User Reviews

DU BARRY WAS A LADY is one of those precious few movies that found Lucille Ball performing at an A-movie status and even then it wouldn't bring her much success. Her move to MGM did change her image completely, however, bringing it to the one that became her trademark with her flaming-red hair, huge pompadour, and four-cornered lips, all making their debut in this film. She looks absolutely gorgeous, her hair luxurious and fitted into fabulous gowns that cemented the presence she already exuded but had been denied.

The plot of DU BARRY WAS A LADY is barely there and as light as a bubble: a hat-check man, Louis Blore (Red Skelton) is in love with nightclub singer May Daly (Ball) who is herself in love with a dancer, Alex Howe (Gene Kelly). However, she rebukes the attention of either men, letting Kelly know early on she can never marry poor because of the poverty-related circumstances she was born into. Louis winds up winning the sweepstakes, May agrees to marry Louis, but in a turn of events, Louis is given a "mickey" that sends him into an extended dream sequence which mirrors the actions taking place in the present and has May slowly but surely develop a change of heart and find her true love.

Overall, the movie, like all of the MGM musicals, is a tour-de-force of visuals, musical numbers, and kinetic energy. It capitalized on the advent of Technicolor which made it even richer to enjoy; had it been filmed in black and white it would not have had the same impact. Lucille Ball became -- if momentarily -- a star in her own right even when her part initially required little more than she be there and speak her lines, although she brought a sharp comic timing courtesy of her intense training with Red Skelton that foreshadowed the type of physical comedy she would exercise in "I Love Lucy." DU BARRY WAS A LADY is also notorious for bringing Ava Gardner into visual consciousness in a small part and introducing a twenty-eight year old comic actor named Zero Mostel.

Mild fanfare with Red Skelton, Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly in this farce about what's going on at a local nightclub.

Lucy is Lucy and Red does his usual nonsense. Kelly tries to play it straight but isn't given the substantial material needed. Zero Mostel, young and chubby looking, is along for the ride as a seer. You may not recognize him here but after all, it's 1943!

The film begins to take off during Skelton's dream sequence of being transported back to revolutionary France as Louis XV. The costumes of that period along with the singing and dancing of modern music are a joy to watch.

While Red, as Louis, has been over-taxing his subjects, he's in for a rude awakening when he gets up. Tax man Donald Meek is there to take away most of the money that he won in the sweepstakes.

Much more of Cole Porter's fine music is missing in the film version.

"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 usual 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.

Red Skelton gets top billing here over Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly. This might be considered Red's biggest picture to date, although his earlier "Whistling..." series went over big, but were B pictures. This was Lucy's biggest film to date, as well. Similar for Gene Kelly, although doing his choreography didn't come along until his next film. So what we really have hear is a somewhat weak MGM A musical.

There are a few other things to note in terms of the cast. Virginia O'Brien does her usual shtick here, but it's always entertaining. Rags Ragland is around, as was fairly typical in many Skelton outings (Ragland died 3 years later as a result of alcoholism at the young age of 40). Zero Mostel is unimpressive as a swami. Interestingly, Hugh Beaumont ("Leave It To Beaver's dad) has a minor part as a footman. Donald Meek is around as an income tax collector, as is the perennial maid Louise Beavers...here as Niagara. Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra perform as themselves. Ava Gardner is uncredited as a perfume girl; Marilyn Maxwell uncredited as a calendar girl; Lana Turner as an uncredited guest star. Watch also for Dick Haymes and Jo Stafford in the Pied Pipers. Interestingly, the proprietor of the inn is Mitchell Lewis, who played Mr. DeFarge in "A Tale Of Two Cities" (Ronald Colman version)...and here he is in a farce about the nobles of France.

