Can-Can – SOUNDTRACK****

Entr’acte/Its All Right With Me/Come Along With Me/Live & Let Live/You Do Something To Me/Let’s Do It/Main Title-I Love Paris-Montmart’/C’est Magnifique/Maidens Typical Of France/Just One Of Those Things/I Love Paris/Can-Can

The musical film Can-Can starred Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine with music by Cole Porter and arrangements by Nelson Riddle. The Grammy winning soundtrack includes Sinatra’s rendition of Its All Right With Me which appears to be the stand out track. (US:3 UK:2)

“Can-Can is neither the best Frank Sinatra movie musical out there nor his best soundtrack, which is disappointing considering that the source Cole Porter songs are so strong. Still, the soundtrack does have its charms and features Sinatra's definitive, wrist-slashing interpretation of It's All Right With Me. But Sinatra doesn't handle the vocal chores alone; he shares the spotlight with the eternally charming Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan and Shirley MacLaine. The first two handle themselves with French élan, but MacLaine's zany persona quickly becomes grating."

“Sinatra’s tender but heartbroken take on It's All Right With Me is so great that it alone makes the album worth owning. That Frank Sinatra cast such deep emotional pain into Cole Porter's witty romps remains one of the reasons why so many other singers stand in his shadow.”

“Sinatra is in excellent voice here and his slowed down and heartfelt rendition of It's All Right With Me is the definitive version of the song. He just doesn't sound terribly French, especially when his crass American accent crosses with Chevalier's authentic item. MacLaine sounds even less at home as the dance hall hostess, but Louis Jordan adds a touch of class and the orchestrations by Nelson Riddle are top drawer.”

“The real magic in Can-Can comes from what Frank Sinatra can do with a Cole Porter song. Even though they stuck him in France in the 1800s, he's still Sinatra, the incomparable ring-a-ding ding cool, the essential charm and star quality, the cocky grin and blue eyes and, of course, that voice. Never would that voice be more perfect than in the scene where he put away that lovable arrogance and gave one of the finest performances of his career with the aching tenderness of It's All Right With Me.”