DUBARRY WAS A LADY

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CREDITS

1943, 101 minutes, Technicolor.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Roy Del Ruth; Screenplay, Irving Brecher; Cinematography, Karl Freund; Choreography, Charles Walters; Music Direction, George Stoll.

CAST

May Daly/Madame DuBarry, Lucille Ball; Louis Blore/King Louis XV, Red Skelton; Alec Howe/The Black Arrow, Gene Kelly; Willie/Duc de Rigor, Douglas Dumbrille; Charlie/The Dauphin, Rags Ragland; Mr. Jones/Duc de Choiseul, Donald Meek; Cheezy/Count de Roquefort, George Givot; Rami the Swami/Taliostro, Zero Mostel; Ginny/Lady of the Court, Virginia O'Brien; Niagara, Louise Beavers; Doorman/DuBarry's Gatekeeper, Charles Coleman; Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

SONGS

Do I Love You?; Katie Went to Haiti; Friendship by Cole Porter; No Matter How You Slice It, It's Still Salome; Ladies of the Bath by Roger Edens; I'm Getting Sentimental Over You by Ned Washington and George Bassman; I Love an Esquire Girl by Ralph Freed, Lew Brown and Edens; DuBarry Was a Lady by Freed and Burton Lane; Madame, I Love Your Crepes Suzettes by Freed, Lane and Brown.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"In a New York nightclub, cloakroom attendant Louie (Red Skelton) has a crush on the club's glamorous singing star, May Daly (Lucille Ball). After being slipped a Mickey Finn, Louie dreams that he is Louis XV, King of France, and that May is the fabled courtesan Madame DuBarry."
- Liner Notes from MGM/Turner Laserdisc

NOTES

"DuBarry Was a Lady was, to say the least, a disappointment. . .if only the screenplay. . .had matched the quality of some of the. . .musical sequences, DuBarry would indeed have been a lady - as it turned out, she was a bit of a tramp and - worse still - a bit of a bore."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"With the weak plot and weaker dialog, Skelton has a tough time living up to his rep as a funnyman. Ball does a bit better, while Gene Kelly, whose forte is terping, suffers from the histrionic and singing demands of his role and lack of opportunity to make with his feet. O'Brien is disappointing, too. . ."
- Variety

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