Filmmakers (good filmmakers, that is, and Mamoulian was very good) rarely do anything that isn't carefully considered. This film is one long juxtaposition of the seedy and the sacred; those over-the-hill, grimy-stockinged burlesque dancers are really only the start.
For instance, there's Kitty's broken-down costar trying to talk her into putting her daughter into a convent rather than letting April tag along with her on the road. Despite being a burlesque entertainer himself, he realizes that the cigar smoke and BO-choked atmosphere is no place for a little 'un, and tells Kitty so.
There's also the contrast between the serene and welcoming convent April is leaving versus the big noisy city she is suddenly thrust into. I like how the train station is initially made out to be (at least, IMHO) almost a holy place with the long, lingering shot of the interior showing us the high, almost cathedral-like roof. Then we are brought back down to earth (literally) and are shown the porters hustling for bags to carry, the cabs honking at each other whilst jostling for fares, and all the men at the hotel April goes to sizing her up (I'm trying to be polite here) the instant she gets out of the cab.
Finally, there's the conflict between April being Kitty's meal ticket versus her own happiness. The thing that really got to me was how badly Kitty wanted to do the right thing for her daughter despite the constant badgering of her no-goodnik boyfriend/husband. It's true that Kitty did take April out of the convent, but she was driven half-crazy by the need to do it or lose her loving [eyeroll] "bad boy."
Anyway, the very first time I saw those dancers, I thought, "Weight Watchers Convention, definitely." But all throughout the film, Mamoulian kept showing us how the sacred and the seedy often exist side-by-side in life. I don't think I'll ever get over the scene on the train that shows April cringing in her berth, clutching her rosary and her holy book, while being surrounded by gin-guzzling wretches (her own mother among them). Seeing Helen Morgan gulp down a bottle of hootch is made all the more poignant when you're seeing the film from the vantage point of the 21st Century, and are all-too-aware how she ended her days. [shakes head sadly]
Edit: typo
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drxcreatures
10 years ago
It's been a while since I've seen this and so I don't remember how 'overweight' these women were, as you guys keep pointing out. If you've watched these older flicks, you'd notice that meat-on-their-bones women were more normal back then in movies, though.
Now it's all about tiny-figured stars. This may be where you are confused.
http://www.cgonzales.net & http://www.drxcreatures.com
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skiddoo
8 years ago
spoiler alert
I just watched the movie and those women were not only overweight, they were over-aged and under-talented. They were an odd lot in truly ugly outfits, photographed to make their strangeness even more potent and repellent, the same way the men in the audience were photographed later in the movie to make them look disgusting and lecherous. If the women had been comedians it would have made sense but they were singers and dancers so it was just sad. Clearly Kitty had been working at the bottom of show business her entire career, as we follow her from the dirty streets of a poor neighborhood to a miserable act on stage to Burlesque, to being replaced by her daughter and given a token role, always saying she would be on Broadway "next year." She never even got up as high as Vaudeville where, frankly, you needed a honed talent. In Burlesque, all you needed was a skimpy outfit and the ability to keep the house filled with bodies. In fact, except for putting her daughter in a convent school and encouraging her to marry her sailor, every decision she made was bad, probably because she needed validation, from the applause mentioned in the title to the admiration from her "bad boys." Fortunately, her daughter got her validation from the convent and her religion, as well as the unconditional love of her mother. I think we can assume Kitty never got that from her parents. But she got it from April. And then Kitty made her final bad decision. April could change her mind about hers. I found the movie depressing. I hope the boy who was so nice he wasn't shocked by her mother or shamed by what April was doing for work was a good Catholic. :) At least April would have that. Now they will have to explain this whole mess to the folks back on the farm in Wisconsin. Lotsa luck on that one. I have a feeling they will leave out all the pesky details such as why her father died so young.
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