Search - Lady of Burlesque: The G-String Murders on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1943 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 30 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Comedy, Mystery, Showbiz Comedy, Whodunit See Also: Lady of Burlesque, Lady of Burlesque

Barbara Stanwyck shines in her second portrayal of a showgirl in less than two years (the first was in Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire in 1941). In Lady of Burlesque -- which, at times, has a Hawksian edge to the dialogue -- she portrays Dixie Daisy, a striptease artist at a Broadway theater in New York at the end of the 1930s. In the course of fending off the unwanted advances of brash comic Biff Brannigan (Michael O'Shea), with whom she is teamed in several numbers, and staying clear of the dressing room feuds of her fellow dancers -- including a very nasty dispute between Dolly Baxter (Gloria Dickson) and Lolita La Verne (Victoria Faust) -- she finds herself up to her neck in trouble when one of the women is found strangled with her own G-string. The police don't know what to make of it, especially as the victim was already dying of a fatal dose of poison, which means that there are two murderers somewhere in the theater; and when a second woman turns up strangled inside a prop that Dixie was supposed to be hiding in onstage, she looks like a good suspect. Between the backstage comedy-drama, and the songs, dances, and on-stage comic routines, with the police breathing down both their necks at different times, Dixie and Biff manage to solve the mystery and find each other in this briskly paced, funny, yet amazingly gritty comedy-thriller. Lady of Burlesque was allowed to fall out of copyright in 1971, and since then it was seen in substandard editions until the May 2001 DVD release from Image Entertainment. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Barbara Stanwyck - Dixie Daisy
Michael O'Shea - Bitt Brannigan
J. Edward Bromberg - S.B. Foss
Iris Adrian - Gee Gee Graham
Gloria Dickson - Dolly Baxter
Marion Martin - Alice Angel

This engaging blend of mystery, comedy, and music gets a streamlined presentation for its release on DVD. Lady of Burlesque has been transferred to disc in its original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and the audio (in English) has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono. No multiple language options have been included. As a bonus, the film's original theatrical trailer has been added to this edition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide