Themes: Looking For Love, Rags To Riches, Class Differences
Main Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Ralf Harolde, Russell Hopton
Release Year: 1933
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
Mae West's second starring vehicle, I'm No Angel casts the divine Miss West as the star performer in a seedy circus. Though she lives with Ralf Harolde, West allows herself plenty of time for other men. When Harolde runs afoul of the law, West secures extra money by becoming a lion tamer. While thus employed, West is "discovered" by playboy Kent Taylor; she willingly accepts his gifts and other favors, but she only has eyes for Taylor's cousin Cary Grant. Still, love takes second place to commerce in West's life, and she ends up suing Grant for breach of promise. When Grant allows her to win the case, she realizes she's truly in love with him after all. By rights, I'm No Angel should have been as big and bawdy a success as West's earlier She Done Him Wrong, but by late 1933 the censors were beginning to have their way with Hollywood. Several of the more ribald (and more hilarious) elements of the film were toned down--not least of which was the title, which was supposed to have been It Ain't No Sin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Mae West's reputation for tweaking the noses of film censors was well-established by the time she made I'm No Angel, generally considered her most successful picture. The frank-speaking blonde bombshell delivered some of her most classic double entendres in this 1933 film, her second consecutive outing opposite the luminous Cary Grant. The two had made She Done Him Wrong earlier that year, and in I'm No Angel West does Grant wrong again, to hilarious effect. West plays her typical floozy, a carnival dancer, who escapes a murder charge and cozies her way into high society, where she famously tells her maid: "Beulah, peel me a grape." Eventually, she wins Grant, then drops him and sues him for breach of contract. Rarely has a more intelligent, sexually powerful, and dominant female figure been seen on screen, and West is at her sizzling comic peak. Already a major entertainment figure, West rode the popularity of I'm No Angel to greater notoriety, but she never again teamed up with a male superstar so successfully. West's movies were among those most responsible for bringing a new era of censorship after the early 1930s. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Hans Dreier - Art Director, Bernard Herzbrun - Art Director, Wesley Ruggles - Director, Otho Lovering - Editor, Harvey Brooks - Composer (Music Score), Gladys De Bois - Songwriter, Harvey Brooks - Songwriter, Ben Ellison - Songwriter, Leo Tover - Cinematographer, William Le Baron - Producer, Harlan Thompson - Screenwriter, Mae West - Screenwriter, Lowell Brentano - Play Author
I'm No Angel (1933) is Mae West's third motion picture. West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays the male lead. This was one of the few Mae West films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Ms. West plays Tira, a circus performer who becomes a socialite.
A story about a gal who lost her reputation - and never missed it!
Tira begins as a sideshow performer where she shimmies and sings for crowds of admiring men. She has a collection of expensive jewelry from various admirers with expensive tastes. When her sleazy ex-boyfriend Slick causes her legal trouble, she becomes a lion tamer to earn extra money to pay for a lawyer. (West did some of her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring.) Putting her head into a lion's mouth makes Tira a circus star and affords her a fancy residence and servants.
Tira's fame in the big show takes her to New York City where adoring fans are introduced to her nightly. Among them, cousins Kirk Lawrence (played by Kent Taylor) and Jack Clayton (Cary Grant), are two New York City socialites who requested to meet her. Despite his prestige and current engagment to another woman, Kirk becomes enamored with her. He showers Tira with presents. Kirk's outraged fiancé regards Tira as a “guttersnipe” and confronts her. Not long after the confrontation Kirk's cousin Jack takes an interest in his cousin's affair and decides to interfere. Against Kirk’s wishes, he goes to see Tira to ask her to leave Kirk and his fiancé alone. While he is there, they fall madly in love. Tira and Jack’s romance leads to a wedding engagement. Tira tells her boss she’s quitting to get married. Knowing that he is about to lose his biggest money making act, her boss plots against her, and manages to break off the engagement, leaving her heart broken and confused. Jilted, Tira sues Jack for breach of promise. The defense tries to use her past relationships to discredit her, but the judge allows her to cross examine the witnesses herself and in doing so she wins over the judge and jury and wins back Jack's heart.
A triumphant Tira ends up with her wealth, her fame, and a handsome husband.
Context
"I'm No Angel" was released immediately after She Done Him Wrong, when Mae West was the nation's biggest box office attraction and its most controversial star. In the early 1930s Mae West's films saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy. Depression era audiences responded to the fantasy rise of a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Cary Grant stars opposite her for the second and final time. The film makes little use of his talents. West's ribald satire outraged moralists. Film historians cite her as one of the factors for the strict Hollywood production code that soon followed. The Hays Office forced a few changes including the title of the song "No One Does It Like a Dallas Man", changed to "No One Loves Me Like a Dallas Man".
Memorable lines
Rajah (a fortuneteller): Ah, you have a wonderful future. I see a man in your life. Tira: What, only one?
Tira: Beulah, peel me a grape.
Tira: It's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men.
Tira: When I'm good I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.
Jack Clayton: Look darling, you need a rest and so do I. Let me take you away somewhere. We'll... Tira: Would you call that a rest? Jack Clayton: What are you thinking about? Tira: Same thing you are.
Tira: I ain't never done this before. Marriage is a new kind of racket for me.
When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment, by Marybeth Hamilton (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). ISBN 0-520-21094-8
Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, by Mae West (Avon: 1959). ASIN B0007HCX2O
Mae West: A Bio-Bibliography, by Carol M. Ward (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). ISBN 0-313-24716-1
The Complete Films of Mae West, by Jon Tuska (Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1992). ISBN 0-8065-1359-4
