Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

People are voting emotionally.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Eddie Muller brought it to Noir Alley. The best thing to say about it is that it is not boring. First, where did that title come from. Cyd Charisse never has fun. Cyd was not exactly the most emotional actress who ever lived but her mysterious beauty is always there. And those dance numbers? 1930s Chicago? Right, I am stupid. The look of the film is what sinks it. There is zero period flavor which might have made it more fun. Taylor has always been a screen personality that I found boring even at his most beautiful. But here you see a real actor. The character is very rich and human. I think it is a shame that the movie had such a pathetic goal that he is wasted. Lee J. Cobb? He played Johnny Friendly again. The rest of the cast is made up of ciphers who were given so little to do.

Director Nicholas Ray made, Arguably, His Best Films in the 1948-54 Period. After that, it is a Spotty Output. This MGM, Clueless Picture is Punctuated with a Few Inspired Scenes and Performances.But the Goofy Presentation of Gangsters in the Early Thirties is so Out of Time/Space that the Movie is Failed from Frame One. As far as Labeling this a Film-Noir, well Good Luck with that because only in the Broadest of Definitions could or would this land in the Genre without Strong Disapproval.It's Deep Color and Cinema-Scope, Stagy and Brightly Lit Scenes, Broad Characterizations (why did Ray allow Cobb to Scream his lines half the time), all Presented with that MGM Musical Sheen are some of the Things that Push this Away from the Center of Noir and land it in the Periphery.Robert Taylor Scowls and is Determined to be taken Seriously as a Dramatic Actor, more of a Movie Star for sure, as He reaches Deep for Despair and Nobility. Cyd Charisse lets Her Legs do the Talking most of the Time with Anachronistic Dance Numbers, but does manage to Snap at John Ireland's Lech effectively now and then.Overall, it's a Watchable Misfire because of the Sleek Production but it is Not Great Cinematic Art, it is Commercial Product with an Artificial Soul and an Inauthentic Showpiece with some Scenes that Show the Director's Talent at Work.But most of the Time the Film is Flat, Dull, and Displays its Flaws under Glaring Light and a Vibrant Color Scheme.

Untypically, for a gangster movie, the main focus of attention in "Party Girl" is on the unlikely love affair that develops between two very different people who work for a notorious gangster in 1930s Chicago. Both lovers are cynical and bruised by their pasts but together find the courage and determination they need to try to extricate themselves from the firm grip that the gangster holds on them.Tommy Farrell (Robert Taylor) is the brilliant lawyer who works for gangster boss Rico Angelo (Lee J Cobb) and regularly displays his talents in court by getting Rico's thugs free of the charges brought against them. Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse) is a showgirl who works at Rico's nightclub and makes some extra money by being paid $100 for each of Rico's parties that she attends. At the end of one of these parties, Tommy takes her home where she discovers that her pregnant roommate has committed suicide because her married boyfriend has deserted her. Tommy helps Vicki through the difficult time she has being interviewed by the police following her friend's autopsy and they then start to see each other regularly.The experiences of being crippled in a childhood accident and then suffering the breakdown of his marriage to a woman who became repulsed by his disability made Tommy very bitter and his growing contempt for his employer had only made his disposition worse. A bad experience when she was a 15-year-old had left Vicki with a jaundiced view of men and led to her keeping them at arm's length ever since. The happiness they find together brings some unexpected warmth into their lives and Vicki's loyal to Tommy during the extended period that he takes off to have surgery on his crippled leg. After Tommy makes a successful recovery the couple reunite.When he returns to work in Chicago, Rico wants Tommy to represent an associate of his called Cookie La Motte (Corey Allen) but Tommy initially refuses because his potential client is known to be an extremely violent psychopath. Rico then leaves Tommy with no choice in the matter when he threatens to disfigure Vicki with acid unless Tommy does what he wants. A little later, La Motte jumps bail and Tommy and Vicki get arrested when the state prosecutor takes action against everyone associated with Rico. Pressure is then put on Tommy to disclose everything he knows about Rico's organisation and the decisions he subsequently takes, put his and Vicki's lives in danger before the action that follows eventually leads to the movie's violent conclusion.Robert Taylor and Cyd Charisse are both very convincing in their roles and skilfully make the changes that their characters go through seem perfectly natural. Lee J Cobb is also very powerful in his larger-than-life portrayal of Rico Angelo.In "Party Girl", it's not only the focus of the story that's unusual for a gangster movie as it also features a couple of impressive dance numbers and certain passages in which the whole style of presentation is far more typical of the legendary musicals for which MGM is so well known. Fortunately, these seemingly incongruous elements don't ultimately detract from what is essentially , a very compelling crime drama.

Tommy Farrell is a leading criminal lawyer in Prohibition-era Chicago who specialises in defending gangsters. He has a particularly close relationship with leading Mafia boss Rico Angelo, loosely based on Al Capone. Farrell's practice is a lucrative one, but when he falls in love with Vicki Gaye, a beautiful showgirl, he tries to cut his ties to organised crime. Angelo, however, is not a man to take "no" for an answer, and Farrell quickly realises that by leaving the racket he could be placing both Vicki and himself in danger.That sounds like the plot of a standard film noir. "Party Girl", however, does not really fit into that category. For a start it was filmed in colour, which makes it unusual among fifties crime dramas and rules it out from being considered as film noir. The use of low-key black-and-white photography is generally regarded as an essential noir characteristic, and director Nicholas Ray had earlier made a number of successful films of this type, most notably "In a Lonely Place", but in the later part of his career he became known for his skillful use of colour in films like "Johnny Guitar". Vicki's profession is used as an excuse to introduce extended dance sequences of a type not normally associated with serious crime drama and more reminiscent of scenes from musicals such as "Singin' in the Rain" or "Silk Stockings", both of which also starred Cyd Charisse. Even the title "Party Girl" seems more suited to a comedy than to a serious drama.As a crime drama the film is nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not in the same class as "In a Lonely Place" or Ray's great melodrama, "Rebel without a Cause". Lee J. Cobb as Angelo makes an effective villain, as he normally did, but Robert Taylor is rather staid as Farrell. As for Charisse, although she was one of the most beautiful actresses in the Hollywood of the 1950s, few people would have regarded her as one of the most talented, and she doesn't do a lot here to contradict that opinion. Except, of course, in dance sequences, where she gets the chance to show yet again that although her acting skills may have been limited, there were few leading ladies of the period who could dance so well or who could look so sexy while doing so.It is, in fact, these scenes which make "Party Girl" still watchable today; they were not only those superbly choreographed but also superbly photographed, allowing Ray to make good use of his gift for colour. He is generally associated with serious films, but on the evidence of this one he could perhaps also have had a career as the director of more light-hearted fare. 6/10