Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

You want to see some real film history? This one will take all bets,and leave you standing at the gate! The year is 1933. Mae West is in her second starring role, and a new institution is born in American Film as a result- The Motion Picture Production Code. This ought to be interesting for anyone who wants to know how the first censors started to get involved in Hollywood studio productions, and why.

So what about Mae West?

We've all seen the film clips with WC Fields (who West detested, by the way) and heard many one liners that we repeated, probably not realizing they were written by the highest paid woman in America, in 1935. She had been a child star in Vaudeville, and had a stage presence in her persona as sex pot, as early as 1907, when she was 14, billed as " The Baby Vamp of Vaudeville". She then began writing her plays, and performing them on stage. In 1926, she wrote and starred in a play entitled Sex which earned her 10 days in jail on obscenity charges. Publicity stunt? Maybe. But it gave her notoriety unprecedented in show biz. In 1932, she signed on with Paramount, and her first film was as a bit part, in a movie with George Raft, Night After Night, in which she stole the show.

(Hat check girl, looking at West's diamond necklace) "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!"

(Mae's Character, with a characteristic flounce) "GOODNESS had nothing to do with it!"

When West made I'm No Angel, the second film she wrote and starred in, after She Done Him Wrong-1933, which was incidentally, the film that elevated Cary Grant to Stardom, she was 40 years old. She wasn't really very pretty even by the standards of the day. She was only 5 feet tall, and had to wear 6 inch platforms to do stage work. But she had something. And she had plenty of it.

The two movies she made in 1933, were shockingly suggestive ,although they may seem tame by today's standards. Mae West is in top form, and I don't mean the state of her health or her "hourglass" figure. It was her witty one liners, and comedy shticks which showed greatness, and captured the public's attention. She was the first woman to openly claim to like a "good time" (meaning sex) and the first one to flirt openly and occasionally obscenely, on film. She did not reflect the public image of womanhood, to say the least. But she had something. (and plenty of it)

The sexual innuendos, and out and out ridicule of the puritanical middle and upper classes earned her severe protests from the Catholic League of Decency. The Motion Picture Production Code was formulated to prevent suggestive and explicit language in film, and to control content. Mae West spent the rest of her film career unrepentant, working on double talk that would make her message and her humor clear, and get past the censors. She only made 11 films (in which she was a star), and quit the feature film business in 1943, when the censorship became even more restrictive. She did appear in two more movies, decades later, the last in 1978.

Her career was not over, though, when she stepped away from the camera. In 1943 West was 50 years old. She continued to write and worked lounge acts and Broadway. She produced several pop music albums in the fifties. Her career in the Entertainment Industry spanned nearly 80 years.

While Mae West's bad girl persona is well known, her writing should be remembered. She wrote many of the films in which she starred. In I'm No Angel I suspected she also did most of the directing, since Wesley Ruggles' media had been pretty much exclusively silent films to that date, with an impressive 58 films (none of which I have seen) on his filmography.

There are just a couple of things more that deserve mentioning-to make you realize how Mae West caught the fancy of the times. First, after the Depression, poverty was a reality to many Americans. West's character is not to be defeated by-anything. The "fate worse than death" could be turned to your advantage, and she had no patience for the arrogance and condescending airs of the rich. She has survival skills. The people she talks to, and trusts in this flick are her black maids. While I abhor the plight of the black actor, it was obvious that Mae West at least showed some respect and portrayed a character with humanity that seems to have been uncommon in Hollywood at the time.

Other Film Elements

The art department won't win any awards, there was a cheesy special effect with the head in the mouth of a lion trick, and the music some of it featuring West singing, is OK, but don't look for the sound track, or expect greatness if you find it. Mae's Makeup was perfectly awful, but the costumes were fabulous. West's previous 1933 She Done Him Wrong had been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

The STORY is nothing memorable really, although it does have some cohesion, the supporting actors were actually pretty darn good, but again, they aren't remembered by most of the public. So that leaves us with three elements to appreciate. Mae West herself, (and her stage personality), Cary Grant, and the dialog-which isn't Shakespeare quality, but is pretty entertaining. The humor of this little film is pretty sophisticated, yet very basic. Mae says and does the things that no one dared to do in 1933.

The Plot

Meet Miss Tira, working as the hootchie kootchie dancer and part time lion tamer at a two-bit carnie/circus show. We watch her wiggle and jiggle, making all men pant in her wake

"The girl who discovered you don't have to have feet to be a dancer", cries the barker.

She struts on stage, and scans the audience for an interesting well heeled man. She sees one with a diamond. Back at her tent, we see a cork board of her conquests, and the gifts of jewelry bestowed upon her in appreciation of her charms. After consulting her crystal ball gazer, and getting her horoscope, she goes off to her hot date with the big spender from the audience.

"I see two men. Lots of money. They both have brown eyes."

But a jealous boyfriend, Slick, follows her, in a rage. Tira is romancing the big spender, and Slick knocks him unconscious. Thinking him dead, Tira calls her lawyer and goes to the boss for money for expenses. She agrees to do a dangerous stunt in the lion act, sticking her head in the mouth of a lion.

