I took note of the fact that the film Lulu Belle was based on a Charles MacArthur play, his first on Broadway. I saw that plot locations and character names and many more characters than there were in this film. Seeing the film I knew a lot had been left out and that probably spoiled it.

The title role in Lulu Belle is played by Dorothy Lamour and we see her go from hard hearted vixen who is trading up in men to gain her success to Broadway star of the Gay Nineties of the century before last to jaded Broadway star who in one night sees a whole lot of her past catch up to her. In fact as the film opens she and her current paramour Otto Kruger have both been shot and the film is told in flashback to police detective Addision Richards.

Lamour went from fledgling lawyer George Montgomery to boxer Greg McClure to club owner Albert Dekker and finally she becomes Kruger's mistress. I suspect that a lot of the character Charles MacArthur created is missing from this film. Thus giving Lamour a rather impossible role except for her musical numbers which she does well.

Lulu Belle was produced by David Belasco and I'm sure the original was a Victorian morality tale which Belasco specialized in. I doubt we'll ever see an original of this tale on screen.