Red Mercury
2010
After one member of their group is murdered, the performers at a burlesque house must work together to find out who the killer is before they strike again.
William A. Wellman
Dixie Daisy
Gee Gee Graham
S.B. Foss
Dolly Baxter
Biff Brannigan
Lolita La Verne
8/21/2025
6/10
Barbara Stanwyck, a theatre, a diva, a princess and a double-murder. This packs quite a lot into an amiable and lively ninety minutes. The local opera house has long since lost it’s lustre as a venue for Verdi and Puccini, much to the chagrin of “Lolita” (Victoria Faust) who is less than impressed that “Dixie” (Stanwyck) is now topping the bill with her altogether bawdier style of dancing. When the princess “Nirvena” (Stephanie Bachelor) also makes her presence felt, and “Lolita” makes up to the boss to get the top billing, these three women are soon at loggerheads. Not for long, though, as pretty soon there are a couple of corpses that require the detective services of “Harrigan” (Charles Dingle) and with the old mantra of the “show must go on” keeping the stage full whilst these machinations go on behind the curtain - though not always out of earshot of the audience, it becomes as dangerous here as it ever was in the famed Paris Opéra! Though she leads very much from the front, this isn’t only the Barbara Stanwyck show. The ensemble cast all deliver quite well as the mystery deepens, and there are quite a few songs with rhymes like “E-string with G-string” to keep the thing remarkably naughty for it’s time. I think I still preferred Barbara Stanwyck astride an horse in leathers toting a revolver, but films like this make you appreciate just what a versatile star she was.
2010
1996
1981
2003
2008
2020
1999
2015
2015
2025
2010
1970
2010
1982
1950
2007
2000
2002
1943
1961
