Wonderland Burlesque: Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: With Or Without, Part IX

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: With Or Without, Part IX

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies:

With Or Without

Part IX

As the say in show biz: some got it, some ain't.

To do with or without?

That appears to be the question. And these are the girls with the all the answers.

Or so these films would have us believe.

Let's take a peek at what the world of cinema has to offer when it comes to the haves and have not.

Either way? It's movie magic!

--- ---

Girl Without A Room

(1933)

Young Tennessee painter Tom Duncan is thrilled to receive an art scholarship to Paris. When he arrives, he finds himself surrounded by a group of eclectic characters, as well as his beautiful new roommate Kay. Their potential relationship is soon threatened when fellow artists start to advise Tom to drink, and he falls in with a notorious gold-digger.

This American pre-Code musical comedy was directed by Ralph Murphy and stars Charles Farrell, Charles Ruggles, Grace Bradley and Marguerite Churchill.

Having a bit of fun at the art community's expense, comic Charles Ruggles plays an artist named 'Crock' who claims to paints people's souls.

Grace Bradley

From 1933 to 1943, Grace Bradley appeared in dozens of quickly made second features, often cast as what were termed 'good-time girls', sometimes with invented ooh-la-la French names. In the 1930s, she became one of the period's most popular musical stars. She married the love her life, Hopalong Cassidy's William Boyd, whom she met on a blind date.

--- ---

A Girl With Ideas

(1937)

A banker's zany daughter wins a $750,000 judgment for slander against a newspaper. To settle, the owner hands the paper over to her. The owner then conspires with editor to sabotage the paper so he can get it back. However, the editor is so enthralled by her ability to provide him with good stories, that he falls for her, as does the newspaper's former owner!

This American comedy drama was directed by S. Sylvan Simon and stars Wendy Barrie, Walter Pidgeon, and Kent Taylor

With this one, director S. Sylvan Simon caught the attention of MGM, who promptly hired him to direct all of Red Skelton's vehicles. Simon went on to produce the movie adaptation of Born Yesterday, which snagged an Oscar for Judy Holliday for best actress.

Wendy Barrie was a British-American film and television actress who was reportedly engaged to the infamous gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel with whom she had a daughter named Carolyn. Barrie appeared in 56 films. This was one of six films she starred in in 1937. She was also a pioneer in television, with her popular talk show The Wendy Barrie Show.

Wendy Barrie

--- ---

Girl Without An Address

(1958)

AKA: Devushka bez adresa

The amusing adventures of the young builder Pashka Gusarov began from the moment he met and fell in love with Katya on the train. Happiness makes a person careless, and many unusual events await him at the station. However, it is here that the lovers meet again, and no longer part.

This Soviet romantic comedy was directed by Eldar Ryazanov and written by Leonid Lench. It stars Svetlana Karpinskaya and Nikolai Rybnikov.

You can watch this film in its entirety for free on Youtube.

--- ---

Girl With A Suitcase

(1961)

AKA: La ragazza con la valigia, Pleasure Girl

After a few days of passion and empty promises, the rich playboy Marcello has dumped the beautiful, naive singer Aida. When she rings Marcello's doorbell, he sends his younger brother Lorenzo ahead. Aida's sadness touches his heart. He wants to help the young woman - and falls in love with her in the process.

Italian–French romantic drama film by Valerio Zurlini and stars Claudia Cardinale, Corrado Pani, and Jacques Perrin.

This film was shown in competition at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival and has been included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved.

Actress Claudia Cardinale is dubbed in Italian by Adriana Asti whilst she is dubbing herself in French which was one of her mother-tongues.

You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.

--- ---

The Girl With The Hungry Eyes

(1966)

Two lesbians, Kitty and Tigercat, are obsessed with each other.

This film was written and directed by William Rotsler and stars Adele Rein, Cathy Crowfoot, Charlotte Stewart, Scott Avery, Shannon Carse, Vickie Dee, and Pat Barrington.

Charlotte Stewart is most famous for her role as the school teacher Eva Beadle Simms on Little House on the Prairie and her work with director David Lynch (Eraserhead 1977).

--- ---

Girl With A Pistol

(1968)

AKA: La ragazza con la pistola

A Sicilian woman "dishonored" by her lover goes to England with a pistol intending to murder him.

This Italian comedy was directed by Mario Monicelli and stars Monica Vitti, Stanley Baker, Corin Redgrave, and Anthony Booth.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Monica Vitti won the David di Donatello award for Best Actress.

For some reason, Anthony Booth appears sporting a black eye, which is totally unrelated to the movie.

The Girl with the Pistol was wildly popular in Italy, garnering nearly $4 million in box office receipts by June of 1969. It was regarded as heralding the emergence of Monica Vitti as one of the country's leading comic stars.

The film was banned in the UK.

The film tackled the themes of bride kidnapping and honor killing, which were still relevant in the Southern Italian culture of the time and normalized to some extent by Italian law, and had then only recently (1966) been challenged when Franca Viola publicly refused to marry the man who raped her.