Call it men's entertainment, grindhouse, immoral sleaze, or what you will, but in the 1930's burlesque was all the rage for a night out on the town. The most famous dancer was undoubtedly Gypsy Rose Lee, who would pack the house night after night along the Great White Way in New York City. After the fad waned, Lee wrote a best-selling mystery utilizing her experiences backstage scandalously called "The G-String Murders." Famed director William Wellman ("Wings", "A Star is Born") tapped feisty Barbara Stanwyck for Lee's role in the filmed version LADY OF BURLESQUE.

It's the height of burlesque in NYC before the advent of World War II. Dixie Daisy is touted as the darling of burlesque and dances before a standing room only crowd every night at the Old Opera House. Tonight, it's business as usual, as the crowd goes nuts when the chorus girls strut their stuff on stage. Not quite polished thespians, the girls misstep and flub their lines, driving the stage manager crazy in the wings. Dixie's the consummate pro, however, and full of confidence struts onto the stage and wows the crowd with her risqué number "Take It Off The E-String, Play It On The G-String" Off to the side, comic Branigan keeps trying to get Dixie to date him; she tells him nothing doing. Dixie tears the house down.

Branigan keeps making a play for Dixie as she prepares for her next number. Dixie's had no luck with comics, so gives him the cold shoulder. In the woman's dressing room, the divas reveal their cattiness and bitching to rise up the burlesque ladder. Things get out of hand when arrogant singer Lolita and chorus girl Dottie get in a catfight. Dixie gets them under control before she hits the stage again for her bit with Branigan. However, in the middle of their skit, the police raid the theatre! Seems someone sabotaged the Opera House's early warning system. Dixie makes a break for the basement exit, but is attacked by an unknown pair of hands. Only the unexpected arrival of a policewoman saves her. As the cast is carted off to the station, producer S.B. Foss promises to have them out within an hour.

True to his word, the cast is treated to dinner by Foss an hour later. He tells them of the sabotage, and Dixie relates her assault. Foss tries to smooth things over by giving all the ensemble shares in the theatre. However, tensions between the cast grow worse. In a rage, Lolita hurls a bottle at the neighboring Chinese restaurant, hitting what she believes is a perverted waiter spying on the girl's dressing room. (Dixie later makes peace with them for her tantrum) She is further upset when diva 'Princess Nirvana' returns to claim her Ôrightful' place as the feature performer. Lolita's jealous gangster boyfriend Louie keeps causing trouble; when he catches Lolita rehearsing with another guy, he starts to beat her right off stage! Dixie and Branigan improvise on stage to cover the noise of their fight; the crowd eats it up, believing it's just part of the act, but backstage things are getting out of control. In the green room, Dixie notices sealing wax on the girls' bathroom door (a new sink had been installed). Meanwhile, nobody can find Lolita, and it's time for the big finale! The stage manager breaks the seal on the bathroom door, and there she is - Lolita, strangled with her own g-string... From here on out, things go from bad to worse. Everybody becomes a suspect in Lolita's murder, and then someone else dies. Can Dixie prove her innocence, solve the mystery, save the show, and deal with that rascal Branigan before her own g-string winds up around her pretty little neck?

Back in 1943, LADY OF BURLESQUE caused quite a commotion when it premiered for the amount of skin revealed by the dancers. By today's standards, that's almost laughable. Wellman does show a lot of cleavage, to be sure, but has a deft hand at discreet editing when the girls are a-shaking their moneymakers. It's become good clean fun to watch the dancers strut their stuff these days. Story-wise, LADY OF BURLESQUE is a nifty little mystery. Utilizing the backstage dynamics she was so familiar with, Lee's plot really does make suspects out of everybody. What truly makes the story work, though, are the antics of the cast behind-the-scenes; you get to see the inner workings of the burlesque world from the actor's perspective. Stanwyck's Dixie is one confident firecracker; her performance is akin to her self assured roles in other films such as "The Lady Eve" and "Ball Of Fire" (as well as her most famous role as the evil manipulator in "Double Indemnity"). A cast of character actors, who give nuance to what could have been clichéd roles, play the supporting parts nicely. Michael O'Shea does a fine job as the wily Branigan out to sweep Dixie off her feet, whether she wants to or not. Even with its ribald reputation, LADY OF BURLESQUE was nominated for an Academy Award for it's wonderful music score, and "Play It on The G-String" was a theatre standard for many years. Scandalous as it may have been then, LADY OF BURLESQUE is now a fun, clever and totally entertaining mystery with a twisting plot, good characters and dialogue, plus lots of dancing girls. Who could ask for anything more?

Unfortunately for such a nice little film, time has not been so kind. The producers did their best to present an immaculate film, but despite being digitally transferred from the best existing print, numerous dropouts, scratches and bad splices are evident, especially during reel changes. Fortunately, these do not substantially interfere with the viewing experience except for one very bad splice mars the improv scene. Oh well, the film is over 60 years old. Otherwise, picture quality is pretty good - the contrast of black and white is fairly sharp, not flat as some B&W films are. Sound has been remastered and is clean and distinct. The only extra included on the DVD is a short written background of the film, which tells you as much as the back of the case. At least they could have added cast & crew filmographies. But overall, it is better to have a decent copy of LADY OF BURLESQUE than to have not.

I'm a big fan of Barbara Stanwyck, and her sassy performance in LADY OF BURLESQUE is the equal to some of her more famous roles. If you're a big fan of the "Thin Man" series, this film will be a welcome addition to your collection. Witty, clever, well-rounded characters, intrigue, murder and oh those girls make LADY OF BURLESQUE an entertaining B&W mystery/musical classic.