Gene Kelly, the leading man in the movie-within-the-movie, meets wholesome Debbie Reynolds while trying to escape the prima donna.

Thus, this is boy-meets-girl-next-door and comes-to-like-her more-than glamour-girl, but with an edge. The girl next door is feisty, holds her own, and doesn’t worship the famous leading man just because he is a famous actor.

All the main characters are actors (that is: play-within-play actors), and this signals that the story is going to take itself too seriously, even while pretending to be self-effacing. Actors can not only dream about the worship they will receive whenever they make an appearance in real life, but they can make even their fantasy world do the same. “Lockwood [Gene Kelly] is a sensation” raves one of the movie-in-movie viewers — a particularly absurd sentiment, since Gene Kelly has a weak, Hoagy Carmichael-like voice. This is the curse of narcissism, and it seems as though Hollywood cannot escape that disease, try as it might. At the end of the day, the unremitting narcissistic tone can’t be shaken off, “look at us; aren’t we cute, we hollywood types. You plebieans are right to worship us… but notice that your gods also have feelings.” It delivers an hysterical Preston Sturges-like sarcasm of the rich, even while ratifying the legitimacy of that culture.

Not only is the scorn heaped upon the prima donna unfair (we can easily forget that the nasty disposition she is given has nothing to do with the offensive bad diction), but the heroine status granted to Reynolds is also unearned: she too is really just another Hollywood bimbette looking for a gig. We’re supposed to pity her at one point because her name will not be blazoned in big letters on the marquee. Poor baby!

Additional criticisms: the entertainment tangents tend to be decadent (Siegfeld follies etc.); and there is an excessive amount of extended kissing. It is clearly prurient and intentional.

Having said all that, the music is eminently listenable and well-done; I can recommend viewing this song and dance a couple times.

Divorced Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson have a Taming of the Shrew like interaction. The story, a play-within-a-play, is actually based on the Shakespeare comedy. The play-in-play becomes entwined with the “real life” of the outer story; thus the cleverness.

What really makes it is the soundtrack by Cole Porter, who was at the peak of his powers. Indeed, some numbers are worked in for no reason other than the beauty of the song, like “So in Love” starting at 4:30. You will either (like I) like or hate “I hate men” (51:00); the hurled cannisters right in rhythm was a genius touch.

Not just the songs, however. The dance routines carry half the weight. My favorite: the opening of the play-in-play, “A troop of strolling players are we” at 37:00; a close second is the wooing of Bianca (Ann Miller) by the three lads, at 41:30 (note the three eternal factors of female fantasy: money, love, or social status, personified in the three suitors). Tommy Rall as the ne’er-do-well “Bill” doing his goofy, cut-up dance techniques, in “why can’t you behave” (19:00) is enjoyable.

The three-and-a-half minute three-couple revue near the end (1:41:30) is breath-taking and will stick with you a long time.

The dances are done to wailing dance band– we’re not left with Porter’s sad keyboard plinkin’ here.

I give it a Butler index, with the caveat that you use your “skip forward” key to edit out the tiresome bits. The subplot with the gangsters, for example, goes too far, above all when they do their soft-shoe routine. It is the “highlights” that will never wear out; some parts are already worn out the very first time.

This movie is a contender (with My Fair Lady) for the #2 greatest American musical. Finally, My Fair Lady may edge it out for heart; but there are several categories in which Kiss Me Kate would out-score.

The DVD includes a “music only” option so that you can listen to the sound track over dinner.

The story is framed by a theater scene which sets up the rest of the movie as a flash-back, and the framing idea is rather clever.

This is not enough to rescue the story, however. The life of this debauched epicurean simply does not have enough appeal to make the “great tragedy” of his life seem very tragic. And there are images indicating Porter’s homosexuality that, though they keep it toned down enough for PG-13, are quite disturbing.

However, the songs are worked into the story in arrangements that often make them seem chic even to a modern ear. This is the value of the movie.

No doubt, Porter was a genius at both the catchy tune– often having true emotional development– and the clever lyric. Most of his songs were written for musicals (Kiss Me Kate being the apogee), but many also made it into the standard repertoir of crooners like Frank Sinatra.

The title comes from a line from one of the songs, “it’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s de-lovely.”

I recommend a viewing not because the story is great, but as an introduction into one aspect of 20th century culture: the pop culture of our grandparents.

But it is not a tedious view, like having to watch some documentary cuz it’s good for you. It will do better than that.