Lady of Burlesque

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.