This film is full of surprises. I saw it accidentally and thought it was much older than I discovered it is when looking it up on IMDb. It's like a peek backstage at a burlesque show (exactly where most of the action takes place). And it actually catches your interest and manages to hold it, because of these historical artifacts if nothing else.
For example, you'll be surprised to see Barbara Stanwyck dancing and doing it very well, in long full body shots that show it's actually her doing the dancing. And, to my surprise, it was quite a body. I've never been one to think she was very attractive in the face (which in my opinion detracted from Double Indemnity because the whole point of that movie was that she was irresistible). But here she shows off a comely set of gams, as they would say in the day.
Next you'll see Pee Wee Herman...then realize it couldn't possibly be him and you realize it's Pinky Lee, the one who inspired Herman's career which is nothing (period in my opinion) without Lee. But there's none of the perverse overtones with Lee that you felt with Herman even before the scandal where he proved it.
You'll recognize all of the vaudeville routines from other comedians. Abbott and Costello's routines especially. But burlesque and vaudeville were the library where all of these comics and all after them drew their knowledge of how to make people laugh, even in spite of themselves. And many of the stars in this film were experts since childhood in the very acts they portrayed in burlesque and vaudeville all their lives.
All in all it's a film worth watching, and watch for the surprises as well. You'll never realize how much you owe to burlesque and vaudeville and how you have laughed all your life at jokes that were written long before any of us were ever born.
For example, you'll be surprised to see Barbara Stanwyck dancing and doing it very well, in long full body shots that show it's actually her doing the dancing. And, to my surprise, it was quite a body. I've never been one to think she was very attractive in the face (which in my opinion detracted from Double Indemnity because the whole point of that movie was that she was irresistible). But here she shows off a comely set of gams, as they would say in the day.
Next you'll see Pee Wee Herman...then realize it couldn't possibly be him and you realize it's Pinky Lee, the one who inspired Herman's career which is nothing (period in my opinion) without Lee. But there's none of the perverse overtones with Lee that you felt with Herman even before the scandal where he proved it.
You'll recognize all of the vaudeville routines from other comedians. Abbott and Costello's routines especially. But burlesque and vaudeville were the library where all of these comics and all after them drew their knowledge of how to make people laugh, even in spite of themselves. And many of the stars in this film were experts since childhood in the very acts they portrayed in burlesque and vaudeville all their lives.
All in all it's a film worth watching, and watch for the surprises as well. You'll never realize how much you owe to burlesque and vaudeville and how you have laughed all your life at jokes that were written long before any of us were ever born.