She Done Him Wrong [DVD]

I've been a fan of Mae West for some time and when I came across this offer, I couldn't resist. The boxset comes with three dvd covers each with two discs inside. The films included are as follows:
SHE DONE HIM WRONG
I'M NO ANGEL
MY LITTLE CHICKADEE
KLONDIKE ANNIE
THE HEAT'S ON
BELLE OF THE NINETIES

All movies are in black and white and roughly 1hr 15min each. quick and to the point. She's as witty as ever and her costumes are gorgeous. I'd recommend you to watch these on a dark rainy day with a cup of ovaltine whilst tucked under a big fluffy duvet.

The mistress of the one liner, Mae West once said "It's better to be looked over than overlooked". Now at this bargain Amazon price you have no excuse for overlooking one of the great film stars of the 1930s. She was more than that, of course. A woman who did things her way in the male dominated film industry; writing her own scripts, selecting her co-stars like Cary Grant and having the last word with her Directors.

As a result she only made 12 films in her entire career but the best - and funniest - are in this box set. 'She Done Him Wrong' and 'I'm No Angel' both co-starring Cary Grant allegedly saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy and were among the top ten box office attractions of 1933. In the first she plays a night club singer in the 1890s (Admirer: I've heard so much about you. Mae: Yeah but you can't prove it!) and in the second she is a lion tamer who makes good (It's not the men in my life that counts, it's the life in my men).

The follow up films 'Belle Of The Nineties' (A man in the house is worth two on the street) and 'Klondike Annie' (When I'm caught between two evils, I generally pick the one I never tried before) got her into trouble with the censors. In the latter film Mae played a thinly disguised Salvation Army captain (Man: If you need anything, yell for it. Mae: You mean you have to yell for it?) and upset the Catholic League of Decency. After that she had to water down her scripts and found it harder to make films.

In 1941 she memorably co-starred with WC Fields in 'My Little Chickadee', a comedy western (Sheriff: I wonder what kind of a woman you really are? Mae: Too bad but I don't give out samples). The last film in this set 'The Heat's On' was made in 1943 and was her first flop. Mae is good but only in it for 20 minutes playing a temperamental stage star (Manager: Are you trying to drive me to the madhouse? Mae: No, I'll call you a taxi). She was not to make another film until the extraordinary "Myra Breckenridge" 25 years later.

Mae's early films easily rank alongside those of the Marx Brothers and W C Fields so it's a shame they are not widely seen these days. Here's an opportunity for you to catch up and discover these overlooked classics. In Mae's own words "When you've got nothing to do, and plenty of time to do it, come up (and see me sometime)".

This Mae West Box Set is an essential addition to any film buff's collection who love sassy comedy and timeless good humor. West's signature films are well known and this reviewer will focus his comments on one of the least known of all her film output, the 1943 comedy, "The Heat's On."
Seldom seen, and universally panned by critics at the time of its original release, its still able to generate some heat today, mostly due to several stunning musical numbers.
It's a lot of fun, Mae looked fabulous it in, perhaps the most beautiful of all her films. She looked incredibly trim and adopted a current hair style which suited her very well. Her musical numbers were top notch, the only problem being the most dramatic musical production, the "Lure" number was deemed too disturbing to censors and was cut from the film. West wears a very risque outfit, which she would be wearing when the police were supposed to have raided her show. The dress was entirely made of coruscating blue sequins, except for portions of skin-colored net intended to photograph as real flesh. The outfit featured a fantastic headdress in the form of a coiled snake, studded with blue sequins, its glittering head spitting out at me. From behind the snake a mass of peacock feathers spread in all directions. Over her forehead swung three strands of large, fake pearls. Under her chin, from ear to ear, dangled three more strands of pearls.
Stills that survive of this stunning gown attest to the high camp appeal the scene likely would have generated if it hadn't been excised. Ironically, when the video version of the film was finally released in 1993 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of West's birth, the packaging featured a still from the deleted scene, her Lucite finger nails predating Edward Scissorhands' claws.
If one watches the DVD of the film, which I obtained from amazon.UK in a box set, you see the police bursting into the theatre where Mae's Faye Lawrence character's play "Indiscretons" is raided, and the performers on the stage are running off as the police burst down the aisle. Unfortunately nothing is seen of Mae in her exotic costume.
Over the years, several stills of the infamous Walter Pluckett gown have surfaced, but if this musical number which was reportably banned were to be reinserted, Mae's running time of 25 minutes in this 80 minute film would be boosted and it would make for essential viewing.
Jazz pianist Hazel Scott, musical numbers are extremely good, and very well photographed. Unfortunately, racism often reared it's ugly head in the 30's and 40's and musical numbers featuring African-American performers were often shot as so to be removed from a film print that played in white southern movie theaters.
The film was donated to the U.S. Government by Columbia Pictures as part of the war effort and prints were unavailable for several decades. It was re-released in the late 1940's to capitalize on the popularity of Lloyd Bridges, who played a minor role in the film at the time of it's original release.