Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Lady of Burlesque (1943)

Director: William Wellman

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Stanwyck, as 'Dixie Daisy, the Darling of Burlesque', gets the show off to a good start with her spirited rendition of a Sammy Kahn/Harry Akst number, 'Take it off the E-String, play it on the G-String'. A strangler is loose among the showgirls in this comedy-thriller adapted from Gypsy Rose Lee's The G-String Murders (actually ghosted by Craig Rice). Although a stream of hard-boiled wisecracks keeps things amusing, the plot gets tied up in the usual dreary whodunit business of providing motives for all and sundry, and it's difficult to care very much about the jealousies, lecheries and treacheries between cardboard characters. On the other hand, one has to admire the technical skill with which Wellman choreographs the action non-stop all over the theatre, unobtrusively dovetailing it with a number of fascinatingly authentic-looking samples of old-time burlesque shtick.

Author: TM 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.