Lady of Burlesque (1943) User Reviews

Who Is Killing The Great Ladies of Burlesque?

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 10 February 2008]

Barbara Stanwyck got to really show her versatility in Lady of Burlesque doing a couple of numbers that did make me wonder why she didn't try to do a full blown musical. Of course she had the best of inspiration in a book that was partially written by the one and only Gypsy Rose Lee.

Gypsy needed a ghostwriter, but she certainly knew the world of burlesque as none other. So with Craig Rice's ghostwriting they fashioned a murder mystery set in the burlesque world. Somebody is killing the strippers at a burlesque theater and Barbara isn't sitting around waiting to be the next victim. With the help of comic Michael O'Shea she's going to find the perpetrator before she gets done in with her G String.

A lovely group of movie queens help Barbara out in this film. Playing some of her peers are Iris Adrian, Gloria Dickson, Marion Martin, Janis Carter, Stephanie Bachelor, and Victoria Faust. Some of these don't make it to the end of the picture.

Playing another of the comics is Pinky Lee who I well remember because I used to watch his kid's television show back in my salad days. Pinky was as frantic as I remember him and he does a mean jitterbug with Stanwyck.

William Wellman as director keeps the pace of things going pretty nicely. And if you're a leg man, this picture will leave you nothing to complain about. As for the murderer, here's a hint, it's roughly the equivalent of the butler doing it.

Surprising, light-hearted comedy

[jeffcoat · 7/10 · 13 January 2004]

Nothing deep here, but that's good. A light-hearted comedy in the guise of a mystery. Don't expect to be mystified, the "mystery" only serves as a vehicle for the comedy and a rather believable romance. Barbara Stanwyck, though 36 years old, looks much younger. Her part was rather vivacious, risque, and revealing for a 1943 movie. The lady could act!

The image on the DVD is generally very good, but there are several places where a few "frames" are missing, causing disquieting "jumps", but still, a good investment of time, if only to enjoy watching Miss Stanwyck smile and wiggle.

Take It Off the E-String

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 16 October 2006]

That body - those legs - yes, it's Barbara Stanwyck, who is sensational in "Lady of Burlesque," a 1943 film based on Gypsy Rose Lee's novel "The G String Murders." The murder mystery aspect of this film (which is pretty lame) is just an excuse to give the audience a taste of life in a burlesque house - the crummy dressing rooms, the fights, the raids, the dumb on-stage humor, and underneath it all, a camaraderie and a closeness. The performances are all very chaste thanks to the censors. Stanwyck performs "Take It Off the E-String (Play It On the G-String)" and she's fantastic. It sounded like she was dubbed in the big parts of the song, but the lower register sounds a lot like her.

Stanwyck is Dixie Daisy, a newcomer to this burlesque house who's making a big splash with the customers and with one of the comics (Michael O'Shea). When one of the girls is murdered, and then another (strangled with a G string), it begins to look as if someone is trying to close the old opera house where the show plays.

Stanwyck is backed up by a lot of pros, including Iris Adrian, O'Shea, J. Edward Bromberg, and Pinky Lee. They're pros but she's a star - and it's her film from beginning to end. Somehow Stanwyck made it all look easy, slipping as easily into this role as she did into all the parts she played throughout her career. And it looks like she did her own dancing too.

"Lady of Burlesque" is a lot of fun, and Stanwyck - sexy, tough, and warm - is spectacular.

Did Barbara ever make a bad film?

[earlytalkie · 31 October 2011]

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.

A different sort of Stanwyck

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 1 July 2006]

I love the alternate title for Lady of Burlesque. Just imagine seeing The G-String Murders on a marquee in 1943! How incredible would that have been? While the movie isn't as lurid as either title might suggest, it's a very enjoyable little film. Lady of Burlesque is the story of the murder of a dancer backstage at a burlesque show. Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck) is immediately the prime suspect, but there is no shortage of people who didn't care for the victim and wanted her out of the way.

There was a time, actually quite recently, when I didn't think I cared much for Barbara Stanwyck. Growing up, I had seen her in the television show The Big Valley and as I didn't like it, I thought I didn't care for Barbara Stanwyck. I have completely changed that opinion. Stanwyck could play the tough-as-nails woman with the best of them. In many of her movies, she comes across as a woman who won't take anything from anybody. She plays a similar character in Lady of Burlesque. Sure, it's a little softer character and less of a man-eater than I'm accustomed to, but Dixie Daisy can hold her own. You're not going to push her around. And I give Stanwyck credit for attempting something different in Lady of Burlesque. Singing and dancing do not appear to have been her forte, but she gives it a try.

