Lady of Burlesque

Lady of Burlesque Photos

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Cast & Crew

Barbara Stanwyck

Deborah Hoople

Michael O'Shea

Biff Brannigan

J. Edward Bromberg

S.B. Foss

Iris Adrian

Gee Gee Graham

Marion Martin

Alice Angel

Pinky Lee

Mandy

Frank Conroy

"Stacchi" Stacciaro

Gloria Dickson

Dolly Baxter

William A. Wellman

Director

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Critic Reviews for Lady of Burlesque

Audience Reviews for Lady of Burlesque

• Aug 03, 2020

  If you're studying the film career of Barbara Stanwyck don't overlook this William Wellman directed comedy, murder-mustery. Stanwyck was coming off The Lady Eve, Meet John Doe and Ball of Fire and choose this silly script because the grindhouse setting was dear to her heart given that's how she got her start in showbiz. If you can't stomach the whole film, but are a Stanwyck fan, at least watch her singing and dance routine near the top of the film. She's not good at the singing or dancing, but has that "it" factor that makes the scene a pleasure. Also note how director Wellman was forced to film her from the waist up during the number's bump and grind points.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Oct 17, 2014

  Although Babs had her some little personal experience in the burlesque game, and though she gives it her "that's show business!" all here (there's one scene she dances onstage that'd play any modern day medium ya got) she cannot save this "backstage at the burlesque"/murder whodunit that suffers from a screenplay that, while quick with the witty one-liners, unfortunately plays fast and loose with the intended conclusion.
  

  kevin w Super Reviewer
• Apr 23, 2012

  An errant film with very little going for it except that at the time it was supposed to be shocking. It doesn't have much else to back it up except for the fact that it is led by none other than Barbara Stanwyck, who plays the beautiful and bodacious Dixie Daisy who is a burlesque headlining performer at a striptease theater called Old Opera Theater. Much of the film showcases inferior numbers from the singer and dancer, as well as comedienne, with many scenes backstage to show the voluminous costumes of her counterpart actresses. The film itself mostly takes place in the theater, and doesn't try to explore the characters or their performances as much as it should have. Everyone, including the leads, are so two dimensional and drab, a hard feat to accomplish in a film about striptease artists. The film soon varies into hard boiled detective thriller, but never is smart or intriguing enough to be true noir. Instead it stumbles on clumsy dialogue and plot devices which only serve to lengthen this film into ninety minutes. The humor is even humdrum, as this was in the days of the Hays Code and stays mostly family friendly throughout. If it had been as bawdy as a Mae West, really this film would have sizzled, but Stanwyck is given very little to work with. The only adult content is a hinted affair between the manager and a dancer who was blackmailing him, and the fact that several girls are being strangled to death with G-strings. The book that this was based upon was written by Gypsy Rose Lee, which doesn't give it any prominence and actually serves to cheapen it all the more. Stanwyck had earlier portrayed a performer in Ball of Fire, and in that film there was a lot more production value, better music, and more genuine a character with great humor. Stanwyck started in this line of work and it only makes sense that she would go back to it time and again in films, but this was just not the shocker it was meant to be, and in that, it suffers as a dull picture.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Sep 25, 2011

  Saucy little mystery with a great collection of 40's blond wisecracking dames and of course the great Stanwyck. Even the usually vapid O'Shea is more animated and entertaining than his norm, this is probably his best screen performance.
  

  Super Reviewer