Can-Can (film)

Can-Can
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWalter Lang
Written byDorothy Kingsley
Charles Lederer
Based onAbe Burrows
(stage musical)
Produced byJack Cummings
Saul Chaplin
StarringFrank Sinatra
Shirley MacLaine
Maurice Chevalier
Louis Jourdan
CinematographyWilliam H. Daniels
Edited byRobert L. Simpson
Music byCole Porter
Distributed byTwentieth Century-Fox
Release date
  • March 9, 1960 (1960-03-09) (US)
Running time
131 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4,995,000[1]
Box office$4.2 million (US/ Canada rentals)[2]

Can-Can is a 1960 American musical film made by Suffolk-Cummings productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Walter Lang, produced by Jack Cummings and Saul Chaplin. The screenplay was written by Dorothy Kingsley and Charles Lederer, loosely based on the musical play by Abe Burrows. The music and lyrics were written by Cole Porter for the play, but for the film, some songs were replaced by those from earlier Porter musicals. Art direction was handled by Jack Martin Smith and Lyle R. Wheeler, costume design by Irene Sharaff and dance staging by Hermes Pan. The film was photographed in Todd-AO. Although performing well on initial release, it failed to recoup its production costs from its domestic receipts.

The film stars Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan, and gave Juliet Prowse her first speaking role in a feature. Sinatra, who was paid $200,000 along with a percentage of the film's profits, acted in the film under a contractual obligation required by 20th Century Fox after he had walked off the set of Carousel in 1955.

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p252
  2. ^ "All-Time Top Grossers", Variety, 8 January 1964 p 69