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Customer Reviews of The Perils of Pauline

this is Betty Hutton's show!
Sweet little musical with Betty Hutton ideally-cast as Pearl White, the leading lady of the classic `Perils of Pauline' serial. This movie works as a biography-of-sorts which traces White's beginnings as a sewing-machine worker to being employed by a touring theatrical troupe, and finally to her success as the constantly imperiled Pauline. A delightful, Oscar-nominated score by Frank Loesser is the icing on the cake. <
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>Betty Hutton admirably recreates Pearl White's "Pauline", and the silent segments remain faithful to the originals. With Billy de Wolfe, Constance Collier, John Lund and William Demarest. Lush and vibrant Technicolor photography.

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The Perils of Pauline
I recieved this order in a fast and timely fashion but the Video tape is no good. It does not work at all.

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Another chance to see Betty Hutton shine!
Once again, Betty Hutton plays a show girl whose talent overshadows her grouchy, envious boyfriend, making him cold and rejecting. (A device also used in "The Stork Club" and "Annie Get Your Gun"...) This time, she portrays silent movie actress Pearl White, star of the popular "Perils Of Pauline" cliffhanger serial adventures... The role is mainly dramatic, and though Frank Loesser is the film's songwriter, Hutton only gets in two good numbers before the schmaltz sets in. But what doozies they are! "Rumble Rumble Rumble," about an upstairs neighbor who plays the piano all night long, is a charming novelty song. Hutton's comedic inflection is better on the studio version (heard on Capitol's "Spotlight" collection), but it's a gas seeing her singing it live on film. She also really seems to enjoy herself a lot on "Papa Don't Preach To Me," a full-on dance number with a legion of smoothies in top hat and tails whirling her around... Hutton positively beams as she closes the number, knowing that she nailed the take, hands down. The film itself is a straightforward melodrama and once again her leading man, John Lund, plays a guy who is a real pill (...those uptight '40s "real men" characters really bug me somehow). The ending, in which a recently paralyzed Pearl still manages to rush to the train station to meet her man, is as preposterous as the Pauline serials the movie satirizes. Still, the film does give a nice glimpse at the early, early, early years of Hollywood, and the ramshackle, seat-of-their-pants production style of the one-reeler studios, and the film's scenes, which play with the transition of film from silent to sound, are pretty clever. Also, check out William Demarest as the grouchy director who makes White a star -- a role that was tailormade for his talents. Not the greatest film ever, but it has its charms.