Tales of the Gay 90s were a genre in themselves (far more so than the 1900s). Mae West made a point of it – presumably the period setting allowed her to be a bit more daring. The opulence and raffishness must have looked particularly appealing during the Depression. This is the film that made her a movie star – when people talk about Mae West they’re talking about this and Diamond Lil.
It’s an adaptation of a play and it feels like it – most of the action takes place in a saloon, there are entrances and exits. Mae herself is very theatrical, full figured and constantly cracking wise. Her character remains fascinating – she holds her own with me, she’s nice to a girl who gets herself in a mess and is comfortable with shonky people. She makes eyes at the younger Cary Grant and Gilbert Roland (she invites Roland up to see her sometime as well) and older guys pant all over her – indeed, they are driven to theft and murder.
It’s especially fun to see Mae flirt with Cary Grant in his salvation Army outfit – less so when he’s revealed to be a cop but they had to do it. Cary’s a bit young for her and you don’t believe it’s love, but who cares. The lines are terrific, eg “it takes two to get one in trouble”, “hello dark warm and handsome”, “when woman go wrong men go right after them”, “you can be had”. It’s also very adult –West is clearly a mistress to gangsters, a girl tries to kill herself after a relationship with a married man; Mae sings a song about an “Easy Rider’. The running time is barely over an hour – and that includes a couple of songs.
No comments:
Post a Comment