Dreamland Capers

Dreamland Capers (1958)

** (out of 4)

Back in the 1950s there were countless features and shorts that would show what it was like on vaudeville. This film here clocks in at 75 minutes and features a live "act" that includes a few beauties in limited clothes as well as comics Edward Innes and John Moloney.

I must admit that this genre of film isn't one of my favorites. While I'm sure these type of strip acts had their place back in the day, viewing them today can be rather boring unless you're just interested in the history of women doing this type of thing. With that said, I actually found this film to be mildly entertaining but in a bad way.

None of the female acts were overly good and there's certainly very limited skin on display. The comic act appears throughout the running time and they're are not funny at all. However, their act is still mildly amusing because of how unfunny it is and I must admit that it was interesting watching them.

What made the film work is the fact that it was shot live so you're getting an authentic look at a real show. This is about as close to re-living a vaudeville show as you're going to get. As I said, nothing here is all that great so it's too bad a better show wasn't recorded but if you're interested in these types of acts then this here at least gives you a complete show.

Apparently typical of what burlesque houses played as filler, DREAMLAND CAPERS isn't even interesting as an artifact. Perhaps if the filmmakers had popped for some big-breast legends like Virginia Bell, Ann Howe or Tempest Storm, one could keep awake watching. Remember - you didn't have amenities like fast-forward back in the theatrical exhibition days.

I found one stripper, a brunette named Lady Midnight, to be a class act, but the rest is forgettable. One novelty act plays "Jingle Bells" on whiskey bottles, and a topically named stripper goes under the handle Satellite. What supposedly passes as entertainment includes rodeo queen Dot Mackly boring us with roping technique, when the fans want peeling.

On the way to the finale of headliner Justa Dream doing her harem dance, I was interested in an ancient vaudeville bit of "Man on the Street" routines, a favorite bit I grew up with watching Steve Alllen spotlight Louis Nye, Tom Poston and Don Knotts. In fact I'd much rather watch old episodes of Allen, perhaps featuring Lenny Bruce, than these lousy girlie shows..