DU BARRY WAS A LADY *

"Du Barry Was a Lady". This M.G.M musical, which Arthur Freed produced and with songs by Cole Porter, is almost completely unknown. It's certainly a curiosity. The stars are Red Skelton and a very glamorous Lucille Ball, (dubbed by Martha Mears). A young, handsome, light-on-his-feet Gene Kelly is the romantic male lead and Zero Mostel features as a comic stooge. The flimsy plot, for what it's worth, revolves around a nightclub where Ball is the star attraction and the highlight is a fantasy sequence set in the court of King Louis XV with Ball as Madame Du Barry. Unfortunately it isn't very good, (which is probably the reason it is very seldom shown). The director, Roy Del Ruth, doesn't know how to build on the material and it just drags along with breaks every now and then for 'guest' acts like Tommy Dorsey and his Band, (actually they are probably the best thing in the picture). Watchable then, but no classic.