Lady of Burlesque (1943)

On paper, "Lady Of Burlesque" sounds as if it can't miss: a musical murder mystery with Barbara Stanwyck and a female-heavy cast. But it's not as good as it sounds. The first problem, mentioned in most reviews, is the censorship of the time, which for example dictates that Stanwyck's most suggestive bumps and grinds must be exiled offscreen! The soundtrack is either too chaotic or too poorly transferred to DVD, and the general production "feel" is strictly that of a B-movie, which is surprising for a star of Stanwyck's stature. At least the mystery itself is good, and Stanwyck's second dance number is pretty darn impressive for someone who rarely dabbled in the musical genre. ** out of 4.

Barbara Stanwyck managed to elevate nearly every film and television show she ever did. The earliest film I saw her in was "The Miracle Woman" from 1931. I just saw "Baby Face" and I own copies of "The Thorn Birds", "Stella Dallas" and this film. "Lady of Burlesque" is a wonderful, atmospheric depiction of an bygone era, complete with Stanwyck doing some amazing dance moves. Some people have criticized the music score as being second-rate, but that is what it SUPPOSED to be. Burlesque wasn't Ziegfeld. Men went to see the girls in various stages of undress, not hear Cole Porter or Irving Berlin. The music and the corny jokes were incidental to the "action" on stage, and it was not for nothing that Arthur Lange's musical score was nominated for an Acadamy Award. The mystery story is well-told and the atmosphere is added to by an excellent supporting cast, with Iris Adrian being a standout. After seeing this wonderfully entertaining film you will feel like you have been whisked back in time to an era long-gone.

Lady of Burlesque (1943)This is a pretty goofy movie with a forced murder plot thrown in. Some of the actors are comedians in this theater group, so there are gags and one liners throughout. Others are dancers, so there's some dancing, though nothing too worked out. It's fascinating to see how Barbara Stanwyck is head and shoulders above the other actors in screen presence (if not in dancing--she's never been elegant, just sharp). The scene is limited to a few rooms in a dingy theater, and it's filmed with the camera usually just sitting there facing one way and the actors sitting or standing facing the other. It didn't help that the print Netflix has streaming is faded out so the shadows are merely grey. But director William Wellman is better than this film would let on--he's one of those working experts of ordinary cinema, cranking out lots of really good if rarely astonishing films over many decades.It's worth noting that the music is routine stuff, too, so if you are in it for the "musical" aspects you might beware. I just happened to finish a couple of hours ago the 1943 "Stormy Weather" which has incredible music (and an even weaker plot). Needless to say, this one is not about the music, per se.This whole scenario is based on the milieu of Gypsy Rose Lee, a famous burlesque dancer from the early 20th Century, and her apparently silly murder mystery "The G-String Murders" was the basis for this movie. But she wrote an autobiography in 1957 which led to a movie actually about her life, "Gypsy." Ethel Merman of all people was the start of that (with Sondheim music). These are the more interesting tidbits here. I really think this movie is best avoided, especially with many other good musicals out there from the 1940s.

This film is full of surprises. I saw it accidentally and thought it was much older than I discovered it is when looking it up on IMDb. It's like a peek backstage at a burlesque show (exactly where most of the action takes place). And it actually catches your interest and manages to hold it, because of these historical artifacts if nothing else.For example, you'll be surprised to see Barbara Stanwyck dancing and doing it very well, in long full body shots that show it's actually her doing the dancing. And, to my surprise, it was quite a body. I've never been one to think she was very attractive in the face (which in my opinion detracted from Double Indemnity because the whole point of that movie was that she was irresistible). But here she shows off a comely set of gams, as they would say in the day.Next you'll see Pee Wee Herman...then realize it couldn't possibly be him and you realize it's Pinky Lee, the one who inspired Herman's career which is nothing (period in my opinion) without Lee. But there's none of the perverse overtones with Lee that you felt with Herman even before the scandal where he proved it.You'll recognize all of the vaudeville routines from other comedians. Abbott and Costello's routines especially. But burlesque and vaudeville were the library where all of these comics and all after them drew their knowledge of how to make people laugh, even in spite of themselves. And many of the stars in this film were experts since childhood in the very acts they portrayed in burlesque and vaudeville all their lives.All in all it's a film worth watching, and watch for the surprises as well. You'll never realize how much you owe to burlesque and vaudeville and how you have laughed all your life at jokes that were written long before any of us were ever born.