Casanova in Burlesque

This is a low budget movie which had potential: A troupe of burlesque performers putting on a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew in a stuffy college setting. This premise is realized in a mediocre fashion: not much wit nor imagination is put into the buildup or to the performance (which relies on slapstick).

The movie is fun. It has a laugh or two. It is watchable because June Havoc is funny being the character she so often played in the 1940s: a gum chewing, very sexy, wisecracking, shapely, working class woman. She does a couple of songs, too. So does Dale Evans (without Roy Rogers). Her swinging, lively song is the best in the movie. Joe E. Brown is Joe E. Brown, but, playing a college professor, he plays it quite straight for a good part of the movie.

The version I saw had passable sound and visual quality, but it was cut up badly. It seemed that a good part of the movie was missing. I could follow the plot despite the missing parts, but the movie was sufficiently engaging that I found the omissions annoying.

Since I am an amateur movie historian and a fan of Joe E. Brown and June Havoc, I enjoyed it. I do not know how people who know neither of these performers would react to this modest, but interesting flick.