Gypsy Lee Rose was the most famous stripper of her time, or any time for that matter.  She made striptease into an art form and had a degree of sophistication that propelled her into stardom.  At one time she was described as "the most publicized woman in the world."  But not only did Rose sing and dance, she also wrote novels (and a bestselling autobiography which was later made into the movie Gypsy staring Natalie Wood.)  Her first novel, the mystery The G-String Murders was turned into a movie in 1943 under the title The Lady of Burlesque staring Barbara Stanwyck, and directed by the talented William A. Wellman (who went on to direct The Ox-Bow Incident immediately after this picture and was previously at the helm of such classic pictures as The Public Enemy and A Star is Born.)

Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck) is a dancer in a burlesque show.  She's classier and smarter than the other women in the show, and has dreams of performing on Broadway, but the breaks never seem to come her way.  So Dixie finds herself staring in a show in an old run down opera house, fending off the advances of a comic and getting caught in the middle of the other girls fights.  But things get worse when one of the least popular women turns up murdered.  The police are called in, but the inspector jumps to all the wrong conclusions and is following up the wrong leads.  With the police not making much headway, Dixie uses her feminine intuition and moxie to help track down the killer.

This movie played like a typical murder mystery from the 40's but with more music and comedy than usual.  During the first half of the show, the mystery part is almost nonexistent.  But after the first murder, there are plenty of clues but very few leads.  The main problem I had with it was that the pacing was a little off.  Every time that the mystery would start getting interesting, they would focus on one of the subplots or go to an act on the stage which seemed to slow the movie down somewhat.  While the mystery isn't gripping, it does have enough twists and turns to keep your interest.

Being made in 1943 there isn't any hint of nudity in the burlesque routines, but Stanwyck does an excellent job of exuding sexuality without giving the censors anything that they could cut.   Her acting was a cut above the other actorsin the film.  While all the other burlesque performers were two dimensional, Stanwyck was able to give her character more depth.  She seemed to have a past and behaved like a real person.  The following year she would go on to make one of the great film noir thrillers, Double Indemnity, but you can see her acting just as well in this film.

This film almost seems like two movies in one.  The first half is a singing and dancing romantic comedy, but he second half is a murder mystery.  It is a very odd combination, but it works in this case.  The music is good (the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Musical Score) and the dance numbers are fine.  The change in tone of the film isn't abrupt, though it does happen fairly quickly.  Then the latter part of the film is a good, if somewhat standard, murder mystery.  If you happen to enjoy both of these genres, you'll like this movie.  It's not outstanding, but a film worth tracking down if for no other reason than to see Barbara Stanwyck's excellent performance.

Audio:

The two channel mono soundtrack was pretty good.  There is a slight hiss through most of the movie, and in the later part of the film a hum starts up that is a more audible.   Even with these defects the dialog is easy to understand.  The music also sounds fuller than I was expecting for an old mono film, and does the movie justice.  Overall, an average sounding soundtrack for a movie this old.

Video:

The full frame image had a few problems.  It was very soft with the lines being rather diffuse and not sharp.  There are a few missing frames, and a fair amount of print damage: hairs, scratches, dirt, and spots were all present.  On the plus side, the contrast was pretty good, and there was a good range of grey tones.  While not a great looking image, the video was acceptable.

The Extras:

The only extra is a short text piece on Gypsy Lee Rose and the history of the movie.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed watching this movie.  I was a little surprised that the mystery part of the film took so long to arrive, but once it did, it had enough surprises to keep me happy.  Barbara Stanwyck does a wonderful job.  She was a great actor and sparkles in this role.  While the pacing was a little jerky in parts and the print wasn't restored, this is still a movie worth tracking down.  Recommended.