Hollywood Burlesque (1949)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
How much of this film you're able to take will depend on your opinion of the burlesque genre. What we've basically got here is a 67-minute burlesque show full of songs, dances, comedy acts and of course women dancers. As many reviews have pointed out, these type of shows normally ran longer so obviously this one here has been edited down and there's even a cast member or two in the credits but they're missing from the film. I'm guessing this footage was simply lost over time or perhaps it never made the cut and this is just a goof with the credits. Either way, this film is pretty hard to sit through because there's just nothing too interesting happening. The dances are all rather boring and tame. The singing is pretty high-pitched and not at all entertaining. The girls mostly look good but their dances are pretty boring. The comedy bits are downright awful but they're actually so horribly bad that they make the film worth watching just so you can see how bad they are. I'm still confused over the second routine involving money. This thing was shot from the crowd with two cameras and on a technical level it's not too bad and it's worth noting that the director would edit DESTINATION MOON after doing this film. It's interesting to note that there is some brief topless nudity here and it happens at the end of a dance when the girl comes back out from behind the curtain. There is some mild historic interest watching this as it does allow you to see a form of entertainment that is long gone (and for good reason probably).