By modern standards this is about as risqué as an early evening weather forecast on local TV, but it probably had a few handlebar moustaches quivering with delight in Queen Victoria's day. The film shows a comely young wench in her dressing room removing a fancy dress before coyly disappearing behind a screen after cheekily exposing a bare - gasp! - shoulder. Seconds after her frankly unflattering under-garment is flung over the top of the screen we see a bare arm slowly reach out from behind the screen to snatch something from a chair and the girl then emerges dressed in a tight show girl's costume. The identity of the girl appears to have been lost but she looks like quite a lively filly. She'll be about 126 now if she's still around...
6 Reviews
Has A Couple of Points of Some Technical Interest
Snow Leopard9 January 2006
Aside from whatever slight interest it held or holds for its risqué subject matter, there are a couple of smaller points of some technical interest in this American Mutoscope & Biograph feature. This kind of 'blue' movie was much more common in the era than many modern movie fans might realize, and while it's not much to look at now, a couple of technical points are worth noting, at least in passing, as examples of the kinds of things that film-makers of the era had to consider.
The setup presents a woman as she enters her dressing room in a show girl costume, and then proceeds to change into a much skimpier costume, presumably for a burlesque act. At a strategically chosen moment, she retreats behind a screen, with her arm occasionally emerging. Most of it is not particularly provocative, and really only a couple of gestures or movements really 'work' in terms of its intended purpose.
As with comedic and dramatic material, with this kind of movie also the film-makers of the time were still learning how to achieve a desired effect without the use of sound, color, and other resources that would have worked on the stage.
It is also immediately noticeable that the woman's face and head are almost completely cut off for the majority of the screen time. This almost had to be unintentional, and it was most likely a result of the limited experience with filming an individual in middle-range close-up, trying to fit the whole person into the camera field. Techniques for this too would be improved considerably within a few years.
The setup presents a woman as she enters her dressing room in a show girl costume, and then proceeds to change into a much skimpier costume, presumably for a burlesque act. At a strategically chosen moment, she retreats behind a screen, with her arm occasionally emerging. Most of it is not particularly provocative, and really only a couple of gestures or movements really 'work' in terms of its intended purpose.
As with comedic and dramatic material, with this kind of movie also the film-makers of the time were still learning how to achieve a desired effect without the use of sound, color, and other resources that would have worked on the stage.
It is also immediately noticeable that the woman's face and head are almost completely cut off for the majority of the screen time. This almost had to be unintentional, and it was most likely a result of the limited experience with filming an individual in middle-range close-up, trying to fit the whole person into the camera field. Techniques for this too would be improved considerably within a few years.
Possibly Lillie Langtry
zpzjones16 August 2017
Watching this Biograph short on the Youtube in a fairly decent print, decent print meaning visual clarity, I was able to run it over and over again and again just to analyze the lady. Her head is for the most part cut off mid-face until she leans over to set her garment down or to disrobe. The woman is unnamed but is familiar looking as I'm acquainted with the personalities of the era. Trying to place a name on this woman, I notice that she's older but quite attractive. So going out on a limb I would certainly say it's Lillie Langtry who had a naughty' reputation as a Victorian celebrity notably carrying on an affair with the Prince of Wales(later Edward the 7th). This film plays up to that spicy reputation that followed Langtry without telling the audience who she is. The film teases the audience (or still Kinetoscope peepshow crowd) with the question 'who am i'?
This is a rather sexy short film.
planktonrules30 March 2014
"From Show Girl to Burlesque Queen" must have been a shocking film back in 1903, as the sexual mores were very, very different than those today. While there is no serious skin shown in the short, it IS a very sexy film--and pretty well made as well.
A show girl begins taking off her clothes in front of the camera. However, this is clearly a stripTEASE--meaning that you see very, very little but the actress disrobes in such a way that it is rather sexy-- even if the most nudity you see is her exposed arm! Well made and kind of cute. I am not going to rate this one, as it's only about a minute long--and there just isn't enough to it to warrant assigning a score.
A show girl begins taking off her clothes in front of the camera. However, this is clearly a stripTEASE--meaning that you see very, very little but the actress disrobes in such a way that it is rather sexy-- even if the most nudity you see is her exposed arm! Well made and kind of cute. I am not going to rate this one, as it's only about a minute long--and there just isn't enough to it to warrant assigning a score.
Fun Blue Movie
Michael_Elliott15 May 2015
From Show Girl to Burlesque Queen (1903)
*** (out of 4)
Here's another "Blue" movie from Biograph, which has a woman going into a dressing room where she slips out of her "show girl" outfit and into her burlesque one. At under a minute there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but fans of these early Blue movies should at least be entertained. Heck, I think those who hate these early movies would still be entertained because I doubt most people even realize that these types of movies were being made back in the day. This one here is somewhat interesting because the woman has her head off the top of the frame for the majority of the running time. There are a couple reasons for this. It could be that the actress just didn't want her face in the frame. Or, and lets hope not, the cinematographer was just drunk or asleep and filmed this without realizing that the framing was all wrong. Either way, this is a slightly entertaining look at what men were paying five cents to view back in the day.
*** (out of 4)
Here's another "Blue" movie from Biograph, which has a woman going into a dressing room where she slips out of her "show girl" outfit and into her burlesque one. At under a minute there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here but fans of these early Blue movies should at least be entertained. Heck, I think those who hate these early movies would still be entertained because I doubt most people even realize that these types of movies were being made back in the day. This one here is somewhat interesting because the woman has her head off the top of the frame for the majority of the running time. There are a couple reasons for this. It could be that the actress just didn't want her face in the frame. Or, and lets hope not, the cinematographer was just drunk or asleep and filmed this without realizing that the framing was all wrong. Either way, this is a slightly entertaining look at what men were paying five cents to view back in the day.
A striptease is filmed
Tornado_Sam21 May 2017
This 'Blue' movie was included in the first volume in Kino's "The Movies Begin" DVD set, among a collection of films from the genre by Biograph. Of all of them, this one is the only one that still looks a bit questionable now--and it's interesting to think how people reacted to it originally. The movie begins with a woman in a dressing room taking off her clothes. When she gets down to her slip, she steps behind the screen and continues to change before she comes out again ready for her next performance. Since there's no real story to this, it's obvious the director--whoever he was--was just trying to get reactions out of his audiences (which is the point of every 'Blue' movie). The poor cinematography also adds a bit of interest to it, and one has to wonder why the cameraman wanted the lady's head cut off. Either way, it's interesting. I've seen even worse eroticism from other movies of the same period though.
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