Lulu Belle

Dorothy Lamour is fabulous in the part of Lulu Belle, a nightclub singer who sings in cheap dives at the turn of the century. Whilst there, she meets and soon marries George, who has given up his career - and his fiancee - to be with her. George, however, is only the first in a long line of male suitors for Lulu Belle, but he's the one that keeps her heart. A thoroughly enjoyable movie, 10 out of 10.

I took note of the fact that the film Lulu Belle was based on a Charles MacArthur play, his first on Broadway. I saw that plot locations and character names and many more characters than there were in this film. Seeing the film I knew a lot had been left out and that probably spoiled it. The title role in Lulu Belle is played by Dorothy Lamour and we see her go from hard hearted vixen who is trading up in men to gain her success to Broadway star of the Gay Nineties of the century before last to jaded Broadway star who in one night sees a whole lot of her past catch up to her. In fact as the film opens she and her current paramour Otto Kruger have both been shot and the film is told in flashback to police detective Addision Richards. Lamour went from fledgling lawyer George Montgomery to boxer Greg McClure to club owner Albert Dekker and finally she becomes Kruger's mistress. I suspect that a lot of the character Charles MacArthur created is missing from this film. Thus giving Lamour a rather impossible role except for her musical numbers which she does well. Lulu Belle was produced by David Belasco and I'm sure the original was a Victorian morality tale which Belasco specialized in. I doubt we'll ever see an original of this tale on screen.

Off screen George Montgomery enjoyed fashioning things out of wood and carried this hobby over into his career where he enjoyed fashioning performances out of the same material possibly none more so than in this piece of cheese in which he abandons his law office to marry professional good-time girl Dorothy Lamour and lives to regret it. Lamour's idea of success is to find increasingly richer men to hook up with, the kind of role that actresses like Jane Greer, Clare Trevor. Marie Windsor, etc could phone in while in Lamour's case she's about as convincing as Marjorie Main playing Jeanne Eagles. The likes of Albert Dekker and Otto Kruger make up the numbers but it's embarrassing rather than entertaining.

Lamour plays a saloon singer who goes through men like a seal goes through fish. She meets Montgomery and she decides he'll be her next lover. It's a whirlwind romance and the lawyer and saloon singer are soon married. The ink on the marriage license is barely dry when Lamour is looking to upgrade her position in life. Lamour first becomes "friends" with a boxer, then moves on to a gambler, presumably because the gambler has more dough. Montgomery gets steamed by his wife's behaviour until she reassures him there is nothing going on. Lamour is a real crumb, but Montgomery is in love and believes what he is told, not what he sees. If it sounds like this is all shaping into a good noir, forget it. It plays out like a period musical, not a gritty crime film. All in all, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes. The performers are good, and the film moves along at a breezy pace. Nothing outstanding, but good fun.

George Montgomery with hair greyed evokes memories of 'Roxie Hart', but this flashbacking drama obviously owes more to the shooting of Stamford White in 1906 than the Roaring Twenties with Dorothy Lamour a high maintenance showgirl at the turn of the last century over whom a succession of men of varying but usually ascending wealth and influence become infatuated to their cost.

Off screen George Montgomery enjoyed fashioning things out of wood and carried this hobby over into his career where he enjoyed fashioning performances out of the same material possibly none more so than in this piece of cheese in which he abandons his law office to marry professional good-time girl Dorothy Lamour and lives to regret it. Lamour's idea of success is to find increasingly richer men to hook up with, the kind of role that actresses like Jane Greer, Clare Trevor. Marie Windsor, etc could phone in while in Lamour's case she's about as convincing as Marjorie Main playing Jeanne Eagles. The likes of Albert Dekker and Otto Kruger make up the numbers but it's embarrassing rather than entertaining.

I took note of the fact that the film Lulu Belle was based on a Charles MacArthur play, his first on Broadway. I saw that plot locations and character names and many more characters than there were in this film. Seeing the film I knew a lot had been left out and that probably spoiled it. The title role in Lulu Belle is played by Dorothy Lamour and we see her go from hard hearted vixen who is trading up in men to gain her success to Broadway star of the Gay Nineties of the century before last to jaded Broadway star who in one night sees a whole lot of her past catch up to her. In fact as the film opens she and her current paramour Otto Kruger have both been shot and the film is told in flashback to police detective Addision Richards. Lamour went from fledgling lawyer George Montgomery to boxer Greg McClure to club owner Albert Dekker and finally she becomes Kruger's mistress. I suspect that a lot of the character Charles MacArthur created is missing from this film. Thus giving Lamour a rather impossible role except for her musical numbers which she does well. Lulu Belle was produced by David Belasco and I'm sure the original was a Victorian morality tale which Belasco specialized in. I doubt we'll ever see an original of this tale on screen.