This act brings her to a bigger circus, in the city, and contact with a better class of boyfriends. She has only three requirements, dark hair, brown eyes and money. Kirk is the first, and he showers her with gifts. In some of these scenes be sure to check out her photos, each one with a figurine of the animal the boyfriends most closely resemble. There is a snake, a frog, a skunk, just to name a few.

Kirk Lawrence , a rich young man engaged to a high society girl, has fallen in love with Tira, and showers her with expensive gifts. His cousin Jack Clayton is concerned and goes to Tira to talk her out of the romance. Tira and Jack seem to have something special...she sees him as the second man foreseen in her future. She wears a black gown with a spider web motif.

(Jack) "Tonight you were REALLY good." (talking about her performance as a lion tamer)

(Tira) "When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better."

She wants to marry Jack. But Jack comes by her apartment, to find Slick at the house, in pajamas, set up by her boss who wants her to stay in the show. She had put in her resignation, to marry Jack Clayton.

The story moves quickly from this point on. Tira is going to sue Clayton for Breach of Promise. The movie moves to a courtroom where Miss Tira takes the prize in clever one liners and witty repartee. But you'll just have to see the movie to know whether true love triumphs.

The Cast

Mae West as Tira-She is funny, clever, has a strange hard-sounding voice, but I wasn't prepared to enjoy her performance as much as I did. She smokes, she drinks, she fools around. She twists the judicial system, and she is a masterful comedienne, combining her tongue-in-cheek humor, Vaudeville and slapstick, with some suggestive and often irreverent remarks.

Cary Grant as Jack Clayton. This is Grant's thirteenth film but he didn't achieve star status until his first flick with West. Here, they have exceedingly good chemistry, which again surprised me, because West is fourteen years older than Grant here. If you listen carefully to the dialog, Grant hadn't quite worked his accent into consistency, but the charm and elegance is there in spades. (Focus on the word "mad") Be still my heart.

Gregory Ratoff as Benny Pinkowitz, Tira's attorney. Ratoff had a life on the stage, and has some reknown as a director as well. His first activities were with the New York Yiddish Players . His roles were ethnic characters, and this one is no exception.

Edward Arnold as Big Bill Barton, the owner of the show. He started playing small parts in the silent movies, and made it to talkies, smoothly.

Ralf Harolde as slick Wiley. This emaciated, painfully thin actor looks like he would be knocked over in a high wind. He plays the jealous boyfriend. Veteran of 90 films, never a star.

Kent Taylor as Kirk Lawrence, the first rich guy. He did some horror flicks, and had a lot of film activity between 1931 and 1940. A very handsome dapper Dan sort of guy. He was a veteran of 57 movies.

Gertrude Michael as Alicia Hatton, Kirk's fiancee. She was a Broadway actress, with some impressive credits before and after this film. Very pretty and not very redeeming in this role as the haughty society dame.

Russell Hopton as Flea Madigan the barker. This guy was unremarkable, except that he was very active in films between 1926 and 1945. His career ended with his suicide in 1945.

Dorothy Peterson as Thelma-a fellow performer at the carnival, her purpose is to allow Miss Mae to show that she has a good heart, and a generous spirit. She offers advice to the less endowed, and gives away some of her jewelry. This actress was in 81 films, and her face is not at all familiar to me.

William B. Davidson as Ernest Brown, the Chump. This guy was a leading man in the silent films, and in talkies always played a man of substance. As a lecherous suitor to the gold digger, this has got to have been a unique role. He was a veteran of 300 films, starting in 1915.

Gertrude Howard as Beulah Thorndyke Tira's maid- This black actress was in 21 films, including UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. This role is a stereotype, but she has some good lines and some film presence.

Libby Taylor (real name, Elizabeth Taylor) as Libby, another maid to Tira. Too bad she had to change her name. She wasn't in films for long.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

This is a movie that breaks rules, and is still pretty innocent fun all things considered. Mae West is a lot more interesting than I had imagined. She must have been highly controversial, and she thrived on her disreputable reputation. I rented this flick to see an early Cary Grant, who shows embryonic beginnings of his later film presence.

The DVD has nothing but the film , with no added features, but the film itself is in pretty good shape. The images are clean, and the sound is better than most films revived from 60 years ago.

The Motion Picture Production Code, brought into
being to prevent Miss West (and her ilk) from public obscenity would make this the last and best presentation of Mae West's comedic abilities. The movies that follow are just not as much fun as this one.

*****
Censorship is a mixed blessing. Sometimes it may be necessary. But in America, I believe one of our great strengths is that we have freedom of expression. I don't like obscenity, and I hate pornography. Nobody forces me to watch it.

I think when censorship cuts into creativity, as it so often does, we get something less as a result. This is true from the time they put clothes on Michelangelo's figures in the Sistine Chapel, to Epinions believing they have a right to dictate how I write my reviews or telling me how to rate what I read. So my suggestion is that we all exercise our rights. If you find my review to be offensive, you are excused. Don't read it. Oops. Sorry. Too late.










Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age