Party Girl
Dir: Nicholas Ray
1958
****
Even in 1958, the style of acting and melodrama in Party Girl was outdated. So too were the dance numbers, the over-reactions and overall look of the film. I think this is intentional, it is Nicholas Ray after all. The characters aren't as two dimensional as they are in many of the older gangster films and there is a very dark undertone to the whole production. Our hero is morally questionable from the start and this plays through the entire film. It's a sugar-coated look at the depths of human empathy, selfishness and moral judgement but it never disguises the fact that this is what it is about. The sugar coating is to lure you in, sweet then sour, what the taste that is left in your mouth is is up to you. Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse and Lee J Cobb are perfect in their respective performances.