Lady of Burlesque: The G-String Murders

Starring:Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, Iris Adrian, Charles Dingle, J. Edward Bromberg, Frank Conroy, Victoria Faust, Gloria Dickson, Marion Martin, Frank Fenton, Stephanie Bachelor, Pinky Lee, Eddie Gordon, Janis Carter, Lou Lubin, Gerald Mohr, Bert Hanlon, Claire Carleton, George Chandler, Lee Trent
Director: William A. Wellman
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

A stripper is murdered with her own G-string backstage during a performance. Everyone is a suspect, but the show must go on! Old-time burlesque on the Great White Way before the lights went out in New York's Times Square. Screen legend Barbara Stanwyck, action director William A. Wellman and famed Gypsy Rose Lee team up to create the best backstage musical murder mystery ever made! Based on actual incidents (and folklore) from the underbelly of the show biz world. It ain't Shakespeare, but it's a lot of fun!

Customer Reviews:

The men were all singing , "I wish I was in Dixie." .......2007-04-30

For obvious reasons. Barbara Stanwyck is Dixie Daisy, the headlining lady at the old opera theatre, turned burlesque house. She gets the close-ups & plenty of face time in this mediocre murder mystery. She is the only performer in this with a better than average performance. Nothing average about Stanwyck's acting. This movie stalls in several places as some really bad vadvillians get to do their bits. That apparently is part of the charm. They are supposed to be bad. Everybody is aspiring to move up to the big time. Dixie has competition from other "ladies" who resent her recent stardom. They are strangled by their own G-Strings. Dixie is the main suspect & she has motive. The actual murderer becomes quite evident & you will know that moment when you see it. Back stage scenes are fun but not particularly inspiring. Not a well known Stanwyck movie but it's worth it just for her.

A back-stage seat to see that THIS is why Barbara Stanwyck is a star........2006-03-29

I have not always understood the appeal of Stanwyck as a star. She tended to have two channels, the stone cold witch in her film noir work, and in her comedies, the cold business woman with a melty heart.... both got very formulaic.
I believe that every actor or actress who "breaks out" into fame has one film that you can point to and say "THIS is why she is a star." LADY OF BURLESQUE is that film for Stanwyck. It has everything she is known for, plus a vaudevillian side that was not often seen in her other work. She really was an all round talent, a triple threat. She acts, she sings, she dances, and boys, she bumps and grinds. She's lovely and a tomboy. What a treat. It's all here.
What is even better is that this film has all that too. It is a backstage murder mystery set in the seedy world of Burlesque. It has realistic behind the scenes shots that have rarely been equaled. Backstage usually IS this run-down, even in the best theatres, and when you're waiting to go on, this IS what it looks like from backstage.
The murder mystery holds up, although the "princess" is simply a camp hoot, and it has humor throughout. A real treat about a time and type of theatre that is long gone.

AMBIENCE - MURDER - BURLESQUE: WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE !.......2006-02-22

IN A NUTSHELL:

How did this film get past the censors? Nevertheless, an excellent film featuring a very young and steamy Barbara Stanwyck -- 63 years ago!

WHAT "LADY OF BURLESQUE" STARRING BARBARA STANWYCK IS ALL ABOUT:

This dark comedy-drama-mystery, Directed by, William Wellman was also known as "Striptease Lady" or "The G-String Murders", based on the book of that title by Gypsy Rose Lee. Producer, Hunt Stromberg, who purchased the rights for the film, was also the Producer of "The Thin Man" film series. The atmosphere of this film did have a resemblence to that series, but "LADY OF BURLESQUE" is much grittier, and less class-conscious in every respect. Nevertheless, the melding of backstage atmosphere, and burlesque-vaudeville style, stage entertainment, gave the film an urgent immediacy, and a texture of surreal reality, which is hard to create, especially in the era of film censors. For those reasons, this film is rather special, and certainly worth a look. The bonus comes in the form of Barbara Stanwyck [Dixie Daisy] who plays the provocative headliner, and who comfortably goes through the film as scantily clad as a "James Bond Girl". Of course, the murder-mystery is set at the burlesque house itself, which works rather well, and eventually leads the police and Ms. Stanwyck to the killer.

