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).
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).