A great deal of critical attention has always been paid to MGM's "big"musicals, but in the fifties, as the "golden age" neared itsend, a number of so-called low-budget musicals were made. Give a Girl aBreak is a prime example of the kind of musical that provided a showcasefor the rich lyrical talent under MGM contracts: it is a sort ofjubilant exercise for dancers who were waiting for a main chance towardstardom. Here we find Stanley Donen flexing his solo directorialstrengths (after being Gene Kelly's alter ego) with Bob Fosse and Margeand Gower Champion exhibiting splendid choreography to the tunes ofBurton Lane and Ira Gershwin. This film is actually more enjoyabletoday, when the film musical genre is practically non-existent. Thenumbers are the outstanding sequences in this fragile tale of threeyoung women who try out for a single Broadway role, and among itsunexpected pleasures are the seemingly boneless wonder, Helen Wood, andthe incongruity of beholding Kurt Kasznar, caught in the ecstasies ofdance. --Albert Johnson