Beyond Stanwyck, the two things I enjoyed most in Lady of Burlesque are the mystery elements of the story and the dialogue. I'm a sucker for a good 40s style mystery and this movie comes through. The backstage set with the various dark passageways, dressing rooms, and stairs provides a great set-up for a mystery. It's a fun one to play along with and the final reveal really caught me off guard. The pacing of the film is good with the character dialogue being the driving force. I was reminded on more than one of occasion of the Howard Hawks' films I enjoy so much. The characters in Lady of Burlesque speak in that same snappy, witty manner I associate with Hawks. It's nicely done.

The weakest part of Lady of Burlesque are the on-stage song and dance numbers. These scenes really drag things down. I have trouble believing anyone ever actually found this type of entertainment scandalous. To me, it's rather dull, unfunny, and not very entertaining.

A Fair Amount Of Skin

[SonOfMoog · 6/10 · 17 August 2003]

You'd expect to see a fair amount of skin in a movie about burlesque, but not a movie set in the 40's with censorship so prevalent. One watching this film for the scenery and the eye-candy will be pleasantly surprised: for its era, it delivers.

This movie doesn't get interesting until the murders begin, and that doesn't happen until about halfway through. Till then, we're forced to endure all the stripper archetypes: there's the prima donna (Princess Nervina), the bitch (Lolita Laverne), the airhead (Alice Angel), the fat chick (Dolly), the pal (Gee Gee), and the straight arrow (Dixie). There is also the obligatory abusive boyfriend. The repartee is sharp; no quarter is asked and none given, and these women all have tongues that cut deep and leave scars. Burlesque, for all the romance associated with it, was not a fun place to work, and the bad plumbing, a "bit" that runs through the first part of the movie, is the least of it.

When some of the girls start dying, the focus of the movie shifts to the murders, and starts to get interesting. Everybody takes a turn as the suspect, including our heroine, Dixie, and in the truth-will-out process of these movie murder investigations, everybody's dirty laundry is put on view.

The killer is finally caught, and it turns out to be the last person we'd suspect. Charles Dingle, as the overbearing police inspector, really shines here, and his constant grilling and rhetorical questions put to the club employees really make this part of the movie as good as it is.

Stanwyck is very good in this picture as Dixie, but she is not a dancer, at least, not a very good dancer. When she's bumping and grinding, it's all music and the power of suggestion, because only her face is seen. She takes a turn jitterbugging with Pinky Lee, and even does a cartwheel! The cartwheel was filmed in two takes and spliced together, but it was almost certainly Stanwyck, and not a double, in both takes. Not bad for a thirty-something, and not bad, either, the way she filled her costumes. She was a *very* attractive woman in this picture, and the cat-calls and wolf-whistles directed at her were believable and deserved, not just sound effects.

Marion Martin deserves special mention. She has several scenes as the gorgeous blonde airhead, one scene in particular where she's walking down a flight of stairs that are incredible. The woman has no clue, but she knows how good looking she is, and the effect those looks have on the men around her. Makes you wonder sometimes whether those censors are actually paying attention ..

And, on that note, it is worth noting here, that the abusive boyfriend actually strikes Lolita Laverne. No, we don't see him do it. But, we do see him wind up, and we hear the sound of the impact. Plus, several minutes are given to her reaction to the blow. People of our era think that we invented this kind of movie realism, that it didn't exist until the 1960's or so, and I'm always surprised to see examples of such forbidden topics in films of the 30's and 40's.

I really can't rate this movie all that high. Barbara Stanwyck is good, but not great. She gave many better performances. The eye-candy is pleasant, and the murder mystery engaging, but this movie took me closer to the world of burlesque than I wanted to be, and I found the closeness a bit uncomfortable. 6 out of 10.

Not bad

[preppy-3 · 6/10 · 21 March 2003]

Murders begin happening at a burlesque house with Barbara Stanwyck as one of the star performers.

An adaptation of "The G-String Murders" by Gypsy Rose Lee. I've never read the book (just try hunting down a copy!) but I heard it was really cleaned up for the screen. I can believe it--the girls wear lots of clothes during the acts, there's no nudity (of course), the jokes are tame (and lame) and all the acts mostly show some admittedly great acrobatics and dancing--but very little skin. That's NOT burlesque.

That aside, the movie is pretty good. The script is great--full of quick, sharp one-liners all acted to the hilt by the cast. The murder mystery itself is interesting and has a very satisfying (if complicated) resolution. And Stanwyck looks really great considering she was 36 when she did this! Worth catching.