The early portions of the film are really a somewhat weak variety show of sorts...and you will have to sit through Lucy lip-syncing and Gene Kelly (who had a lousy voice, but has a nice dance number). The movie takes off when Skelton's character (a hat check boy who wins the Irish Sweepstakes) is slipped a mickey and dreams he is King Louis of France, Lucy is Madame DuBarry, and Kelly the Black Arrow. It's about half of the movie and is a funny, outlandish segment. At the end of the segment first Skelton and Lucy (and slowly joined by the other principals) sing the Cole Porter tune in a snappy dance routine; it's great, but just seems to not quite fit as the ending.

There are some fine moments here, but it sort of feels slapped together until one gets to the dream sequence...the highlight of the picture. Probably more fun for fans of Red (like me), Lucy, and Gene Kelly, but I think most will enjoy the light fare...as long as they go in expecting that it's light fare.

It is a good musical, but it lacks...Cole Porter's score?

DU BARRY WAS A LADY was a successful Porter show, mostly due to the antics of it's stars Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman. Merman was pretty svelt in her early Broadway and Hollywood career, and she was able to play the role of May Daly as it really was written - a gold digger who did not like the attentions of Lahr's Louis Blore (in the musical the attendant in the men's room of the nightclub in the modern portion of the story). When playing Du Barry, Merman's May is constantly keeping Louis at arm's length - and enjoying his discomfort. That is not the situation in the film...but the film varies in many ways.

Besides the fact that squeamish MGM people changed Louis into a cloak room attendant, he faces two rivals for May. In the musical it was only Alec (Gene Kelly here), but in the film there is also Willy, the nightclub owner (Douglas Dumbrille) who actually turns out to be quite a nasty customer towards his monarch in the 18th Century section. In the show Willy was a trifle more sleazy in both modern and 18th Century sections, and actually sells a half interest in the club to Louis when he is enriched by his Irish Sweepstakes winnings.

There was no Swami character in the musical - but it's nice to see Zero Mostel in one of his earliest roles: he plays the Swami for all he can squeeze out of it, wild-eyed in his crystal gazing (and managing to get a five dollar bill out of Andrew Toombs, as one of the customers). By the way, his name in the 18th Century section is not Taliostra, but Cagliostro - he is fitted into that section as the 18th Century charlatan who was dragged into the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. Mostel also does his imitation of Charles Boyer in the show, which was apparently from his own nightclub act (according to Robert Osborne, on Turner Classic Movies tonight).

There was also no Ginny (Virginia O'Brien) character to pair off with Louis at the end. But there is no reason to be critical of this - Louis does deserve something for his giving up on May.

This film version does preserve two songs of Porter's score. "Do I Love You Do I?" which Gene Kelly first sings and then dances to on stage is a good number. By the way, his dance routine here with the chorus girls may be the first time (on film) that he did that "push-up" positioned jump slide that he later repeated in THE PIRATE). There is also the conclusion of the musical with the principles (including band leader Tommy Dorsey) doing "Friendship". Lucille Ball would later sing the same song with Vivian Vance on I LOVE LUCY, so she sings it here. Oddly enough in that number she uses her real voice. Earlier it was dubbed to sound more sultry. One may also catch in some background dance music a third number from the show, "What a Swell Party This Is!" which was later to pop up and be sung in HIGH SOCIETY.

But the most interesting song change (due to it's risqué lyrics) was "In the Morning No!" That song, a duet in the 18th Century section of the film between King Louis and DuBarry, has lines like, "Do you like Pike's Peak my dear? Kindly tell me so. Yes, I like Pike's Peak my dear...but in the morning no!!" In the film it is replaced by a duet in DuBarry's bedroom between the King and her, and here the double entrendres of the new song deal with food (cheesecake, for example). Who was fooling who here?

Rags Ragland's character is a busboy in the original, and a pain in the neck to Louis Blore. But he does transform into the Dauphin (future Louis XVI) and does accidentally shoot an arrow into Louis's behind (not his back as in the film). He too had a song dropped from the film - "Give Them the Ooh La La!" which is better forgotten. Not one of Porter's best lyrics or songs.

