Customer Reviews

Du Barry Was a Lady

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Red plays a hat check boy who's nuts over Lucy, a sassy showgirl who pays him no attention whatsoever. All of this changes when Skelton hits a $75,000 jackpot...Lucy agrees to get engaged to Red although she has a crush on Gene Kelly. Red mistakenly drinks a "mickey finn" which was intended for Kelly - in order to prevent him from attending the engagement party - and the rest of the film is a clever dream sequence with Lucy as Mme.DuBarry, Skelton as a King and Kelly the master of derring-do...Zero Mostel is amusing as the comedy psychic and there's a cute cameo by Lana Turner. While this movie version of the famous Broadway show which starred Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr was completely white-washed in order to pacify the blue-nosed Hays office, this film should at least be a fun-fest for those who love Lucy. Critics were especially harsh on this movie when it was released back in 1943 because the original show was bawdy, risque and totally charming: however, Lucy fans will be astonished at how gorgeous she looks here.

This movie was funny, fun costumes, great songs. You could tell why Red Skelton wasn't famous for his singing, but he still did a great job. And watching "I Love Lucy" for years, hearing Lucielle Ball sing in this (at the beginning), it's hard for me believe that that's her voice. I'm not sure. I think it is, but like I said, it's hard to believe. At the end, you KNOW it's her. Gene Kelly has a somewhat small role in this movie, but he's still the wonderful song and dance guy we know so well. My favorite songs are Red Skelton's song: "Esquire Girl", and I believe Virginia O'Brien plays Ginny (?) the Cigar and Cigarette Girl's song "Salomi" that's a fun one to listen to too. It's not my favorite movie, but it's a great one.

Now don't get me wrong, `Dubarry Was A Lady' Is not the best Movie Musical I 've ever seen, but it is one of the prettiest. I can't figure out how they where able to achieve such a creamy coloration in the film but the rich pastels used on the sets and costumes are just stunning.

There are some wonderful big band numbers with Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, featuring Dick Haymes. And there is a campy `Salmome' number by the wonderful Virginia O'Brien that is worth watching the entire movie for. Red Skelton has a good time with his duel role, and Gene Kelly looks great and does one nice dance routine, but he mostly sits around mooning over Lucille Ball.

Speaking of Lucille Ball, this was her big debut at MGM, and MGM's first full Techincolor musical. The glamour department certainly did it's job on Lucy's tranformation from RKO frump, to MGM siren, she looks incredible! Her firey red hair and trim figure were perfectly set off by the beautiful contemporary costumes, and she looks great in the powdered wigs, and period costumes as well!

Give it a look, you will be entertained!

I remember when I first saw this movie. It was during the early 80's and I saw it playing at the MGM Grand theatre (before it became what is now Bally's) They used to have this theatre located on the mezzanine level that was all done up in fancy decor, with leather couches & a cocktail waitress service. What I remember most about the movie was how captivated I was by the story, actors, and vivid colors. Red Skeleton does this bit in the movie where he is drinking while slowly becoming drunk. Lucille Ball uses the same comedic skit on her famous "I Love Lucy' Show entitled "Lucy does a commercial" It was at the approval of Red with whom she was fast friends, that she was able to make a funny skit even funnier. They certainly don't make movies like this anymore, which makes watching this over & over again more special

WOW! This was Lucille Ball's first color film, and she looks absolutely gorgeous in Technicolor! She was born to be in it; the name Technicolor Tessie suits her perfectly! She never looked more beautiful! Her and Red Skelton have such great chemistry together. This movie shows off Lucille's amazing acting abilities. She goes from a nightclub singer to royalty in 5 minutes. Her whole personality transforms with her character. She was so versatile, and she gets a chance to show off her versatility in this film. This is probably her best film ever, along with The Big Street, according to her.DuBarry has many great songs, including, in Lucy's words, "The hauntingly lovely" "Do I Love You?", and the ever famous Lucy-Ethel duet, "Friendship". Lucy shines so brightly in this movie. I loved this movie, and so will you!

But Lucy never looked more beautiful, or Kelly been more energetic and youthful. The most disappointing thing about this is that Kelly only gets to dance once! However, he does have some fun scenes as the "Black Arrow" that are remeniscent of his wonderful "D'Artagnon" portrayal (sigh). This is not one that I could watch over and over, but my neighbor's kids have borrowed it 5 or 6 times to watch the Red Skelton humor!

While not the epitome of 40's musicals, "Du Barry" is good fun for several reasons. First being Lucille Ball, who looks stunning in Technicolor. Then there's the Technicolor itself which is vivid and bright with MGM gloss. There's the fantastic costumes, the Tommy Dorsey orchestra providing great swing music, an appealing Red Skelton and a handsome Gene Kelly. Less appealing is a mugging Zero Mostel. Then there's a deadpan Virginia O'Brien doing a delightfully laconic faux strip-tease to a song about "Salome". She almost steals the show. But then, "Du Barry" IS a show based on a risque Broadway show but watered down for 40's film audiences. The plot is ridiculous about Skelton's Mickey Finn causing a Louis XIV hallucination involving a cast of nightclub performers with Lucy (torn between love and money) figuring as the notorious Madame Du Barry. Just enjoy the MGM spectacle and music (and Lucy) and marvel at what musicals used to be. Pure entertainment. The DVD print is fantastic. Enjoy.

