Non sono un angelo

Knowing that I enjoy watching some of the older movies, a friend at work lent me a VHS copy of `I'm No Angel'. It's not really something I would have picked up on my own. I guess I had some preset ideas about Mae West movies. For some reason, unknown even to myself, this is the first time I ever watched an entire Mae West movie. What a pleasant surprise it was to find my preconceived notions were totally wrong. Cary Grant and Mae West were great together. Very good acting all the way around and some interesting characters really helped to make this a very enjoyable viewing. This movie had a bit of drama, lots of comedy, it was a bit of a musical, and had some romance. All of this was combined into a masterful blend to make this movie very entertaining. I was really surprised that the comedy was so effective for today's audience considering the movie was made 71 years ago. This was a very good movie that I recommend. Glad I watched it.

This movie, which West had complete creative control over, is her masterpiece. While 'She Done Him Wrong' is uneven and confusing 'I'm no Angel' is brilliant throughout. West is all woman without a bit of cat or mouse, and there is delicious chemistry between West and Grant (although this movie was made the same year as 'I'm no Angel', Grant looks older and his acting is stronger). And as much fun as it is to see masters at work in 'My Little Chickadee' (and imagine West and Feilds writing together), this movie outshines even that. If you want to know what Mae West is all about, this is the film to see.

Considered by many to be Mae West's finest film appearance (with only 1933's SHE DONE HIM WRONG and 1940's MY LITTLE CHICKADEE even coming close), the legendary star of the stage and screen has rarely been in better form than in this seminal film. Based on her own stage hit, the film's storyline is naturally preposterous, but West and director Wesley Ruggles wisely keep the focus on the then-salty dialogue and the still hilarious word play. Although he doesn't make his first appearance until nearly two-third of the film is over, Cary Grant remains the ideal straight man to West's zany antics. The film moves at a brisk pace, and its concluding courtroom sequence is unarguably one of the funniest scenes in film comedy.

Easily one of the funniest comedies of the 193O's, this pre-code West-ern is a real treat. La West plays Tira, a carny gal who's been around the block a few times: in order to raise some dough, she sticks her head into a lion's mouth - and basks in the attention she receives from various fans. The scene between Mae and Gertrude Michael is hilarious: "You haven't a shred of decency in you!" spouts the snobbish Michaels to which Mae retorts "I don't show my good points to strangers!" A young Cary Grant is one of Tira's many admirers and Edward Arnold is memorable as Tira's loud, gruff boss, Big Bill Barton. Mae's courtroom plea, where she puts every man in his place - and wins the admiration of the judge is a gem. This film was made just after Mae's sensational hit SHE DONE HIM WRONG. Feeling indebted to West because the film's success single-handedly saved Paramount Pictures from impending bankruptcy, mogul Adolph Zukor promised Mae that she could do anything she wanted for her next film. Because she had been fascinated by lions since childhood, she had her fantasy written into the movie's plotline.

The great stars are inimitable. With the very greatest, such as the outrageous one-of-a-kind Mae West, nobody else even mirrors the style. Bogart, Hepburn, Dietrich, Cagney, maybe a few others - all you ask is that the story not smother what they do best. Here is Mae West's finest movie, giving her the opportunities, sometimes denied elsewhere, to strut her stuff - all of it. Suggestive dialog, provocative poses, sashaying hips, and a young Cary Grant who makes her purr: the Production Code would not be far behind.