Wednesday, June 1, 2011

She Done Him Wrong (1933)



New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more men friends than you can imagine. [imdb]

Nominated for 1 Oscar:

Best Picture


This film was a delight and it opened my appetite for Mae West and her work - unfortunately, she didn't get to do as many films as she would've wanted. Boy, was she something; no one came close in matching the combination of outrageous and classy and feminine.


Of course, she was a better writer than an actress and that applies to She Done Him Wrong too. The film is just 66 minutes long (making it the shortest film ever nominated for Best Picture), so we don't get to see enough of Mae. But when she's on screen, it's hard to match that dialogue. Her lines are always funny, smart, seductive.


I didn't care too much about the supporting cast, Cary Grant included - trivia break: Mae discovered him while looking through the window and she cast him in this film, his big breakthrough. The direction itself is shaky. But I can't be tough on this film, it's ahead of its time in many ways.


My rating for the film: 7.5/10. Why don't you come up some time and see me? I'm home every evening. :))

4 comments:

  1. Mae West is such a bizarre actress, rarely did she play anything other than a version of herself, yet no-one could possibly have played that done half as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. well, I'm not 100% sure she was playing herself, I think it's more like this character, the image created through Diamond Lil had taken over her life. :) it's debatable, of course.
    But I agree, she was playing just one character - yet wasn't she great at it?! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. The title of this film alone is enough to make me want to see it - glad to hear that it's really great! I'll definitely check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. well, if it was "really great", I would've given it more than a 7.5 :)

    what it is, it's memorable.

    ReplyDelete