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Released By: First Run Features
Released On: 04/12/2011
Director: Leslie Zemeckis
Cast: Alan Alda, Dixie Evans, Tempest Storm, Margie Hart, Kitty West
The Film:
Romanticized and demonized, burlesque is a part of American history, no two ways about it. Since the first burlesque acts appeared as part of the World's Fair back in the late 1800s, to its resurgence in today's pop world, burlesque has fascinated and inspired onlookers the world over. Fortunately for fans, Leslie Zemeckis has decided to present Behind the Burly-Q, essentially a moving photo album that starts with the first “Cooch Danceâ€, and ends on a more solemn note with the passing of many of the ladies and comics that made burlesque famous.
Zemeckis has assembled a huge amount of material for this film. Hundreds of vintage photos and video clips augment the many interviews with the stars of burlesque that she has archived on this DVD. It is fitting that with names like White Fury and Her Twin .44s, Blaze Starr, Lili St. Cyr, Tempest Storm and other colourful monikers, the participants of these shows have equally colourful anecdotes to relay throughout the running time, and you won't find any censorship here.
With the help of historians, observers, and other experts, the film follows burlesque's rise through the Great Depression, as everyday people flocked to burlesque shows for cheap entertainment, sometimes for as little as a 15 cent admission fee. Not content to focus on one city, stories are told from all over North America from Dallas to Toronto, as the cast of the travel shows tell stories of Mob involvement and strict city council legislation that attempted to ban these events. The film also takes a look at the comics and acrobats who took part in the burlesque experience, including Robert Alda, father of MASH's Alan Alda, and Lou Costello's daughter. Behind the Burly-Q also examines the world-famous theatres such as Boston's Old Howard and The Hollywood in San Diego that gave burlesque a home during its heyday.
Despite the wealth of information in Behind the Burly-Q, the film does lack focus and structure. The interview subjects talk about dates and locations that appear at random times during the film, and it sometimes gets a bit confusing. Structuring the interview clips chronologically and then by location would've been a huge help. Regardless, Behind the Burly-Q is still a fascinating look at an aspect of a culture that has essentially disappeared from view.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and enhanced for widescreen TVs, First Run Features' Behind the Burly-Q is a disappointment in the video department. True, there are a large number of sources of varying quality, from vintage photos and newspaper clippings to older video footage and brand new interviews, but not much care seems to have gone into the transfer. Interlacing is horribly distracting even to the untrained eye throughout all of the footage, and some of the video footage looks like it was downloaded from youtube and then resized. Macro blocking, compression artifacts, and edge enhancement run rampant. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track suffices, with good levels for the most part, although some of the interview dialogue drops down so low that it's lost without adjusting the volume.
There are some decent extras on the disc, starting with The Reunion, a May 2006 burlesque gathering in Las Vegas. It runs about 7 minutes, and features an on-screen interview with Leslie Zemeckis, as well as a pass-the-mic anecdote segment during what looks like the convention dinner.
Behind the Scenes runs just over 7 minutes, and has Leslie Zemeckis discussing the motivation behind making the film and her need to tell the stories of the performers. Given that most of the participants in the film have since passed on, the interviews gain a status of a much higher importance.
Director's Bits runs almost 22 minutes and is essentially the outtakes and additional footage section of the anecdotes from the performer. A little more information is passed along, but Zemeckis was wise to keep the running time down by leaving them out.
Ephemera is a look at some of the memorabilia and costumes that were used by the stars of the shows, and runs just over 5 minutes.
A Photo Gallery containing 27 vintage photos with captions is also included, as is a Timeline Of Burlesque, which starts in 1866.
A Theatrical Trailer for Behind the Burly-Q and four other First Run Features releases are included.
The Final Word:
Behind the Burly-Q is a solid yet slightly unfocussed attempt by Leslie Zemeckis. Despite the intention of the filmmaker, however, the transfer on this disc leaves a lot to be desired. A strangely inflated MSRP is not indicative of getting what you pay for.
Typos my man - they bite.