By Raymond Benson

The witty, controversial, and fabulous actress/comedienne Mae West displays her jewelry to the coat check girl. “Goodness, what beautiful diamonds!” the girl exclaims. Mae West coolly replies in her sultry, New York-accented signature voice, “Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.”

The line was also the title of West’s memoir, published in 1959, and is one of her many memorable utterances, along with “Come up and see me sometime.” (However, the first time this one is spoken, in She Done Him Wrong, she actually says, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?”)

Kino Lorber has just released in restored, high-definition presentations every Mae West film made between 1932-1940—the Paramount years, plus one with Universal. This review will cover the first four out of nine titles, with the remaining five to come in a later “Part Two.”

Hollywood knew that Mae West would be trouble (but a possible box office winner) before she was invited to the west coast to star in films. She had made her name in New York vaudeville as a bawdy, talented, sexy, and very funny lady. West could sing and deliver one-liners with the best of them; she wasn’t so much a dancer, but she did have the ability to sashay with aplomb. West transitioned to Broadway, writing and starring in her own shows to great success. One, though, the 1926 play entitled Sex, got her into hot water with the morality police and she was arrested for indecency charges. West quickly bounced back, having garnered even more publicity because of the raid, and became more popular than ever. That’s when Hollywood, namely the more adventurous Paramount Pictures, came calling.

Paramount tended to push the envelope in the pre-Code days with violent gangster pictures, sex comedies, and the early movies by the anarchic, surreal Marx Brothers. Mae West fit in quite well at Paramount, where she quickly took control of her screen career. What is truly remarkable is that West was 39 when she made her first picture. For a Hollywood studio to introduce any actress at that age was unheard of, before and probably since.

All of West’s movies follow a formula established by the second one, which was such a success that it saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Usually there are crime hijinks going on involving former and current boyfriends. West acquires a flirtatious love-hate relationship with the wealthy leading man. All the men try to hoodwink West and each other, and she does some sneaky trickery to foil their plots. At the end West always ends up with the leading man, even after it seemed that they were kaput. Oh, and there are some musical numbers thrown in for good measure.

Herewith are the first four titles released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, all of which look spectacularly “new” and blemish-free.

Night After Night (1932) is really a melodrama/gangster flick starring George Raft and Constance Cummings. Mae West appears in a supporting role as Maudie Triplett, but she steals the movie. In fact, Raft in later years is known to have said, “She stole everything but the cameras!” Joe Anton (Raft) is the owner of a speakeasy (it was still Prohibition at the time), and he must handle conflicting love affairs and competition from rival mobsters. Maudie is a former girlfriend (now just a friend) who comes to the club for a good time. Her scenes with Mabel Jellyman (Alison Skipworth), the matronly woman who is teaching Joe how to speak “properly” and develop more high-class manners, are worth the price of admission—almost. The picture is all right, but without West’s debut, Night After Night would likely have dropped into obscurity. The Blu-ray comes with an audio commentary by film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, plus the theatrical trailer.

She Done Him Wrong (1933) has the distinction of being the shortest movie (66 minutes) ever to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (it lost to Cavalcade). It also features young Cary Grant as the leading man, just a few months after he appeared with Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus (1932). Since both movies were in production around the same time, West and Dietrich publicly feuded over “who discovered Cary Grant first.” She Done Him Wrong is a comedy-gangster piece and is without a doubt the quintessential Mae West motion picture—the pre-Code suggestiveness in her dialogue and actions was cause for alarm for the Puritanical-minded in the country, paving the way for the Hays Office to initiate the Production Code on July 1, 1934. West is Lady Lou, a risqué singer in an 1890s Bowery saloon (New York City), where the owner and sometimes boyfriend, Gus (Noah Beery Jr.), is also running a prostitution ring (heavily implied) and counterfeit money operation. Captain Cummings (Grant) is an FBI man masquerading as the director of the mission next door. While he’s investigating the crimes undercover, Cummings and Lou become attracted to each other. For a movie that’s just a little over an hour, the plot is seriously complex! Nevertheless, it’s grand entertainment—it’s West at her best. The Blu-ray disk comes with two audio commentaries—one by film historian David Del Valle, and the other by film historian Kat Ellinger. There is also an introduction from Turner Classic Movies by Robert Osborne, as well as a vintage Walter Lantz cartoon starring Pooch the Pup, “She Done Him Right,” that borrows heavily from the style and tone of the Fleischers’ Betty Boop cartoons. The theatrical trailers and other West trailers round out the package.

I’m No Angel (1933) is still ensconced in sassy, sexy pre-Code sensibilities. It was West’s most financially successful picture, coming after the previous hit. Cary Grant co-stars once again. This time, West is Tira, a hootchy-cootchy singer/dancer in a circus sideshow, but she also doubles as a lion tamer (!). In one sequence she puts her head in the mouth of a lion (obviously done with rear-screen projection, but there are scenes in which West is in the cage with real lions and pets one). The sideshow impresario, Big Bill Barton (Edward Arnold) is a crook, Tira’s beau Slick (Ralf Harolde) is just as bad, and Tira wants to break away from the show and be on her own. She succeeds, goes to New York, and meets the cousin of a rich beau, Jack Clayton (Grant), who is trying to keep his relative away from Tira. They fall in love instead, of course. Look for future Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel in an uncredited role as a maid. Mae West was known for insisting on parts being given to African American actresses and actors. Unfortunately, in those days, the only roles for black performers in Hollywood were as maids, butlers, train conductors, and Tarzan natives. I’m No Angel is second in ranking only to She Done Him Wrong, with Mae West in top form in a very entertaining picture. The Blu-ray comes with an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan, plus the theatrical trailer.

Belle of the Nineties (1934) was originally supposed to be titled It Ain’t No Sin, but the Production Code went into effect just as production finished. The censors forced West to revise some dialogue and change the title. It’s a shame, for the remainder of West’s films in the 1930s, while still entertaining, were sadly neutered of their frank boldness and—let’s face it—the daring and evocative innuendos that made Mae West movies something to see. In this one, she plays Ruby, a singer in the 1890s (again), this time in St. Louis. Her boyfriend, boxer Tiger Kid (Roger Pryor) finds that he has rivals in wealthier, “classier” men (who are all crooks, though). She moves to New Orleans for a better position, only to become embroiled in fight fixing shenanigans. Belle is a tangible step down from the previous two pictures. While directed by comedy stalwart Leo McCarey (Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, and later, Going My Way), Belle sort of plods along and doesn’t produce the expected belly laughs. It does, however, introduce the jazz standard, “My Old Flame,” sung by West and accompanied by Duke Ellington and his band on screen. The Blu-ray comes with an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan, plus the theatrical trailer.

Certainly a boon for film history lovers and aficionados of 1930s Hollywood, these new Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases are terrific. Cinema Retro will review the remaining five Mae West titles—including one co-starring W. C. Fields—in a coming piece. To be continued!

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