Bad

[AAdaSC · 3/10 · 4 June 2009]

The film is set in a theatre and is a backstage "whodunnit?". After 45 minutes, we start to see a story develop when one of the Burlesque girls is murdered, but by that stage I was fed up with the film. After the murder, the film continues to be annoying despite a second murder. The men are mainly portrayed as jokers and the women swap comments at break-neck speed in that "wise-crack" style, ie, too fast. Its just all rather tiresome - the dialogue isn't that funny and sometimes you can't understand what they are saying.

Judging from what we see of the show that the guys & girls put on for audiences (Stanwyck singing a very flat song, some lame comedy sketches and some wooden dancing by Stanwyck), this is a very 3rd-rate group of entertainers.

Other irritations include the Princess Nirvena (Stephanie Bachelor) who affects a terrible Russian accent throughout her performance and the constant references to the world of burlesque as being wild and crazy by the police inspectors. We see no evidence of this. The only funny moments come from the girls reactions as a whole in the dressing room.

Its one to avoid.

An Almost Forgotten Gem

[gftbiloxi · 8/10 · 1 April 2005]

The most surprising thing about LADY OF BURLESQUE was that it got made at all. Burlesque was all but dead by 1942, shut out of most towns and cities by relentless moral crusaders, and Hollywood itself was mired in the infamous "production code," which put a heavy lid on what could and could not be shown on screen. But burlesque had spawned a number of stars who remained favorites with public, and in 1941 the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee penned a book called THE G-STRING MURDERS. It proved extremely popular, and a year later United Artists took a chance on the film project.

True enough, the movie couldn't show the strippers in action or play out the bawdy comic sketches so popular in burlesque, but writer James Gunn turned in a superior script, and director William Wellman and his cast gave the whole thing tremendous dash and style. The result was a movie that captured the seedy, underworld-edged world of burlesque without actually causing censors to yank it from distribution.

In theory, LADY OF BURLESQUE is a murder mystery, but mystery takes a back seat to the brawling backstage antics of crossed love affairs and star rivalry. Barbara Stanwyck endows star stripper "Dixie Daisy" with her own memorable brand of tough class--and although she can only be shown from the waist up when she bumps and grinds, she still manages to tear strips off her musical number "Play It On The G-String." The rest of the cast is equally memorable, many of them burlesque stars in their own right. Pinky Lee (Mandy) is memorably teamed with Marion Martin (Alice Angel) to delightful effect; Iris Adrian (Gee-Gee)is the gum smacking brash blonde to end all gum smacking brash blondes; and such memorable character actors as Michael O'Shea (Biff), Gloria Dickson (Dolly), and J. Edward Bromberg (Foss) round out the cast superbly.

Sad to say, LADY OF BURLESQUE has fallen into public domain, and it has not been well preserved. I have seen several releases of the film, and all of them are plagued with breaks in the film and the soundtrack. LADY OF BURLESQUE may never be regarded as a "great" film, but it is an extremely entertaining one, particularly for those who already know something about the now-lost world of burlesque. As one character says, "Makes me want to leave the wife!" Recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Backstage of Burlesque

[arieliondotcom · 7/10 · 20 December 2007]

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.

What were they thinking?!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 1 January 2008]

This is a truly amazing film. Considering the adult content of the film, it's amazing that it was made during the era where the Production Code was so rigidly enforced AND it's amazing that some major Hollywood talent associated themselves with such a sleazy and silly film. The movie is directed by the very well respected William Wellman--the same man responsible for such classics as ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. In the starring role is Barbara Stanwyck--an A-list actress in a decidedly B-list film! So why is the film so sleazy? Well, the setting is a burlesque house and the original title for the story was THE G-STRING MURDERS! While people are killed in a variety of ways, one is found with a G-string wrapped around her throat. Additionally, the women in the film all look very cheap and act like tramps--with lots of cat fights and juicy dialog! In many ways, this film looks like a 1930s Pre-Code or Exploitation Film--not the product of a mainstream studio during the rather stuffy 1940s! How this actually got made and was allowed to be released is a mystery--as well as how they got very respected talent to appear in a poorly written and shabby production.

Had this movie not starred Stanwyck and been directed by Wellman, I really doubt if it would have been widely released, as the film looks very cheap and suffers from a rather dull script. In fact, I doubt that a poverty row studio like Monogram would have been proud of the product! The bottom line is that this is a salacious film and it's a great curiosity piece. However, once you get past seeing talented people doing their best to ruin their careers, there really isn't much this film has to offer as far as entertainment value goes. It isn't sleazy enough to appeal to adult film fans and it's just crude enough to make it a bit of a guilty pleasure--nothing more. A bizarre and sub-par film.

