THE WOMEN HE’S UNDRESSED

Australia, 2015, 99 minutes, Colour.
Darren Gilshennen, Deborah Kennedy, Louis Alexander.
Directed by Gillian Armstrong.

To be told that this very interesting documentary is about costume designer, Orry- Kelly, may not ring many bells with contemporary audiences – with an exception for those who avidly read all the credits on the films from the golden years of Hollywood, especially those from Warner Brothers. His name occurs regularly during the 1930s and 1940s.

This means that he is of particular interest to film buffs. But, director Gillian Armstrong has opened up Orry- Kelly’s career for Australian audiences. He was from the coastal town of Kiama, south of Sydney, growomg there at the beginning of the 20th century, was awkward at sport yet skilled in following his father’s tradition as a tailor, but more interested in women’s clothes. Off he went to Sydney, to King’s Cross where he started to work as a painter, living in Woolloomooloo and aware of this seedier sides of life in Sydney, while working in a bank. He was keen on theatre and was to appear with one line in a show starring Roy Rene, Mo.

However, off he then went to the United States, living in New York City, becoming involved in musical theatre but, after dropping some of the chorus girls, literally, he felt that he was better suited to stage work and costume design. People began to take notice and he eventually went out to Hollywood, made an impression on Jack Warner, and became, for many years, the top costume designer at Warner Brothers, not without clashes with the boss.

On a personal level, he lived in a relationship with Cary Grant for many years, rather more open about his sexuality than Cary Grant was, or Randolph Scott with whom Cary Grant lived.

Where the film is telling for movie buffs is in the information about the stars that Orry- Kelly dressed with many sequences from the films, especially those of Bette Davis, with explanations of why a particular costumes and design, colours, were chosen to contribute to the drama and its cinematic impact. This continued into the 1940s when he was fired by Warner Brothers, found some work at MGM, including sharing an Oscar for the costume designs for An American in Paris, 1951.

Orry- Kelly had relationship problems, as well as drinking problems, but worked to overcome the latter. And, generally every year, he would go home to visit Australia and his mother. One of the devices the film uses is to have an actor, Darren Gilshennen, playing Orry- Kelly, mainly sitting in a rowing boat, sometimes on the water, sometimes on a studio stage with sea background, using the image of his sailing, paddling, going in circles, venturing out, to dramatise the developments in his life. Actress Deborah Kennedy plays his mother, talking to camera while hanging out the washing in Kiama in his early years, then dressed rather fashionably, sitting at a table, still talking to camera, explaining her son’s success.

In his later years, in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, he won Oscars for costumes for Some Like it Hot, 1959, and Irma La Douce, 1963.

Gillian Armstrong is in no way intrusive as a director. She illustrates Orry- Kelly’s biography. She includes many interviews, from contemporary costume designers like Catherine Martin, Baz Luhrman’s Oscar-winning wife, some Hollywood designers and some of the stars, like Jane Fonda, whom Orry-Kelly? dressed in several films. Women He’s Undressed is quite lavish in the many, many clips which illustrate not only his design, but his intuitions and intelligence behind designs – for the many Hollywood women that he dressed.

1. Orry- Kelly and his Hollywood reputation? Memory forgotten? This film resurrecting it?

2. His having written a memoir, its being suppressed, its being found – and the information, revealing secrets?

3. The device of having the designer sitting in a boat, on the water, with the backdrop, the use of the boat, rowing, the signs to Sydney, to Hollywood? The confusion in this sea of life? Illustrating the development of his life?

4. Kiama, the visuals, the blowhole? The house? His parents, his being considered effeminate, dressing dolls, weak arms? His mother, proper, her continued support, interviews throughout the film, putting out the washing, becoming better dressed, proud of her son? His going to Sydney, working in the bank? Living at Woolloomooloo, the prostitutes, his art in the Toulouse- Lautrec vein, on stage with Roy Rene?

5. Going to the United States, New York City, the Bohemian life, Greenwich village, the openness of morals, sexuality and gender? The theatre? His being in the chorus, dropping the girls? Opting out?

6. His father as a tailor, Orry’s skills? Meeting up with Archie Leach, the film presenting Archie Leach and his background, character, their life together, Archie being an escort, relationships, homosexuality? Changing his name, acting, moving on, separating from Orry? The secrecy of the relationship? Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, the relationship, the gossip, the photos? Carry Grant and his marriage, being normal, the divorce? Marrying Barbara Hutton, the divorce? Marrying Betsy Drake?

7. Orry as a painter, his skills, selling his paintings, the revelation about him through his paintings? Costume design?

8. The connections, with Jack Warner, the 1930s, the clashes with Warner, his job at Warner Brothers, Head of Department, with actresses like Kay Francis, Ruth Chatterton, the long demonstration of his relationship with Bette Davis, from being a starlet, through characters, to being a star, her wanting him? His work, designs, dressing?

9. The range of clips, the explanations, illustration of his work, his style, discussions of character, dressing them for particular sequences?

10. The range of comments, Walter Plunkett and not wanting to share the Oscar, Ann Roth , Her reputation and career, her continued comments and admiration, Catherine Martin, Kim, Michael Wilkinson, Erich Sherman, Jack Warner’s daughter, Jean Mathison and the story of Bill Haynes, Angela Lansbury, Jane Fonda? The indicating of the interviews, the sequences from the films?

11. The personal story, the focusing on Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, their cover, weddings, the discussions about what was normal, in Hollywood? Ari being called up, This is the Army? His work during the war, fired by Jack Warner, dressing Betty Grable?

12. His alcoholism, disappearing and drying out, the relationship with Bob Roberts and his admiration?

13. Being hired by MGM, his successes in the 1950s, Oklahoma, Les Girls and his Oscar, for Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot and another Oscar, Auntie Mame, Gypsy, Irma La Douce and a third Oscar?

14. His living in Hollywood, the Hollywood life, returning frequently to Australia? The comments by June Dally Watkins and the Australian perspective?

15. The film is a tribute to him, rediscovering him, praising his achievement? A portrait, in the United States, homosexuality and relationships? The 21st century perspective?