Give a Girl a Break (1953) - Donen

Plot:  3 Girls compete for the starring role in  a Broadway Musical
Stars:  Debbie Reynolds, Gower Champion, Bob Fosse, Marge Champion
Plus:  Technicolor, Dancing, Debbie Reynolds, Fast paced
Minus: Slight story, mediocre songs,  very little comedy/romance

This is an enjoyable 82 minute "dance musical" with some great production numbers and dancing talent.  Bob Fosse and Gower Champion (who I'd never heard of before) were great dancers and choreographers (the two earned 16 Tony nominations).  Highlights include: "Applause, Applause" with Champion/Reynolds and "The Balloon Dance" with  Fosse/Reynolds. The Direction is fine and everyone plays their role well. But the Gershwin/Lane songs are forgettable (MGM never released a soundtrack album) and the story slight and un-engaging.  It's also surprisingly serious - and doesn't really merit the label "Musical Comedy."  That aside, the  movie should be better remembered, if only for the production numbers and back story.

The Backstory - Reynolds vs. Donen

Part of the fun of watching Give the Girl a Break was seeing how Donen puffs up Bob Fosse's supporting role. Donen had an eye for talent and decided that Bob Fosse would be the next Fred Astaire, or - as stated in his biography - "Fosse was as good a musical performer as ever lived".  Accordingly, he so favored Fosse in his scenes with Debbie Reynolds, that Reynolds complained and had several scenes re-shot.  Evidently from then on, Reynolds never liked Donen and the 2 never worked again**.

But despite Debbie's efforts,  the final film constantly favors Fosse over Reynolds in their scenes together.  The most hilarious example occurs when the 3 girls go up for an audition, with their 3 male benefactors in the the audience. With two of the girls (Marge Champion, Dolly Sharp), we get a quick shot of their admirer & then go directly into their musical number.  But when Reynolds auditions, we see an enormous close-up of Fosse's  head, smiling and full of admiration, while a miniature Reynolds dances and sings!

Donen does other tricks to puff up Fosse's supporting role.  We get a completely unnecessary one minute opening which consists of Fosse's character getting coffee and donuts & passing them out.  In other scenes, Fosse lingers alone on-screen after the others have left, or wears a bright red sweater when the other wear drab clothes.  Anything to keep the eyes on Fosse.

Fosse Film Acting Career a Failure

Unfortunately, all this attention did Fosse little good in his movie career - as an actor. As a *dancer* Fosse was in the same league as Kelly/Astaire.  But his singing voice is lighter/higher then Kelly's & he lacked the necessary leading man charisma.  Even Gower Champion outshines him. Nor was he charming/ funny enough to compete with Donald O'Connor, Danny Kaye or even Dan Daily as the supporting "best friend".

** Which seems to have been a pattern with Donen.  The list of actresses who disliked him is quite long and includes:  Kathryne Grayson, Esther Williams,  Marge Champion,  Jean Hagan, and Jane Powell. Not to mention Elizabeth Taylor's non-actress mother who considered him a "Homosexual and a Communist"