Stanwyck heads enviable cast in salty look backstage at a grind house

[bmacv · 8/10 · 1 July 2002]

Did the movies ever produce a trouper more versatile than Barbara Stanwyck, a seasoned pro who not only could do anything handed to her but did them all superlatively well? Her long career encompasses melodramas, weepers, screwball comedy, noir, even Westerns. In Lady of Burlesque she sings, breaks into a variety of dance steps, and even turns a cartwheel (and if a stunt double did it for her, the editing is virtuoso). She's far and away the best thing in the movie, which is saying a lot: Lady of Burlesque is a breakneck carnival ride of a movie.

It's based on The G-String Murders, a light mystery penned by society stripper Gypsy Rose Lee (her own story became legend in Gypsy, and her sister. Baby June, became actress June Havoc). But the mystery emerges late and, like the obligatory love angle, doesn't unduly detract from the movie's main business, which is a salty and affectionate reminiscence of the autumn of vaudeville's ne'er-do-well stepsister, burlesque, set, like all the best show-biz stories, backstage.

William Wellman gets things popping right off the bat, in a Ziegfeld-Follies like number in which one of the prancing chorines keeps trying to blow her Veronica-Lake locks out of her face. Then there's a fast seque into Stanwyck's `Take It Off The E-String (Play It On The G-String),' then upstairs to the horror of a dressing room where the big, pale girls gussy themselves up and rip one another up one side and down the other. Their smart, snapping mouths recall the bitchiest exchanges in Stage Door, another racy peek into stage life after the curtain's rung down (among the grind-house queens are Iris Adrian, Victoria Faust, Janis Carter and Stephanie Bachelor). Another dressing room houses the men – the comics with their wide pants and tiny hats (Pinky Lee among them); Wellman even throws in some of their hoary routines but counterpoints them against offstage action to offset their stale-popcorn fustiness.

Police raids and gangster boyfriends, professional jealousies and box-office worries play as much a role in the movie as a series of ecdysiasts strangled with their own beadwork. With Wellman at the helm and an enviable if not, apart from Stanwyck, especially starry cast, Lady of Burlesque delivers lots more than it promises.

G-String fun for the whole family!

[josephdralston · 7/10 · 13 February 2005]

Quirky and fun but pretty much lacking in any real depth-story or otherwise. Stanwyck is a hot-tie and Michael O'Shea plays a lovable Vaudvillian comedian that is fun to watch. It has the "noises off" gaiety of seeing the backstage of a Burlesque music hall and there are lots of funny frantic scenes with crazy costumes, quick changes and the rivalry between the "stars" of the show. The murder scenario is pure camp with the victims being strangled to death by their own g-strings. It is revealed that a wizened old Opera star who is now a member of the crew at the theater is killing off the burlesque ladies because....he hates burlesque..?? LOL!! One of my favorite lines is given by one of the chorus girls who refuses to stay with the show after the murders start happening because she refuses to be "knocked off with her own bead work". Great fun!

In some ways this is just brash and clumsy, and avoidable...

[secondtake · 5/10 · 14 May 2011]

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.

The Sublime B-movie

[Pangborne · 12 June 2003]

William Wellman, the man who brought you NOTHING SACRED, BEAU GESTE, ROXIE HART, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, A STAR IS BORN, and WINGS, brings you this neglected gem starring the one and only Barbara Stanwyck. Available for some reason in a thousand cheapie video bins for under five bucks, this 91 minute classic B-movie puts the B in sublime. An A-list group decided to adapt Gypsy Rose Lee's exploitation sex - murder - laughs novel for the silver screen, and the sheer joy brought to the tawdry enterprise somehow transmutes the base material - the murder plot was creaky for 1943 - into show-biz gold. When you think of old-fashioned entertainment, you are picturing LADY OF BURLESQUE, in which a maniac is killing the show-girls in a run-down burlesque theater, and a baggy-pants comic steadfastly pursues Barbara Stanwyck with wisecracks and dutch-treat dates. The real stars are the burlesque performers, lovable freaks from the Hollywood gutter spouting a hard-bitten patter with the nano-second timing of people who'd been doing this since their parents dragged them onto the vaudeville stage when they were three. Stanwyck was the only major screen queen from the thirties and forties who specialized in hopelessly vulgar heroines (see STELLA DALLAS and BABY FACE), but here she's the class act because she's the only one not trying to be classy. Her love interest is the wonderful Michael O'Shea, who plays the false nose comedian who falls for Stanwyck. Stanwyck puts a spin on the word "comic" that makes it sound like a four letter word. One scene above all others stakes this movie's claim to greatness - while in the middle of a hoary old comedy sketch, Stanwyck and O'Shea are interrupted by the off-stage wailings of a stripper being beaten up by her thug boyfriend. No one backstage will stop the brutality because they're all scared of the thug, so the onstage performers strike up the band and try to drown out the screams with an up-tempo musical number and improvised jitterbugging. Note, too, the big built blonde with the lisp who declares of the most recent murder "How gruethome!"

