Supposedly set in the old Klondike at the time of the gold rush; we get a jokey opening narration similar to the prologue three years earlier to 'Louisiana Purchase' (1941) advising us in advance that we will be getting glossy escapism, not gritty realism. We see little of the film's hinterland setting beyond a brief shot of what looks like a black & white photograph of a couple of mountains; and the story could just as easily have been set in a speakeasy during prohibition or a contemporary New York nightclub. However, 'Belle of Chicago' or 'Belle of Brooklyn' wouldn't have had quite the same ring - or accommodated Don Loper's colossal saloon set in which most of the action takes place; and which along with his costumes and choreography (dressed in Technicolor by veteran cameraman Ray Rennahan) look as if they consumed about half the film's budget. All those chorus girls in glossy red lipstick flinging their legs in the air would also have been more likely to have encountered problems with the Hays Office in a contemporary setting. No one character ever seems to be the focus of the film; but being the tallest - as well as being Randolph Scott - a smiling Scott just about qualifies as the film's central character. Although in the title role, Gypsy Rose Lee functions more as Dinah Shore's female buddy; and with their long faces, matching blood red lipstick, alarmingly corseted dresses and vertical hairstyles could pass for sisters. The 'action' tends to consist mainly of the two girls singing about their burgeoning romantic passions, until there is finally a conclusion appropriate to a western when Robert Armstrong (who alone appears to be acting in something more rugged) organises a bank robbery to end the film with something passing for action.Some of the sets are sufficiently stylised to have possibly helped ten years later to inspire those for 'Red Garters'; or Vienna's saloon in 'Johnny Guitar'. The film's most eye-popping use of colour is saved for the final scene when the chorus are shot from below energetically dancing the Can-Can, although their pale green dresses flicking about their rose red petticoats manage to look remarkably like costumes from a two-colour rather than a three-strip Technicolor production.

One could envy the first movie viewers who saw this flick in 1944. It's a gorgeously colorful film with a lot of good looking women floating around. You would quickly realize that the so called Western plot is just something strung between the comic and musical numbers, most of which are good old fun. There's a number of regulars among the actors, as well as some newcomers and less familiar faces. Dinah Shore takes some getting used to, but she sings and handles humor quite well. Gypsy Rose Lee is sort of a slimmed down Mae West who tosses off her lines like she's throwing gloves to a cheering crowd. It would have been nice if Hollywood had made more use of her.And Randolph Scott is a good sport about it all.So when you've got the time and want some light entertainment, this is it.

There weren't many Technicolor movies made during World War II because of military needs, but Hollywood generated a few. A 1944 RKO Radio Picture with a title like BELLE of the YUKON led me to expect a hootin' tootin' shootin' western yarn with an up-north setting. Wrong, McGee! This one is 75% musical comedy and 25% western, with big Broadway style production numbers rigged-up on the saloon stage. What you get is songs by Dinah Shore and Gypsy Rose Lee, quite a few running-gags, and a minor plot about a bank robbery. Almost no gunfire, no horseback chases, no real action.The 3-strip Technicolor of 1944 yielded stunning photography, but do not look for it here. Hollywood studios were poor caretakers of their old movies and this one is badly faded. Call this Exhibit A about Hollywood's snow job to the public concerning the quality of sound and image on DVD's. What they did was a careful clean-up job on a very few old films (such as To Have and Have Not) in order to sell the concept. But that's done with. Now they give us DVD's with C- to D+ quality, no better and often worse than VHS.

Although the plot of Belle of the Yukon is so tired that its not worth recounting (but isn't this true of most old musicals?), this gorgeously technicolored musical/western has some pleasing elements of interest for fans of 1940's nostalgia. The young, brunette Dinah Shore (with an eye-poppingly voluptuous figure) sings beautifully two lovely standards, "Like Someone in Love," and "Sleighride in July." What a warm, pleasing voice she had. One of the all-time great singers. Her blonde, blue-eyed love interest, William Marshall, is so ridiculously pretty that he looks like a vintage comic book hero come to life. Gypsy Rose Lee is relaxed and fun with her foot-high pompadours and Belle Epoque gowns by Don Loper, and a very handsome Randolph Scott is clearly enjoying himself.