Lady of Burlesque: Classic Barbara Stanwyck Movie is Available on Low Cost DVDs
Lady of Burlesque is a murder mystery that takes place in a burlesque house. This is one of those movies that you usually see the first time around on one of those nights when you can’t sleep and you get up out of bed and turn on a channel like Turner Classic Movies. Well, it used to be one of those movies. If you want to see it in today’s world of television where it is apparently against the law to show any movie made before 1970, your best bet is to buy a DVD. The movie is based on the novel The G-String Murders written by the infamous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.
Well, actually the novel was mostly ghostwritten by an actual writer, but there’s enough inside information on the world of burlesque to suggest that Gypsy Rose Lee actually had more of a hand in writing the novel with her name on it than people like, say, William Shatner. Believe it not, the title for the movie wasn’t changed from The G-String Murders due to censorship reasons, but rather because at the time it was believed that most audience members wouldn’t know what a G-String was and would think the movie had something to do with classical music!
Lady of Burlesque is simply marvelous entertainment. A series of murders is taking place inside the burlesque house; someone is killing strippers. Head stripper Dixie Daisy takes it upon herself to solve the crime. For the rest of the deliriously fast-paced 90 minutes you’ll be treated to burlesque routines, strip teases, romance and genuine suspense. This movie was made back when you didn’t have to trick the audience with a cheat ending in order to surprise them; it has real mystery and I doubt most viewers will figure out who the murderer is before the revelation takes place.
Lady of Burlesque was intended to launch a series of films in which Dixie winds up having to solve crimes in various burlesque houses across the country; kind of a “Murder, She Stripped.” Unfortunately, no follow-up was ever produced. I have read cases that state that Barbara Stanwyck wanted to play Dixie again, but things kept putting it off, and I’ve also read that it was actually Stanwyck who didn’t want to do more. I tend to lean more toward the former since Stanwyck seems to be having a grand old time in a thoroughly unexpected performance.
My image of Miss Barbara Stanwyck was formed by watching reruns of The Big Valley every day at 4:00 in the afternoon. Her somewhat brittle character on that show and her advanced age led me in my younger days to always see her as some gray-haired old matriarch. Imagine my surprise upon watching this movie one late night in the late 80s or early 90s. I was flabbergasted to find that the old lady I had always pictured in my mind was actually a sultry, funny and beautiful woman. If you can show me a performance by any actress in any movie in the last twenty years that combines sexy, funny and tough in any way that even approaches what Stanwyck does in this movie, I’ll eat my fez.
Dressed in surprisingly provocative stripper outfits, Stanwyck amazes with her ability to sing a song, do cartwheels and splits, and bump and grind all the time wearing ridiculously high heels. This is the kind of performance that doesn’t win Academy Awards, but sticks with you far longer than many of those that do. And Stanwyck is equipped with an equally amazing supporting cast. Especially of note is an actor named Michael O’Shea as the wonderfully named comic Biff Brannigan. This apparently was O’Shea’s film debut and though he went on to appear in over thirty movies or TV shows, I’m not certain I’ve ever seen him in anything else. Amazing, really, because he gives a first-rate performance here.
Lady of Burlesque has the appeal of one of those backstage comedies like Noises Off, but isn’t nearly as irritating. In addition to a good mystery, there are also a couple of romances going on and some nice set pieces involving the police investigation, not to mention some on-stage burlesque routines. The stripteases are tame, as you might expect, but nonetheless as sizzling as it was probably possible to get at the time.
Actually, I can’t think of a single flaw in this movie. Suspenseful, funny, romantic, satiric, sexy, and a history lesson on an almost forgotten piece of Americana, the world of burlesque. I could very well go deeper into it and find a grand philosophical statement like I did with another movie that on the surface appears to not have much on its mind, Nacho Libre. For instance, there’s more than enough going on this movie to approach it from a feminist perspective of gender roles and sexuality. But, frankly, I just prefer to sit back and enjoy it on the level on which it was intended. Everything is entertaining about Lady of Burlesque.
The real attraction here is Barbara Stanwyck, however. It’s really amazing when you think about Stanwyck’s career. Was there any part beyond her ability? She was one of the queens of screwball comedy, she remains the quintessential femme fatale courtesy of Double Indemnity, she lifted several of the conventional melodrama of the 40s beyond the level of tearjerker, and it was due in no small part to her many sex kitten roles in the early 30s that led to the Hays Code crackdown on censorship.
Heck, I’ve even come to realize that the reason I disliked her so much as a kid was because she was so good at playing that rather unlikable character on The Big Valley. And then recently I got my first look at her in The Thorn Birds when it was rerun on Oxygen. Am I wrong or was this lady the most versatile actress in Hollywood history?
Take everything I just said and then add in this movie in which Stanwyck convincingly plays a smart stripper, actually does the singing of the instant classic “Take It Off the E-String, Put It on the G-String” and also a wild and crazy Russian-style dance. That’s not a double, that’s Stanwyck!
It’s not longer practical to hope you’ll come across this movie on TV. It used to air every once in a while on AMC, but since they no longer actually show classic American movies, don’t hold your breath. And I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it on Turner Classic Movies. So my advice is to do yourself a favor and either grab it the next time you see it in the bargain video bin somewhere, or else go online.
Since it’s in the public domain, there are many different DVD versions available. True, the quality is less than spectacular, but since they can typically be bought for five bucks and since owning it is the only way you’ll probably ever get to see it, I say forego your double latte cappuccino mocha frappacino at Starbucks tomorrow and use that money instead to get yourself one of the most entertaining movies you’ll ever see.