When she takes it off the E-String, she's still a ball of fire....

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 7 April 2014]

Looking much as she did as Sugarpuss O'Shea in 1941's classic screwball comedy "Ball of Fire", Barbara Stanwyck takes on an even tougher character here as Dixie Daisy, the guest-star headlining a Broadway burlesque show while the pretentious fake Russian princess (Stephanie Bachelor) is in the hospital. Stanwyck has become an audience favorite in that short time and has endeared herself to the chorus girls and crew members as well with her no-nonsense personality. It is to her advantage that the snooty Bachelor is pretty much hated by everybody else and is revealed to be a blackmailer of the burlesque theater owner (J. Edward Bromberg). When another trouble-making chorus girl (Victoria Faust) is found murdered, everybody is suspect, and detective Charles Dingle utilizes every clue he finds in tracking down the murderer while Stanwyck finds romance with the comic (Michael O'Shea) she initially couldn't stand.

While this seems to be a low-budget second feature, its cast and director (William Wellman) debate that assumption, and it appears that the "cheap" look of the film was utilized to point out the "cheap" atmosphere that was the last days of Times Square burlesque shows. Some of the skits and gags are straight out of the greatest sketches of that format of entertainment, re-captured years later in the musical revue "Sugar Babies" and the recent Nathan Lane play, "The Nance". While Stanwyck was obviously dubbed singing "Drum Boogie" in "Ball of Fire", she uses her own husky singing voice here, talking much of it, but utilizing bumps and grinds that make it surprising to see one of the top "A" listers of the golden age of film doing something so out of character. Then, when she does a bit of a break dance routine with fellow performer O'Shea, you just might find your jaw dropping, as it appears that no stunt double was used.

Stanwyck is surrounded by three of the great tough girls of the screen, brassy Iris Adrian (whom I at first thought was Veda Ann Borg), dizzy Marion Martin (looking fantastic in a headpiece which sort of looks like a wicker chair) and loyal Gloria Dickson who spout off wisecracks as if they were biting into a lobster, shell and all. There's some tense moments here, especially one where one of the suspects goes berserk on a shooting rampage in the theater, and of course, the revelation of who did it and why. You can't call this one an all-time classic, but with its perfectly seedy atmosphere and original source written by none other than Gypsy Rose Lee, its one that you won't want to miss for the qualities it does have.

She wasn't allowed the full Monty

[free2emailus · 7/10 · 18 October 2008]

Couple of things to remember when you're waiting for something to happen (and it does take about thirty minutes for things to get interesting). *This has plenty of skimpy costumes and leg shots for the boys in the war effort. The ladies didn't have to do much to be welcome on a screen for soldiers and Stanwyck's Edith Head hose went as high as they dared. *There's a nostalgia effort going on here - it was 20 years since the best of vaudeville in 1943 and something American culture does brilliantly is look back in twenty year spans. The 40s came into vogue in the 60s and also, briefly, the 20s fashions again. In the 70s, we looked back at the 50s and so on, so some of this was meant to try and capture burlesque, vaudeville's seedier, coarser cousin. *Stanwyck was looking to take on challenging roles that others would turn down. She had also finished two serious roles and wanted something more fun - the chance to dance and sing. She researched and learned some bumps and grinds that were filmed, but when studio heads and the Hays office saw the rushes of her and the COuntess doing them, they were cut. We get the reaction shots instead. Those bumps and grinds would make for very interesting DVD extras. *Stany sang with her own voice in this one - very low and throaty - and they try like mad to make the song a hit by doing two or three reprises. It's somewhat catchy but what person of morals would buy sheet music to a stripper song? Where would you sing it?! *Michael O'Shea, the love interest, really did start in Vaudeville, and this was his big chance (Stany was a hoofer/chorine on Broadway till a featured role in Burlesque(1926) sent her on her way). This was his big year, with Jack London and The Eve of St. Mark also released. He didn't have a strong enough film presence to sustain a career but he's likable enough and had several good supporting roles and a hit 50s TV show, although his role here required him to spit out groaner after groaner. Real Brulesque was full of double entendres and crappy jokes, spun out one after the other; if one was bad, another came along to take your mind off it. There are other Vaudeville/Burlesque stars tucked here and there, notably Pinky Lee (Oh ya make me so mad) but the girls were mostly starlets. I do love Stany, and once Charles Dingle steps in as the Inspector, the mystery and snappy one liners take hold. However, this is one dated film, maybe from the War audience and nostalgia aspects, the ill suited songs or a script that doesn't find its footing until we wonder why we're watching. A lesser actress might've been hurt, but half a year later, she was shooting Double Indemnity with Billy Wilder, no worse for wear.

