Unlimitedia
Sick Product of a Sick System
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Woodyanders
Made up of nothing more than a variety of acts featuring a nifty assortment of attractive dancers and a few painfully unfunny comedian making lots of terrible cornball jokes, this Irving Klaw production nicely captures the infectious let's put on a show enthusiasm of burlesque. The legendary Bettie Page might not be much of a dancer, but she flirts well with the camera, handles her hostess chores with perky aplomb, and looks quite sweet and yummy throughout. Tempest Storm's enormous breasts and hourglass figure are enough to turn any red-blooded all-American male's knees to jello. Cute redhead Chris LaChris does a peppy number, voluptuous Cherrie Knight performs a sultry routine, the duo of Peppe and Roccio impress with their lively flamenco moves, and limber blonde Twinnie Walden practically steals the whole show thanks to her astonishing flexibility (her cartwheels are especially something to behold!). Ironically, female impersonator Vicki Lynn is the only performer to go completely topless. Dave Starr and Joe E. Ross are also along for the ride telling excruciatingly bad jokes, but fortunately the bevy of beautiful women on display more than compensates for their lame antics. Entertaining stuff.
rossamazon
Everything the first reviewers have said is true. However, if you weren't there when old-time burlesque was in vogue, you have no way to see it except really awful b/w shorts with bad performers, or sanitized revues like THIS WAS BURLESQUE, or modern burlesque done in an entirely different historical context.TEASERAMA and VARIETEASE have top-name performers presenting their routines exactly as audiences of the day saw them.This is the real thing, and if the dancers don't seem all that erotic, or the comics don't seem funny, still that's the way it was for the guys in the audience back then.
Tom DeFelice
This film is bad even by 1955's standards. Sexy, it isn't. Even by the lowest rent version of Burlesque, it is a mess. The "Top Banana" has the unfortunate problem of not being funny. Not even with the "take my wife, please" joke. Production values are non-existent. With one exception, the women are...well, you judge for yourself. As for the stripping? You will see more skin on a Cape Cod beach in January than is displayed here.There is nothing wrong with being tacky. But this is just incredibly boring. One dance goes on for seven minutes and is not one-hundredth as sexy as Rita Hayworth's dance in "Gilda".The one glimmer of light in the entire film is 1950's icon Bettie Page. Bettie has two dance numbers. Neither of which are very good. She also introduces each act with it's own title card. It is here that she shines. There is a freshness, a sexy naughty girl-next-door quality that she lends to these all to brief moments.If you are a BIG Bettie Page fan and have a fast forward button then rent this. Otherwise, for your own safety, stay a way from this film at all costs.
Paul-116
This is horribly dated piffle. It doesn't have a plot and it's completely tedious. The wonderful Betty Page is wasted in one of the worst movies of all time.