This movie is very funny in places. I like how Virgina O'Brien is the aggressor and takes on the man's roll in her relationship with Red Skelton. She shines in the musical number (Solome). The Cole Porter music is great. (Friendship) is definatly the highlight of the movie. Virginia's voice Cadences are astounding. Lucille Ball looks fabulous in technicolor(especially her hair). If you love fabulous forty's glamour girls than you will adore the (Lovely Girls) number. I wish they would of resolved the Virgina and Red relationship more, but I guess they only had so much film. I also wish that Gene Kelly had more than one dance number.

"Be brave, my friend. You are dying for your country!" says The Black Arrow (Gene Kelly) to his pal, the grubby Taliostra (Zero Mostel), as the tumbrel bears them to the guillotine.

"Yeah," says Taliostra, "but I was born in the city." Expect much more of the same with Du Barry Was a Lady.

The 1939 Broadway smash starred two powerful performers, Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman, a first rate, innuendo-filled set of songs by Cole Porter, and lots of girls and gags. So what did MGM do when the studio bought the rights? Ditched Merman and Lahr and almost all of the Porter songs. (To be fair, a good many of Porter's lyrics would not have gotten past Hollywood's Code of Decency). MGM kept the girls.

MGM bought the rights for three reasons...to have a vehicle to showcase its up-and-coming comic lead, Red Skelton; the same with their newest knockout beauty coming to them from RKO, Lucille Ball; and to use Gene Kelly until they could figure out what to do with him. Skelton plays Louis Blore, a hatcheck boy at a posh New York nightclub who has a crush on May Daly (Ball), the club's headliner. But she wants security, not love. Still, we know she likes Alec Howe (Kelly), the nightclub's MC, dancer and songwriter, who loves her. When Louis wins the lottery, May decides to marry him. But then a mistaken mickey knocks Louis out and he wakes up as Louis XV, with May as Madame Du Barry and Alec as Black Arrow, the dashing fighter for freedom. All those comic relief employees of the nightclub, the likes of Mostel, Rags Ragland and Virginia O'Brien, show up as peasants or nobles, along with just about everyone else Louis had met in the nightclub, including Donald Meek. Things finally are resolved, with happiness all around, when Louis comes to and finds himself back in the nightclub with May, Alec and all his pals.

The movie has that smooth, unreal MGM Technicolor gloss that can make even genuine talent seem artificial. The best thing that can be said is that the movie has a few highlights and a great deal of barely imaginative but skilled professionalism. To substitute for the songs by Porter that were pitched, there is, in my view, a hodge-podge of mostly second-rate and facile Hollywood music and lyric writing. In place of Porter's clever, sophisticated and amusing songs, including the inventive and salacious "But in the Morning, No" where he comes up with some startling metaphors for sex in the a.m., we're stuck with "Madame, I Love Your Crepes Suzettes" and "I Love an Esquire Girl." Even Lahr wouldn't be able to make these lyrics funny. All Skelton does is mug and prance while he performs them.

If you like Red Skelton, you might enjoy Du Barry Was a Lady. He's in almost every scene, doing all of his unusual shtick. For me, Skelton was at his most appealing when he wasn't doing all the grab-`em-by-the-throat clowning, Give me the Skelton who was Wally "The Fox" Benton, master sleuth on radio, inept in real life, in Whistling in the Dark (1941) (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

Lucille Ball is a knock out, strikingly gorgeous and with that skeptical, smart look about her that, I think, perpetually flummoxed studio heads. Those arched eyebrows of hers made her a challenge to cast. One of her most sympathetic and amusing roles, I think, was in Lured (1947), but it didn't do her career much good.

More than anything else, I think it's Gene Kelly's singing and dancing to Porter's great song, "Do I Love You, Do I" that establishes how out of sync this movie is with any sense of style or respect for excellent material. The song is one of the few from the Broadway show that was kept. To do it justice (even knowing that Merman introduced it) it needs the languid sophistication of a Lee Wiley or even the driving treatment Peggy Lee gave Lover. Instead, we have a typically Kelly interpretation, all on the surface, singing and tapping, and then a fast, athletic performance with chorus girls set to a blaring, flashy orchestration. Whoever was responsible for the grotesque treatment this great song received should have had their taps stapled to their lips. Here are the words. Perhaps you'll recall the melody.

Do I love you, do I?
Doesn't one and one make two?
Do I love you, do I?
Does July need a sky of blue?
Would I miss you, would I?
If you ever should go away?
If the sun should desert the day,
What would life be?

Will I leave you, never?
Could the ocean leave the shore?
Will I worship you forever?
Isn't heaven forever more?
Do I love you, do I?
Oh, my dear, it's so easy to see,
Don't you know I do?
Don't I show you I do,
Just as you love me.

For good measure, the movie also gives us Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, an unbilled Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers (with Dick Haymes), and a curious trio called The Three Oxford Boys who imitate various dance bands by humming through their noses. The movie is glossy and bright, and if you can tolerate Red Skelton's continuous mugging and pratfalls, it might be worth a look. The DVD transfer is first rate.

This great movie stars the beautiful queen of comedy, Lucille Balll, with another great comedian: Red Skelton. My favorite part of the whole movie turned out to be the last 10 minutes, so hang on to the end. This film's songs are really catchy and always get stuck in my head (espically "Friendship" which by the way Lucy also sung with Ethel (really Vivian Vance) in an I Love Lucy episode)