Vincente Minnelli makes use of the wide screen with graceful, fluid movement, and he helps Martin anchor his usual breeziness with just the right amount of anxiety.

Never translates into anything cinematic.

Vincent Minnelli directs the colorful Arthur Freed production like an elaborate stage show on fabulously designed studio sets, far more like the older, innocent 1950s musicals than the changing styles of 1960s musicals to come.

The offbeat charm, comic sense and assorted show-business talents of Judy Holliday constitute the prime reason why Hollywood's edition of the Broadway musical is well worth seeing.