Death By G-String

 Lady of Burlesque (1943) – A striptease star becomes a prime suspect when several of her burlesque co-stars are strangled with their lingerie.  

Directed by  William Wellman                                        Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O’Shea

Why I Liked It – Good story, good cast, good movie.  A little old fashioned mystery fun.

This one took me by surprise.  Hollywood in 1943 was not the wild, hedonistic place we think of today.  (Well, at least not on the screen).  The Production Code still served as the official censor for American taste.  So putting the story on both sides of the thin veil of a burlesque house with a g-string as the murder weapon of choice struck me as audacious.  The folks at the censors table were appalled and wanted that changed.  They also objected to a story line centering on a toilet.  The toilet was turned into a sink, but the lingerie stayed, even mentioned by name several times!  Add in a big name star in Barbara Stanwyck, who was at the top of her career in 1943.  She was about to become the highest paid woman in America, coming off a couple smash hits, and an Oscar nomination.

The role is classic Stanwyck.  Smart, tough, wisecracking, afraid of nothing and no one.  Dixie Daisy is based on the author of the original mystery novel, “The G-String Murders”, none other than the iconic Gypsy Rose Lee.  It’s hard to imagine any other actress in the role.  Credit to Gypsy Rose Lee as well, this is a tight, well paced story that was James Gunn’s first screenplay.  Gunn would have a successful career writing for television over the next several decades.  You’ve probably never heard of anyone else in the cast (all virtual strangers to me, too), but they are all solid in their roles as dancers, comics, singers, crew, cops, Chinese restaurant workers, impresarios and gangsters.  It would have been easy to get lost in side stories, but the script gives each of them just enough play, then moves on.

It would be easy to toss this off as a modestly successful move as a throw-away, but you’d be missing some fun.  It’s still 1943 in Hollywood, so the “striptease” is G-rated, as is the humor.  But if you’ve never seen what the old vaudeville/burlesque houses packed them in with, this offers a quick look.  It’s a fun little mystery, with a dynamite leading lady and a fun ensemble.  I got to the end of the movie and was surprised again.  It had been a fun time.  Sure there were better movies in 1943 (“Casablanca”, “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, “Song of Bernadette”, Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt”), but there are always fun “little” movies that we tend to forget.

“Lady of Burlesque” is a fun mystery with a bit of romance, and just a hint, a tiny little hint of wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

Rating – **** Recommended