When veteran prize fighter Stag Bailey (George Bancroft) gets cocky and doesn’t bother to properly train for the big fight, he is knocked out by a young up-and-comer named Buzz Kinney (John Wayne). Stag’s manager, Pin (James Gleason), had all of his money riding on Stag winning. Now broke and with the mob after him, Pin tries to steal the cash from the boxing arena and ends up getting shot by a security guard. Stag and his girlfriend, Puff (Wynne Gibson), take in Pin’s young son, Ted, and they devote themselves to raising him. Years later, Ted (Charles Starrett) wants to become a prizefighter but Stag and Puff, who know what years of getting punched in the head can do to someone, try to convince him to go to college instead.
This boxing film is of interest to western fans because of some of the faces in the cast. This was an early John Wayne role and he’s only seen in the ring and then in one brief scene where he confronts Stag and Puff in a bar. Wayne still plays an important role, though, because Buzz’s transformation from being a fresh-faced boxer to being a bitter, punch-drunk bully serves as a warning for what waits for Ted if his adoptive parents can’t keep him out of the fight game. Charles Starrett, of course, would go on to find greater fame as the Durango Kid.
Otherwise, Lady and Gent is a standard pre-code melodrama. It’s a little more realistic than some of the other boxing films that came out in the 30s. Boxing is portrayed as a dirty business that leaves its participants with struggles that all of the prize money in the world can’t make up for. Puff sacrifices her carefree life to raise Ted but it’s worth it in the end. You can tell this was a pre-code film because Stag and Puff are a couple but they only decide to get married so they can adopt Ted.
George Bancroft was a star in the late 20s and early 30s but eventually, he transitioned to character parts. He retired from acting 1942 and became a full-time rancher. One of his final films was 1939’s Stagecoach, starring his Lady and Gent co-star, John Wayne.
When the invention of the telegraph puts the Pony Express out of business, two veteran riders — John Blair (John Wayne) and Larry Adams (Lane Chandler) — decide to start their own stagecoach line. The richest man in Buchanan City, “Honest” Cal Drake (Douglas Cosgrove), sells them the line to nearby Crescent City. Though initially grateful, Blair and Larry soon discover that Crescent City is now a ghost town that serves as home to exactly two inhabitants. Rather than give up, Blair and Larry set up their stagecoach and they suddenly get lucky as settlers start to find themselves in Crescent City. Blair is even able to convince the local telegraph company to run the wire though Crescent City, which leads to an influx of even more people. Now, Blair just needs to land the contract delivering mail for the area. To do that, he’ll have to win a stagecoach race against Drake, who turns out to not be very honest at all.
Winds of the Wastelands is one of John Wayne’s better pre-Stagecoach programmers. While it has the western action that most people would expect from a B-western, it also has a lot more comedy than some of Wayne’s other poverty row productions. For instance, a skunk tries to turn the stagecoach into his home and, of course, shows up at a key moment during the big race. When one of bad guys tries to convince Blair to take his donkey to Crescent City in the stagecoach, Blair asks if there are any other “jackasses” who want a ride while casting a look at Drake’s men. The movie takes a more serious turn when Drake goes to extreme methods to try to stop Blair and, as a result, Larry is wounded in a gunfight. Doc Forsythe (Sam Flint), the founder of Crescent City, has to rediscover his confidence to perform the operation that can save Larry’s life. Fortunately, the doctor’s daughter (Phyllis Fraser) is there to both help him out and to fall in love with John Blair.
This 55-minute programmer featured John Wayne playing the type of character for which he best known, the level-headed westerner who wasn’t going to let anyone push him around but who still fought fair. Watching this movie, it’s easy to see why, just three years later, John Ford used him in Stagecoach.
Way back in April, I started on a series of reviews. I announced that I would be watching and reviewing all 50 of the public domain films included in Mill Creek’s Fabulous Forties box set.
At the time, I expected that it would take me maybe two weeks. At the most, two and a half. After all, I wondered, how long can I take? Well, needless to say, it took me a little longer than two weeks. In fact, it took me nearly 3 months. (In my defense, May turned out to be a very busy month for me and I wasn’t able to review a single Fabulous Forties film.) However, what’s important is that, after all this time, I am currently writing up the last of my Fabulous Forties reviews!
