Queen of Burlesque

I have been watching Evelyn Ankers in Universal horror films for about 70 years now, yet not until I watched this film last night did I realize that the lady had legs - and very good ones, too. She is the most unlikely actress short of Edith Evans to play a burlesque queen, but what she and all the other lovelies in this film do is hardly burlesque anyway (this was 1946 and Hollywood was having none of that; there isn't anything in this film that couldn't be seen in a Freddy Stewart-June Preisser production of the same period, and certainly nothing like what my best friend and I used to see when we took the bus over to New Jersey to see real burlesque at the Hudson Theater there, as it was banned in New York!), but she does put on a semi-lower class line delivery that is believable enough if you have never seen her being menaced all over England and Middle Europe by the likes of George Zucco, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi. A couple more films after this, and then she retired to Hawaii with husband Richard Denning. I think this is the only time I've ever seen Carleton Young as a leading man, but I recall him a bit later than here in the radio series THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, which was introduced by the Bacchus music from Delibes' SYLVIA and gave me my start toward a lifetime of loving classical music, so thank you Carleton. Anyway, people are getting murdered all over the place in this one and, unhappily, for no good reason that is adequately explained at the end. The film is actually pretty enjoyable if you have an hour to waste and don't mind B-film budgets peopled mostly with C-film actors, all of whom are pretty good for what this is. But that is the question: What is it?

Not my cup of tea but it still is a Sam Newfield's movie, so I would have felt guilty if I had not reviewed it. Typical of this thirties and forties period, a mix-up of comedy, mystery, thriller. And you can add musical in this movie. It is a bit boring - and I am gentle - not exciting, the lower side of Sam Newfield's career, unlike THREE DESPERATE MEN, that I reviewed last Friday. But Sam Newfield was able of the best as of the worst. This was a chain film production, only destined for hard boiled gem diggers. This one is definitely not a golden gem, but there were batches and batches of this kind of stuff.

OK mid 40's burlesque house murder-mystery. Pretty much a remake of the far better Lady of Burlesque. Burlesque queens are dropping like flies, being murdered by any one of several working at the grind house. The musical and dance numbers are typical 40's mild. The lead suspect is the main headliner. The acting is adequate. Evelyn Ankers plays the lead burlesquer. She seems too refined an actress to be believable as a Gypsy Rose Lee character. Still, a nice time-passer. The quality of the Mr. Fat-W Video DVD-R is pretty good. The picture quality is pretty clear. Recommended for fans of this genre