STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS
1946 USA – 116 Minutes
Black & White – Drama
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas

Stanwyck plays the part of a young cold-hearted heiress who murders her strangely sadistic grandmother. In doing so she sweeps a young companion in as a co-conspirator to help her cover up her crime. Flash forward a number of years and we find she has become the icy matriarch of the city aptly named after her family, Iverstown. She literally runs the community with an iron fist. She has married her young companion (Douglas). He has become the city district attorney and a spineless drunk who Stanwyck dominates. Enter Heflin her childhood boyfriend, now a war hero passing through town. With his appearance the love triangle is complete and we see the stylish direction of Milestone work as the three stars sink deeper and deeper into a world of corruption, murder and betrayal.

LADY OF BURLESQUE
1943 USA – 91 Minutes
Black & White – Mystery
Directed by William A. Wellman
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O’Shea

Based on Gypsy Rose Lee’s “G String Murders” the Lady of Burlesque takes us back stage into the seedy world of burlesque. Rising star Dixie Daisy (Stanwyck) is the headliner in the troupe and actually steals the show with her terrific song and dance routines. The film captures the dying art form of burlesque with it’s behind the curtain romances and jealousies. Throughout the film a murder is stalking the performers and one by one the girls in the line are found strangled by their own G strings. We feel sorry for the struggling young women who aspire to attain stardom and never will. Director Wellman has directed a superbly entertaining film which takes us back to a place in time that will never return.