Murder at the Vanities

Delightfully offbeat mixture of whodunit and musical, with McLaglen's cop called to the theatre to investigate the attempted murder of a singer during a run of Earl Carroll's 'Vanities' revue, then lingering to find the killer when a murder occurs. The mystery is merely conventional, but it's alternated with superbly staged musical sequences, spectacular but respecting the proscenium's limits and notable for their cheekily bizarre nature (scantily clad girls in suggestive routines, with the murder discovered when blood drips on to a posing chorine's bare shoulder during a rendition of 'Sweet Marijuana'). Duke Ellington makes a welcome appearance, and Leisen handles the whole thing with witty, typically lavish style.