But then, I have an advantage. In the late 1960s I saw DU BARRY in a revival at the old Equity Library Theater on West 103rd Street in Manhattan. It was a good production, but I best remember it for the performance of the actor playing the Dauphin. Impish with a sinister grin, he was the charismatic figure in that production - even singing that awful tune with all the brio he'd bring to other roles. It was the only time I saw Danny DeVito in a stage production. He was wonderful.

Wonderful entertainment for the war-weary military and home front audiences. This was the first color film for striking flaming redhead Lucille Ball, in the title role, and for MGM newcomer Gene Kelly, who dances, sings, and adds comedy and drama to the proceedings, nosing out top-billed Red Skelton as Lucy's paramour, in the end. Skelton shines in his best performance I've seen in a Hollywood film. Zero Mostel, Rags Ragland, and Douglass Dumbrille, contribute to the comedy and drama. Zero is especially notable for his comedy. Among other things, he clearly parodies Charles Boyer, in his role in "Algiers". .........Lots of beautiful girls prance around or show off their wardrobes. Even Lana Turner has a cameo appearance. Virginia O'Brien's irritating deadpan style of singing comes across better than in other films I've seen. The Thee Oxfords put on an impressive musical comedy act, parodying a number of popular Big Bands, using only their mouth, nose, and hands. Tommy Dorsey's band provides several featured songs. In some cases, his Pied Pipers singing group are included. Included are future singles stars Dick Haymes, and Jo Stafford. . "Do I Love You", "Katie Went to Haiti", and "Friendship" were the only Cole Porter songs performed from the original Broadway play.......... An extended hour and a half of top entertainment, Red graduating from poor hat-check boy, to millionaire, to bankrupt IRS deadbeat, to a dreamy King Louis XV, chasing Madam Du Barry around the bedroom, before waking up to reality.

I noticed that one reviewer called this film 'choppy' and I think this is a very apt description. Unlike the typical musical, "Du Barry Was a Lady" was very choppy--mostly because there was scant plot and too many songs. Because of this, it often comes off like a talent show more than a movie.

This is a very unusual film in that Lucille Ball is cast as a sex symbol. Now I am NOT trying to be mean, but Ball was mostly considered to be a goof-ball in films--a lightweight second banana, not a star...and not a siren. It's also odd because it's a musical and in some numbers, she's clearly being dubbed. Because of this and her later "I Love Lucy" persona, it is hard today to see why all the guys are going gaga over her in the film...but they are. Her main admirers are Red Skelton and Gene Kelly. Because Kelly was very much a newcomer in films, he gets third billing. A very odd fourth was Zero Mostel (in his first film). I say odd because he was cast in a role much like you'd expect to see Phil Silvers--as the goofy friend. This role just didn't work well and his part seemed rather forced. Plus, with him, Skelton and Rags Ragland, the film was made up almost exclusively of comic relief! About 2/3 of the film was set in the present--wartime USA. The only Du Barry is a character Lucile Ball plays in a nightclub. As I said above, all the guys seem nuts for her. She loves one of them (Gene Kelly) but won't give him the time of day because he's poor--and she wants a rich husband. The other (Red Skelton) is poor but unexpectedly wins the Irish Sweepstakes and because of this, Lucille seems very willing to marry him. However, before they marry, Red accidentally slips himself a Mickey Finn and in his delirium, he dreams he's Louis XV and Lucille is really Madame Du Barry. And, when he awakens, he realizes that he should NOT marry a lady who doesn't love him and gives Gene and Lucille his blessing.

The film has a few funny wartime jokes (such as references to tires and taxes) but the humor is so little and far between that it cannot possibly save the film. With more humor, it might have worked--or if the entire film had been set during the reign of Louis. Instead, it's one song after another after another and the plot just doesn't seem important at all. And, because of this, there are just too many lulls to make this worth your time unless you are insanely devoted to Skelton, Ball or Kelly...insanely.

By the way, the DVD is not a total loss. The two shorts on the disc ("Seeing Hands" and "Bah Wilderness") are very good--very, very good.