problem, but it also allowed stars like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman & Marilyn Monroe to fully trust his talent for making them shine in his designs. Even Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon petitioned Billy Wilder to let Orry design their costumes in Some Like It Hot. While Orry-Kelly is not a household name in today's world, the looks he created for movies like Jezebel, Casablaca, Irma la Douce & Auntie Mame are unforgettable.

At the height of his career - Australian-born fashion designer, Orry-Kelly was one of the most successful creators in his field during Hollywood's golden years.

If you are interested in seeing what all of the fuss was about when Orry-Kelly dressed Tinseltown celebrities in "top-of-the-line" style - Then - You need look no further than this totally entertaining, fashion-conscious documentary.

I think that it's incredible to note that in his 30 years of costume design - Orry-Kelly was credited for his contributions to nearly 300 films.

For any fan of old movies, especially those of Warner Brothers, the name of "Orry-Kelly" is as familiar to us as Bette Davis, Max Steiner, Michael Curtiz. Yet, in watching this documentary about one of the most legendary of the grand studio wardrobe designers, we never once see an image of this iconic wardrobe pioneers until the very end, where he bounds up to the stage on Academy Awards night to accept an Oscar for "Some Like It Hot." Throughout the movie, we're told how impish, out-spoken, talented he is, that he developed a serious drinking problem which eventually got him fired from Warner Brothers but we never actually see Orry-Kelly during his heyday. Surely there are hundreds of photos, if not film footage, of this fascinating and very out gay pioneer. What irritated me to no end were the endless shots of this designer in a row-boat, beating his oars against the waves. Over and over again. What did this mean? More film time is wasted with insertion shots of someone playing Orry-Kelly's mother who reads letters and pontificates about her son and which serves no purpose to advancing the story of the subject. It is certainly no news that he and Cary Grant were rommmates for several years and they probably had a romantic relationship. Grant, although outwardly affectionate to his boyfriend, Randolph Scott, during his early years in Hollywood became ultra-closeted when a studio head warned him about the gossip of the two being more than buddies and so Grant, according to this documentary, became rabidly closeted and refused to have anything to do with Orry-Kelly until the very end of their lives when they reconciled. I wanted to see more of the actual working conditions and the actual dresses created by Orry-Kelly. The actor who portrayed the designer was highly irritating and there were more wasted minutes on him reflecting on his life throughout. Much more could have been done to illuminate one of old Hollywood's true pioneers who stood with the great clothes designer of that era--like Adrian, Edith Head, Walter Plunkett.