Mystery and not much more behind the stage

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 9 May 2014]

"Lady of Burlesque" has one thing going for it – the mystery. And that's only fair and late into the film. It has one guessing and wondering who the killer is and if somebody else will be next. It's based on a book by the famous queen of burlesque, Gypsy Rose Lee – "The G-String Murders." Otherwise, this is just a so-so film for comedy and romance. This movie came out on May 1, 1943, and it's apparent that the war had its toll on Hollywood by the dearth of any big name male actors in half a dozen roles. So, it's left mostly to Barbara Stanwyck and the rest of the girls to carry the film. Of course, the plot is a lot about the women, and "Babs" gets some nice support from a couple more of the ladies. But, even she doesn't seem to have much enthusiasm in her role though. The screenplay and direction aren't that good either. We see a lot of film shot of the women going up and down the stairs to and from their dressing room.

Michael O'Shea as Biff Brannigan just doesn't seem like much more than a grown up kid. I could see Jimmy Stewart doing that role very well. Charles Dingle was somewhat better as the police inspector Harrigan, but someone like Dana Andrews would have been perfect for the role. Or Eddie Albert would have been a good inspector. Or Lew Ayres or Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Jack Carson would have brought some more life to the Biff character, or Dan Dailey or Jackie Cooper would have been good in the role. For that matter, Glenn Ford could have done either role very well. But all these men were off at war or on war duty.

One thing that grated me some was the constant bickering and fighting among the women. As for burlesque, this film doesn't have strip-tease or anything more risqué than innuendo. For its day, it may have seemed much more risqué. I must have watched a different film than the one in which a few reviews found Stanwyck to be a good singer. I agree with those who think this movie was way below Stanwyck's usual fare. I imagine she might have considered this movie best forgotten among her oeuvre.

Stanwyck is fantastic, everything else is a mess

[gbill-74877 · 5/10 · 14 February 2019]

For Barbara Stanwyck's few sequences on the stage as a burlesque performer, 4 out of 5 stars. Not because the numbers are amazing or anything, but because it's Stanwyck, and despite the Production Code keeping things tame, she's cute and captures the flirty, somewhat corny era of burlesque well. She sings "Take it off the E string, play it on the G string" while shimmying about early on, acts as the 'straight man' during a comedy number, and then later lets loose on a jitterbug, including dropping down into the splits a couple of times and cartwheeling. It's impressive to me that she took this part and put herself out there at the height of her career. And just watch how she walks on-stage, how she crosses her legs, and how she shakes her hips while her "motor is running" during the comedy bit - if you've ever seen old footage of burlesque variety shows, you can tell she knew the medium (and indeed, her first hit on Broadway at the age of 20 was a show called 'Burlesque').

For the rest of this train wreck, a murder mystery that wants to be an Agatha Christie whodunit, 1 out of 5 stars. What a plodding, nonsensical mess that was. Don't even bother trying to follow it, there is no clever payoff and it reeks from a poor script. The tone is off, and despite a salacious premise (burlesque strippers being strangled with their G-strings, I mean c'mon), surprisingly there isn't a lot of grittiness to it, and the bits that are present are icky. In one scene, one of the women is being punched out by her boyfriend, and the orchestra and Stanwyck are encouraged to perform louder to drown out the sound. In another, Stanwyck says of her growing up, "When I was 11 the comics were looking at my ankles. When I was 14 they were ... just looking." The scenes where the personality-free detective tries to make progress by interviewing 20+ people all crowded around in the room are especially tedious. It's hard to believe William A. Wellman directed this film, as he's capable of much better.

