Women He's Undressed

Synopsis: A young Australian lad from Kiama, NSW, with a childhood penchant for dressing peg dolls in fancy outfits, heads to America in the 1920s. From there he hits Broadway, then Hollywood and ultimately ends up as a three time Oscar-winning costume designer. His films are well known but not so his name, Orry Kelly, the subject of this rivetting documentary.

Even if you are not a fashion victim or have no interest in costume design you will find much to enchant and inform in Gillian Armstrong’s film. It works on multiple levels. It is the story of a fascinating man, talented but self-effacing and gay in an era when being openly gay in Hollywood was a problem (although apparently quite acceptable in New York). It is also an eye-opening lesson in  an aspect of film which at least I have never taken as seriously as I should have: how the choice of costume informs character and is intrinsic to a film’s message. And even more amazing, in its relatively short run-time, this doco manages to pack in so much about film history - from the early studio days through the Production Code era of self-censorship, and into the Sixties, when Kelly was still working up until his death in 1964.

Armstrong has chosen a fresh and somewhat audacious approach to her subject. Instead of the oft-used voiceover, she has actors playing some of the main characters, telling their own stories.  Darren Gilshenan plays Kelly, and we first meet him rowing a boat (a recurring motif throughout the film) and telling us about his childhood, as well as hooking us in with the promise of a revelation: the name of a lover Orry had who had made it big in Hollywood and who never wanted their liaison known. Kelly’s past is imaginatively recreated, with densely packed information on his life in Sydney’s seedy side and his spontaneous trip to New York in the early 20s, where he started to find his true niche in life. We learn how Kelly and his secret love made money from ties, but then Kelly had the chance to create sets at nightclubs, followed by dressing actresses like Katherine Hepburn and Ethel Barrymore. Kelly’s adventures are interspersed by comments from his mother  (Deborah Kennedy) back in Australia adding insight into Orry’s character.

The heyday of Kelly’s career in Hollywood is told using interwoven archival footage of movie icons like Jack Warner and his wife (a great friend of Orry), clips from Academy Award winning films like Some Like It Hot, and images of dazzling, stylish and memorable costumes. A film like 42nd Street, a collaboration between Kelly and choreographer Busby Berkeley, is a supreme example of Kelly’s costuming genius, and the clips from it are simply glorious. Some of the other well-known films his costumes featured in are Casablanca, Gypsy, An American in Paris, Oklahoma, Arsenic and Old Lace, more than 280 films in all!  Costumiers and actors who worked with Kelly reminisce, with multiple  Oscar winner Catherine Martin featuring, as well as Jane Fonda and many more. There is also much fascinating footage devoted to Bette Davis, who adored Kelly as her costumier.

The issue of integrity in one’s life is nicely handled, as Kelly never tried to pretend to be what he was not even in Hollywood’s homophobic days. Many interesting quotes from Kelly appear upon the screen, giving us a sense of a truly remarkable man, much loved by many, but perhaps not receiving until now the recognition that he deserved.  

This film is as rich and dazzling as the costumes created by its subject and is a wonderful homage to film itself, and to a truly talented man with the courage of his convictions.

Want more about this film?

Want something different?