Women He's Undressed (2015)

Simply A Masterpiece

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I'm a huge fan of classic movies and I loved this documentary about fashion designer Orry-Kelly. He dressed all the greatest stars of the 1930s and 1940s - Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Ingrid Bergman, and Marilyn Monroe. He won three Academy Awards! His personal life was even more fascinating. He was openly gay and the great love of his life was Cary Grant!!! This documentary focuses a LOT of time on Cary. He was in the closet and he broke Orry's heart. This documentary is based on Orry's unpublished autobiography so I believe it's true. They don't sugarcoat Orry's battle with alcoholism which he won after going to rehab in the 1950s. I hope film fans watch this documentary and become a fan of Orry. He was an important part of Hollywood history.

This unwatchable show is chock full of bizarre directorial conceits, which start immediately with the odd notion that Orry-Kelly is 'unknown' despite having no fewer than 302 movie credits as one of the best-known costume designers in Hollywood from 1930-63. Curiously enough this claim is specifically contradicted by one of the first interviewees.The tale is largely told using shots of the protagonist rowing a boat, for no apparent reason whatsoever; his mother is cruelly reduced to an Edna Everage caricature putting out the washing next to a lighthouse, for some other unexplained reason; there is not nearly enough of the actual dresses, which is the actual point after all; and even the title is wrong. Orry-Kelly dressed women, not undressed them. The remainder is basically the usual unsubstantiated scuttlebutt about Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, etc.Among many other inaccuracies, David Selznick did not produce Casablanca.

I went along to this film with a female friend as a favour, otherwise I would never have watched it. I was however, pleasantly surprised. There is joy in learning something new. This film gives you an insight into something that ordinarily you wouldn't think twice about - costume design in films. The narrative is presented in an interesting way - in the first person and from those who actually knew Orry-Kellly which gives it a lovely authenticity and contemporary feel rather than just being a piece of dry history. Being based on the life of a Hollywood employee in the days when the big studios ruled - Paramount, MGM and Warner's, there is some nice scandal too. The film helps you to relive, or maybe see for the first time the style and glamour of early Hollywood - even during times of international economic hardship. All in all, worth a watch.

I will not attempt to precis the content of this film. Gillian Armstrong and her production team have created a swiftly moving film about Orry-Kelly that needed to be told before all living connections to his work die.For anyone interested in what goes into making a film this is a must see documentary that follows a real story arc. He has his high and lows but most of all Orry-Kelly had respect from the Hollywood industry from studio heads down.Some of the well documented activities of some of Hillywood's biggest stars may come as a surprise to some.