Stanwyck Takes it Off The E-String and Plays it on The G-String

[banse · 8/10 · 20 July 2001]

Director William A. Wellman gives us Lady of Burlesque a boisterous whodunit played out in an old burlesque theatre. Based on Gypsy Rose Lee's novel The G-String Murders theres plenty of humor surrounding the murders with wisecracks left and right. Theres some bumps and grinds but no stripping due to the movie code at that time. Of course we have the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck here who dazzles us with some neat song and dance routines. Also a lovely bunch of beauties in scanty costumes including gum snapping Gee Gee (Iris Adrian), troubled Dolly (Gloria Dickson), gorgeous Alice (Marion Martin), Lolita (Victoria Faust) and Princess Nirvena (Stephanie Bachelor) both delightfully bitchy. Theres also Michael O' Shea and Pinky Lee involved in the mystery and humor at the old former opera house. So "Take It Off The E-String, Play It On The G-String" (song) and have a good time. Oscar nominee for Best Score.

"Only tramps work in Toledo."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 11 August 2014]

A stripper (Barbara Stanwyck) and a vaudeville comic (Michael O'Shea) try to solve two murders at a burlesque theater. Very cool comedy/murder mystery with a unique setting and colorful characters. Stanwyck and O'Shea are both great with surprisingly nice chemistry. Babs has a great time singing "Take It Off the E-String, Put It On the G-String." Fun support from cuties like Iris Adrian, Marion Martin, and Gloria Dickson. Stephanie Bachelor is funny as a bitchy ex-stripper who pretends to be European royalty. Gerald Mohr plays a woman beater. The script is good with lots of snappy banter, particularly when Stanwyck's flirting with O'Shea. A very entertaining classic from William Wellman.

Film Strip Tease

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 5 June 2010]

Barbara Stanwyck (as "Dixie Daisy") is a striptease dancer, singing "Take it off the E-String (Play it on the G-String)" while shaking her booty. Stand-up comic Michael O'Shea (as Biff Brannigan) is especially turned on by Ms. Stanwyck, but she likes to steer clear of clowns. Stanwyck thinks comics bring bad vibes. She and the admiring Mr. O'Shea are among the New York City stage performers hit by a series of "G-String Murders" (stripper Gypsy Rose Lee's more titillating title). But, don't expect to see women modeling the equivalent of today's "thong" or "string bikini" - except around their pretty necks.

You've got to appreciate Stanwyck putting such energy into an inappropriate part; she approaches acting assignments with admirable professionalism. "Lady of Burlesque" seems more suited to Betty Grable or Rita Hayworth, but Stanwyck goes for it without showing distaste or boredom with the role. O'Shea keeps step, with director William A. Wellman guiding the players. Sexy blondes Iris Adrian (as Gee Gee Graham) and Marion Martin (as Alice Angel) are worth catching. J. Edward Bromberg (as S.B. Foss) manages to stand out in the leggy crowd. And, sophomoric comic Pinky Lee (as Mandy) is fresh.

***** Lady of Burlesque (5/1/43) William A. Wellman ~ Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, Iris Adrian, J. Edward Bromberg

One-of-a-Kind Mystery From a Gypsy Rose Lee Novel; Delightful Fun

[silverscreen888 · 8/10 · 26 June 2005]

Gypsy Rose Lee wrote several mystery novels. The most famous is "The G-String Murders", from which "Lady of Burlesque" was adapted. The novel is delightful, as many have noted, opening a window onto a lost world of performances and the lives of those who peopled it. Director William Wellman and writer James Gunn combined their talents with Bernard Herbzrun's inspired art direction to produce a wonderfully-mounted B/W classic of images, characters and mystery here. Heading the cast are dynamic Barbara Stanwyck, Marion Martin, Pinky Lee, J. Edward Bromberg as the policeman on the case and Michael O'Shea as the brash but lovable comic who pursues Stanwyck. The storyline involved rivalries, pretensions and tensions among the ladies of a burlesque troupe; the plot is about respect and how the characters plan to obtain it. The entry of a murderer into the performers' insular and fascinating world of performing and being apart from a society which finds them amusing, exotic and unknowable makes this an interesting "island" vehicle, one used for examining and exampling human values, ideas and actions. The rooftop sequences are still stunning; I find that the human values retain their potency to move and to interest. Stanwyck is marvelous, O'Shea and Pinky Lee perfect. Marion Martin and Iris Adrian, as well as Bromberg, get everything out of their parts that is there, and then some. One-of-a-kind because of Miss Lee's authenticity. faithfully reproduced on screen with swift pace and intelligence. Highly recommended for its atmosphere and for much, much more.

"How would they have done it today?"

