I'm No Angel (1933)

Yes, another Mae West movie, which guarantees entertainment. I know I've said it before, but Mae West's movie are endlessly entertaining. They aren't necessarily the best movies, but they don't need to be, it's essentially Mae West walking around being a sassy whore.

Mae West plays Tira, a circus performer who, of course, is the darling of all the men who visit the circus. When she needs some money, she decides to perform a risky new act involving tons of lions. The sequence itself is filmed pretty poorly, but it's entertaining in how bad it is. Tira becomes even more famous and begins to flirt with the various rich men that are enchanted by her. Until she meets Jack Clayton (Cary Grant), the love of her life, but her sordid past catches up to her and she must fight to keep her man.

Really, there's not much else to say, since the best part of the movie is Mae West wearing insane looking outfits and tossing out zingers, much like She Done Him Wrong. Which is probably the strength of Mae West's movie, you know exactly what's going to happen, yet you're entertained the entire time, because she doesn't try to make her movies anything more than they are. Like She Done Him Wrong, this film is very short, it's not even a full 90 minutes, which means it never wears out its welcome.

It's easy to recommend this movie, simply because it's pure entertainment, even when it gets into melodrama and cheese, it's still fun because it's Mae West, the queen of Pre-Code Comedy. It's especially fun to watch it (And any other Mae West movie) with other people, because it's just a big cheesy, sassy mess that is easy to enjoy.

She Done Him Wrong (1933)

I can't believe that I've been doing this blog for a while (and by a while I mean a week or two, with as far as I know, no readers) and I've yet to write up a Mae West movie. Shame on me.

Mae West's movie are essentially male harem movies, there's minimal plot and it basically involves Mae West cavorting around with several different men. But that's not really a knock to the movie, because Mae West may be one of the greatest entertainers ever, despite not being a very good actress or singer. She just embodied this character of a wise-cracking, seen-it-all, man eater, as well as writing a great deal of her films and stage plays. The actual plot of She Done Him Wrong revolves around Lady Lou (Mae West) who is a nightclub entertainer who used to date a dangerous criminal who is now in prison. She promised to remain faithful to him, and being Mae West, she didn't. So he's out to get her. In addition to this, she has to deal with shady goings on in her night club as well as the local missionary Captain Cummings (Cary Grant).

The great thing about this film is that it knows what it is, it's a breezy, fun film about Mae West using man after man, and it doesn't wear out it's welcome, since it's only around 66 minutes (the shortest film ever nominated for Best Picture). It's filled with Mae West's double entendres and sexual suggestion. The plot is a bit ridiculous, involving the already mention vengeful lover as well as some sort of white slavery ring, but it doesn't bog itself down in such details, instead focusing on Mae West walking around and being fabulous.

I know I haven't said much in terms of substance about the film, probably because the film itself is light on substance, which is probably why its such a fun movie, one that should definitely be checked out. And even if you don't like it, it's only 66 minutes.