PARTIAL LIST OF THE CAST OF THE "LADY OF BURLESQUE"

-----*- Barbara Stanwyck - Dixie Daisy
-----*- Michael O'Shea - Bitt Brannigan
-----*- J. Edward Bromberg - S.B. Foss
-----*- Iris Adrian - Gee Gee Graham
-----*- Marion Martin - Alice Angel
-----*- Gloria Dickson - Dolly Baxter
-----*- Pinky Lee - Mandy
-----*- Victoria Faust - Lolita La Verne
-----*- Stephanie Bachelor - Princess Nirvena

MAJOR CREW-MEMBERS

-----*- William Wellman - Director
-----*- Hunt Stromberg - Producer
-----*- James Gunn - Screenwriter
-----*- Gypsy Rose Lee - Short Story Author
-----*- Robert de Grasse - Cinematographer
-----*- Art Lange - Composer (Music Score)
-----*- James Newcom - Editor
-----*- Joseph B. Platt - Production Designer
-----*- Bernard Herzbrun - Art Director
-----*- Edith Head - Costume Designer
-----*- Natalie Visart - Costume Designer

BOTTOM LINE:

Excellent old film that has been very well transferred to DVD in both sound, and video.

Play it on the G-string.......2006-02-15

Since "Lady of Burlesque" is based on a Gypsy Rose Lee novel called the "G-String Murders," you can't exactly expect this to be too smart or classy.

But this old Barbara Stanwyck movie is kind of fun to watch -- not only is there a genuinely baffling murder mystery, but there are lots of over-the-top costumes, silly characters, and a street-smart heroine who doesn't let anyone push her around. Oh yes, and the guys will love the jiggle.

At the Grand Ol' Opry, Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck) is the star burlesque attraction -- she sings, dances, jiggles, and manages not to get embroiled in the backstage catfighting. But soon things take a nasty turn: snotty stripper Lolita is found -- poisoned and strangled with her own G-string. (What a way to go) Perhaps even worse, autocratic Russian diva Princess Nirvena returns to the stage, nudging Daisy off it.

Both the police and Dixie begin investigating who might have killed the dead woman. When Nirvena is found strangled onstage, the Ol' Opry faces indefinite closure. And Dixie begins to uncover a web of blackmail, adultery, suicide and family hatred -- and a very shocking reason why someone has been murdering the girls.

Despite being set in an old burlesque club, don't expect lots of skin. I've seen picnics with a higher sex factor. Instead, the filmmakers had more fun with the murder mystery angle, Stanwyck wittily rejecting a smooth Irish comedian, and the ambitious strippers brawling and verbally slicing each other. It's deliciously catty.

The murder mystery is a pretty solid one, with plenty of suspects and some police chases, only to lose steam near the finale. But the script is tight: the dialogue is as spicy as the 1940s censors would allow, and it's full of snappy one-liners("When I dress for a date with you, it'll be a suit of armor and brass knuckles!"). And the scriptwriters had some fun, with the comics frustrating the cops.

Barbara Stanwyck plays Lee's alter ego, and she does an excellent job. Her Daisy is a street-smart, independent girl who is still warm-hearted and loyal. A few characters -- like the idiot blonde Gee Gee (Iris Adrian) -- are more than a little annoying, but the majority of the supporting cast is solid.

Though "Lady of Burlesque" gets a bit silly at times, it has a solid cast and solid script, making for some fun light entertainment.

Crackling, Sparkling, Censor-Teasing Fun.......2005-07-21

Barbara Stanwyck was the leggiest, midrift-showin'est film diva kicking around in the post-Hayes Code thirties and forties. In the early forties, when the censors were at their heavy-handed meanest, Babs bared her waist in *The Lady Eve,* bared it again in *Ball of Fire,* and bared it again, gloriously, as the headlining stripper in *Lady of Burlesque.* It's almost as if, in Hollywood's golden era of faces, directors thought Babs needed a little help.

Whether she did or not, *Lady of Burlesque* crackles enough in Babs's song-and-dance routines to compensate for whatever the film's flaws, including the grainy picture and criminally poor sound quality. (NOTE: it is **ESSENTIAL** to get a recent DVD transfer--the 2002 is okay--if you want to hear a word.) Watch closely and you'll catch Babs busting out with moves rarely seen again until the 1980s. This dame was a ball of fire.

The mystery plot of *Lady of Burlesque* is almost an afterthought: a hackneyed, slangy, and thoroughly charming romp through every dime-novel cliché imaginable. Some old movies you watch because of their enduring significance; others you watch because you're feeling nostalgic. *Lady of Burlesque* clearly falls into the latter category: it's a two-fold antique that celebrates both 40s Hollywood and the earlier heyday of Burlesque theater. *Citizen Kane* it ain't, but it's as easy to love as a Sunday trek through a curio shop.

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