[john-ruffle · 7/10 · 19 February 2007]

This Stanwick picture came up on late night BBC2, and I'm not too proud to admit that I was one of those who had been unaware of its existence. Not having a TV guide at hand, I logged onto IMDb to check the details - and failed to find it first time around. Reason? I only bothered checking the movies for the 1930s, so convinced was I that this film could not possibly have been made in the context of a 1940s Hollywood. How wrong I was!

Barbara Stanwyck shows a different - and wholly more enjoyable side - than one might usually ascribe to her screen performances. Her talent in this film showcases a breadth of performance art, if it is somewhat lacking on depth.

Just about every review of this picture has a line or two about Stanwyck's legs. They have been described as "...the primary attraction..." Yes, at 36 years old, I have to admit that her legs really are show stoppers, only adding to the fact that this motion picture is a Stanwyck vehicle. The same review mentions her "...sparkling eyes, world-weary intonations and exaggerated movements..." and I would add that she comes across rather Dietrich-like. Stanwyck always had a rather porcelain, fragile-feminine on-screen presence, however, even in her most robust parts. This tends to give her a rather artificial screen appearance, even at her finest acting moments. She never quite gets beyond what of course in reality she is doing: acting for the American mass audience (including many G.I.s no doubt around the world, since this was released after the USA entered the WWII.)

Another review mentions the similarities to "The Blue Angel", and it really is worth a comparison of these two pictures - especially the treatment of two lead female parts - even if the earlier "The Blue Angel" is by far the more commanding work. For a different reason, the film stands comparison to "Stage Door" but the Stanwyck picture looses out in the dialogue department - "Stage Door" - a much earlier film - crackles with dialogue, whereas this picture goes for the more visual approach to see just what it can pass by the Hayes Production code censors, it seems.

It really is this last point that made me convinced that this picture was 1930s Hollwood output, rather than from 1943. The censors must have been asleep during this picture, as I can't think of a picture from the same era, (despite Jane Russell), that gets away with showing so much girlie flesh. (Unfortunately, since the print was so poor, it also had the image quality of a 1930s release.)

In all, a fairly important, very interesting, under-viewed and useful picture for film historians and media students especially, even if, in the end, the work has little to offer by way of redeeming features. A good one to examine in the light of the studio system and the Production Code, also a great discussion starter for film students. For those considering the development of the soap opera genre, again this film is one of many that should be studied. When looking a film which, in this case, is well over sixty-years old, questions of social treatment and cultural context arise. With the overt sex-industry context of this film, the obvious question is: "How would Hollywood have had done it today?" My answer, "Without question, with a lot less taste, and with a far inferior end result.

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A note - primarily to myself - about the Princess Nervina prima donna character. I have a hunch I know who the character may have been based upon, but I really need to read the book and do more research first. If I find any connections, I'll update this review accordingly or start a thread in the forum section.

3rd-Rate Entertainers & Sanitized Sleaze, Burlesque-Style

[strong-122-478885 · 4/10 · 24 October 2013]

This barely entertaining "whodunnit" Chick Flick, set in the supposedly bawdy world of the New York burlesque scene, certainly could've been (and should've been) a helluva lot more exciting and risqué than it was.

Regardless of the rigid censorship that hung over its head back in 1943, this film wimped out, big time.

Based on Gypsy Rose Lee's titillating novel, The G-String Murders, Lady Of Burlesque's story concerns the decidedly preposterous backstage murders of 2 strippers who are strangled by the killer with (get this!) their very own g-strings. (Spare me!)

Believe me, this film's premise definitely sounds so much more enticing than it really is.

Since it takes a whole 45 minutes before the first murder actually occurs, the viewer is, instead, expected to be satisfied by a literal barrage of backstage bickering from a bunch of 2-bit strippers (with a token cat-fight thrown in for good measure) - And even some mediocre "bumps & grinds" done in a slapdash fashion on stage didn't cut the mustard enough to hold my undivided attention for very long.

In Lady Of Burlesque, actress Barbara Stanwyck plays Dixie Daisy, a stereotypical stripper (or, is it a hooker with transferable skills) who, though jaded-to-the-core, naturally, has a heart of the purest gold. (ho-hum!)

Personally, I don't give a hoot what sort of rave reviews that Barbara Stanwyck has garnered for herself from her die-hard devotees and fans, she certainly isn't my cup of tea as the consummate actress who can, pretty much, play any part thrown at her, even with her eyes closed.

Filmed in b&w, thank goodness that this boring backstage bullshit only had a running time of 90 minutes.

This picture was directed by William Wellman whose other films include Public Enemy (1931), A Star Is Born (1937), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and Blood Alley (1955).