Lulu Belle (1948)

A Broadway musical star (Dorothy Lamour) and her older lover (Otto Kruger) are shot in her dressing room. The primary suspect is her ex-husband (George Montgomery), recently released from prison. As the victims hover between life and death, through a series of flashbacks, we get the whole story of the singer's rise from singing in a Mississippi dive to the lights of Broadway. Based on the 1926 Broadway play by Charles MacArthur (THE FRONT PAGE) and Edward Sheldon, this is a rather routine programmer about a gold digger who uses men in her climb to the top. It's a rare chance for the likable Lamour to give her acting chops a workout but the script does her no favors. Instead of a hard as nails opportunist, the screenplay softens her character to let us know she's not all bad underneath but instead, all it does is make her character look schizophrenic. Still, I liked the ambiguity of the film's ending which suggests the possibility that someone sees through her games. Lamour sings several numbers but the songs are a dreadful lot. Directed without much verve by Leslie Fenton. With Glenda Farrell, Albert Dekker and in the film's best performance, Greg McClure as a small time boxer.