(And, right now, you’re reading it.)
On the whole, the Fabulous Forties has turned out to be pretty uneven box set. It contains a few classics, like My Man Godfrey, His Girl Friday, and The Last Chance. There are several good films, like The Black Book and Trapped. And then there’s quite a few mediocre and forgettable films, like The Town Went Wild and Jungle Man. (Dear God, Jungle Man…) As I started on the final film in the set, I wasn’t sure what I was about to see…
Well, no worries! The Fabulous Forties ends on a high note! The 50th film is the wonderfully entertaining 1943 comedy-musical-mystery Lady of Burlesque!
Lady of Burlesque (which was released in the UK under the title Striptease Lady) takes place in an old and somewhat decrepit New York burlesque house, the type of place where the audience is almost all male, the owners are somewhat sleazy, and the performers are a cross between cynical veterans and naive newcomers who are hoping for their first big break.
As quickly becomes apparent, the theater would fall apart if not for its main attraction, Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck). Dixie serves as a mentor for the newcomers and a confidante for the veterans. She knows how to keep the audience entertained, even when two dancers are loudly screaming at each other offstage. She knows how to deal with the sleazy owners and how to placate the owners of the Chinese restaurant next door. Dixie also knows better than to get romantically involved with any of male comics who perform at the theater but that doesn’t stop her from flirting with one of them, Biff Brannigan (Micahel O’Shea, playing his role with an almost poignant earnestness). As I watched the film, I could tell that Barbara Stanwyck was neither a natural dancer nor singer but it didn’t matter because, whether Dixie was trying to keep peace backstage or performing onstage and singing a song called, “Take It Off The E-String, Play It On The G-String,” Stanwyck totally committed herself to the role.
Plus, her outfits were to die for!
Seriously, as I watched Lady of Burlesque, I totally wanted to get a job dancing in an old timey burlesque house! If only I had a time machine…
Of course, it should be understood that the acts in Lady of Burlesque are risqué but, by today’s standards, they’re also rather innocent. The jokes may be full of double meaning but it’s all hidden in the subtext. The costumes may be sexy but they also stay on. (That probably had more to do with the production code than to do with the realities of 1940s burlesque.)
Anyway, Lady of Burlesque is technically a murder mystery but mostly, it’s just an excuse to show the performances happening onstage and a few comedic (and occasionally dramatic) vignettes of what it was like to be backstage in a burlesque house. Two dancers are murdered but the show must go on. Even as Dixie solves the murders and tries to keep everyone calm, the show must go on. In fact, that’s one of the true joys of Lady of Burlesque. Regardless of what madness might be going on backstage, the show never stops! In fact, the film often seems undecided about whether or not the backstage murders are bad because of the loss of life or the fact that they threaten to interrupt the performances onstage. Lady of Burlesque becomes a tribute to the work ethic of entertainers everywhere!
Lady of Burlesque was based on a novel by Gypsy Rose Lee. The name of that novel was The G-String Murders. Not surprisingly, that title was changed for the film version.
Well, that concludes the Fabulous Forties! In a few weeks, I’ll start in on my next Mill Creek box set, the Nifty Fifties! Until then, enjoy Lady of Burlesque!
When veteran prize fighter Stag Bailey (George Bancroft) gets cocky and doesn’t bother to properly train for the big fight, he is knocked out by a young up-and-comer named Buzz Kinney (John Wayne). Stag’s manager, Pin (James Gleason), had all of his money riding on Stag winning. Now broke and with the mob after him, Pin tries to steal the cash from the boxing arena and ends up getting shot by a security guard. Stag and his girlfriend, Puff (Wynne Gibson), take in Pin’s young son, Ted, and they devote themselves to raising him. Years later, Ted (Charles Starrett) wants to become a prizefighter but Stag and Puff, who know what years of getting punched in the head can do to someone, try to convince him to go to college instead.
Through the Shattered Lens 