The very professional Lewis Gilbert made quite a few very watchable films, but looking down the list most of them I do not think will last the test of time. ' Cosh Boy ' which caused so much English outrage stands out for its slightly Camp fun, but the plodding ' Carve Her Name with Pride ' and many others will not. ' Stepping Out ' was a good attempt to make a retro musical and thanks to Liza Minnelli and to her re-working of this genre this film should last. She too had the same professionalism as Lewis Gilbert, but she had that extra something that no actor or director can ever buy and that is a touch of genius. I think it a pity that the film was so out of its time in 1991 and that it harked back to the sort of film made in the late 1940's, early 50's. Judy Garland herself made a similar film in 1950 called ' Summer Stock ' and then again that touch of genius was wasted on inferior material. ' Stepping Out ' is better than that because Garland looked genuinely tired in ' Summer Stock ' and Minnelli does not. She is beautiful, looking way younger than her years and with that enduring freshness should have gone on to make many other and better films. The dated scenario should not have prevented her, but maybe it did. Quite simply it was the film that looked worn out and not her. And yet despite these observations it is for a lot of people a film that brings back a lot of nostalgia and no doubt for those who treasure not only her but films like ' Summer Stock '. The cast around her is charming and the only actors who jarred on me were Julie Walters and her mannerisms and Shelley Winters giving a very static and morose performance. But Liza Minnelli earns the 9 and the only thing that prevents a 10 is the painting by numbers and far too sentimental direction. Minnelli seems to direct herself, and if that is true she showed just how great she is, and was, surpassing all of the conventional professionalism around her.
Review of Stepping Out
