Du Barry Was a Lady

This sparkling 1943 MGM technicolor musical-comedy is typical of what came off their production line: lavish sets & costumes, ravishing girls..and of course, LOTS of songs! Based upon the stage musical, "based" is probably a loose term, as many changes were made to the film adaptation.The cast is unbeatable: Red Skelton is at his riotous clownish best; Lucille Ball is simply stunning in full color; and Gene Kelly is at his handsome leading man/nimble-footed best. Even supporting players Rags Ragland (the funny looking dimwit with the accent) & Zero Mostel (25 years before "The Producers") manage to score some laughs, particularly in Mostel's delirious table flirtation monologue.The first half of the film is standard plot stuff of the time, as numbers are trotted out and romantic entanglements ensue (as there's a love triangle brewing between hat check boy Skelton, stage star Ball, and songwriter Kelly), which leads to a "mickey" drink meant for Kelly but accidentally downed by Red instead that dissolves into an elaborate dream sequence, the livelier second half of the film. Red is then nocturnally transported to 18-century France where he's King Louis, and the rest of the modern-day characters play various period roles. Naturally, there's a plot to overthrow the king, led by resistance leader Kelly as The Black Arrow. There's some great moments here: Red amorously chasing Ball around the bedroom; Red's bumbling (he was taking falls on bare floors that most comics would shudder to even think about) as he falls out of a coach carriage, and later, into the drink; and Kelly's dashing speech in the pub. The film is climaxed by that great number "Friendship", which Skelton, Ball & Kelly pull off with gleeful zest & fun.A lively musical-comedy adventure that's lots of fun to watch, thanks to its three stars & able supporting cast!

The first 10 min. of the movie were great - I really would have liked to have seen the entire movie; however, the DVD "hung up" after a certain point and would not play. I returned the DVD and got an exchange. This one did the same thing. If the manufacturer would put a little more quality into the product, I would love to have this movie.

I read the reviews on this movie before I purchased it and most of the reviews did mention how this was a not so great movie but if you want to enjoy seeing Lucille Ball before her television series and see how beautifully put the colors are in this movie then this is for you. So I decided to try it out. The reviews of others were correct, this is not a great movie and the story line isn't really funny. Gene Kelly was in the movie but danced only once and Lucy wasn't really funny and to me her acting seemed stale in this movie. The highlight of the movie is definitely Red Skelton's character which keeps you watching to see what will he do next, he was such an expressive actor and comedian, his facial expressions says much and adds life to his character. Personally I feel that I should have listened to the reviews of the majority who wrote about this movie so that I didn't waste my money buying this.

a knock down , knock out real Hollywood entertaining musical that made everybody love musicals. a great cast of pros doing what they do best. make you happy. the costumes and color are vibrant. the songs you know and the dancing pure gene Kelly and company. enjoy

This movie was purchased for a gift for my brother. We grew up watching the Red Skelton show and I Love Lucy. The main reason for purchasing this particular movie was the "closed caption" feature. It took a while to find out if it was closed captioned or not. Not everything is and it is not always easy to find that information. When you are deaf or hard of hearing, watching something wtih sound means nothing but with closed cpationing, you enjoy a movie in knowing what is happening and why.  Du Barry Was a Lady

returned because it would not play on (new) SONY bluray/dvd player or on computer

Beautiful movie

just ok

For me this film is all about Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra and he doesn't disappoint. This is probably Dorsey's best band with the stand out track being "Well Get It". Solos by Buddy Rich, drums, Ziggy Elman and Jimmy Zito, trumpets, Heinie Beau, clarinet and Don Lodice, tenor sax. All brilliant solos. There was also extended piano solos by Milt Ruskin and Joe Bushkin. Marvellous music from an orchestra at the peak of its powers.

Great old musical although some slow parts. Gene Kelly's second movie and featuring Tommy Dorsey and band with a young Buddy Rich on drums and young Dick Haymes singing with the Pied Pipers. Skelton plays usual doofus and Lucy Ball is quite attractive. Always fun to see Rags Ragland in anything.

great