A fast-paced murder mystery set backstage at a performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities.
It's clear the filmmakers' primary motivation was to showcase the Vanities and realized they needed to wrap a movie around it. Far more screen time is given to the lavish musical numbers featuring countless scantily clad women than to the mechanics of the nominal plot, but that's not a criticism. It's rather fascinating to see this unique brand of stage entertainment captured in all its antiquated glory, and honestly the women are more interesting to watch than the story anyway. And though this is mostly a disposable B movie, it really does come alive in a special way during some of the musical moments, and some of the magic of seeing this kind of show performed live is captured on screen.
The cast includes an appealing Kitty Carlisle and a humorous Victor McLaglen, right before he was to win an Oscar for John Ford's "The Informer." Duke Ellington also makes a cameo.
Pretty fun stuff.
Grade: B+
It's clear the filmmakers' primary motivation was to showcase the Vanities and realized they needed to wrap a movie around it. Far more screen time is given to the lavish musical numbers featuring countless scantily clad women than to the mechanics of the nominal plot, but that's not a criticism. It's rather fascinating to see this unique brand of stage entertainment captured in all its antiquated glory, and honestly the women are more interesting to watch than the story anyway. And though this is mostly a disposable B movie, it really does come alive in a special way during some of the musical moments, and some of the magic of seeing this kind of show performed live is captured on screen.
The cast includes an appealing Kitty Carlisle and a humorous Victor McLaglen, right before he was to win an Oscar for John Ford's "The Informer." Duke Ellington also makes a cameo.
Pretty fun stuff.
Grade: B+