Evelyn Ankers has often been referred to as the Queen of Universal Classic Horror. In 1946, after she left the studio, Ankers starred as another type of queen in a movie called QUEEN OF BURLESQUE. The film was made by poverty row studio PRC and directed by the ubiquitous Sam Newfield.
Evelyn plays Crystal McCoy, the star performer at a burlesque house. Crystal isn't happy with the theater owner, and her ire increases when a professional rival named Dolly De Voe (Jacqueline Dalya) arrives to share top billing. Soon the unpopular Dolly is found murdered, and there's plenty of suspects, with Crystal at the head of the list, As other killings ensue, Crystal and her reporter boyfriend Steve (Carleton Young) try to find out who did it.
The term burlesque denotes all sorts of tawdry connotations, but QUEEN OF BURLESQUE is rather tame stuff. There's a few musical numbers, but nothing particularly racy about them. The numbers do give a chance for Evelyn Ankers to show off her singing abilities, and she even gets to dance a little.
Ankers always brought a bit of elegance and refinement to her horror roles at Universal, and she's an unusual choice to play a burlesque queen. Early in the film she tries to be a hard-boiled dame, by getting into shouting matches and even attempting to start a catfight with Dolly, but you get the feeling Evelyn wasn't all that comfortable in doing so. She acts more assured in the musical numbers--she has the looks (and the legs) to go with the revealing costumes Crystal wears. (Universal horror fans will definitely see a different version of Ankers that they are used to in this movie.)
QUEEN OF BURLESQUE can't help remind the viewer of the earlier LADY OF BURLESQUE, a much better film with a similar plot directed by William Wellman and starring Barbara Stanwyck. QUEEN doesn't have the brash attitude of LADY, and Sam Newfield is certainly no William Wellman. Almost the entire movie takes place inside the burlesque theater, and despite three murders there isn't much suspense. The story has a generic air to it, with all sorts of old movie cliches, such as a stage doorman named Pop. I do have to say the revelation of the murderer was somewhat surprising.
The supporting cast includes Marion Martin, who ironically appeared in LADY OF BURLESQUE as a ditzy blonde performer. Here she's much more dramatic and subdued. An actual burlesque dancer named Rose La Rose has an important role, and she gets to perform an Arabian Nights type of number. Leading man Carleton Young isn't as annoying as most snoopy reporters in these types of movies are. I thought that Young (who would later become a John Ford regular) reminded me of Patric Knowles here--maybe that's due to the fact that Knowles himself was a Universal horror veteran and a frequent co-star of Evelyn Ankers.
Classic Universal horror fans will be the main audience for QUEEN OF BURLESQUE, due to the fact that it gives the usually dignified Evelyn Ankers a chance to strut her stuff.
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