I’m No Angel (1933)

I’m No Angel, released by Paramount in 1933, was Mae West’s third feature film. One thing that has to be made clear is that if you’ve never seen a Mae West pre-code movie then you’ve never seen a Mae West movie. Her three pre-code movies, Night After Night, She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel are the only Mae West movies that count and they’re the only ones worth seeing if you want to know what Mae West was all about.

Mae West wasn’t just a star. She wrote or co-wrote her movies and she was responsible for much of the dazzlingly wicked dialogue.

In this movie she plays Tira. Tira works at a smalltime carnival. She’s the star attraction of the girlie show. She’s also a part-time lion tamer. She has the same effect on lions that she has on men - she has them eating out of her hand.

She has a boyfriend, Slick Wiley (Ralf Harolde). At least he thinks of himself as her boyfriend. Tira is on the lookout for something more promising. Her horoscope has told her that she’s about to meet the kind of man she wants.

Slick is no good and inevitably he gets himself into a jam. He’s trying to shake down a guy and slugs him. He slugs him a bit too hard. The guy doesn’t die but he’s badly hurt and that’s going to mean a stretch in the Big House. Tira is kind of mixed up in the incident but she certainly had no intention of seeing anyone get hurt. Now she needs to borrow money from the carny boss. He’ll lend it to her, on the condition that she jazzes up her lion-taming act a bit. It needs a gimmick. What could be a better gimmick than having Tira stick her head in a lion’s mouth?

Tira isn’t overly keen but she allows herself to be persuaded. The lion in question is Big Boy and he’s just a big old gentle pussycat. He would never hurt Tira. So Tira agrees.

The new act is a sensation and pretty soon Tira has hit the big time. She’s the star attraction in a major circus and she’s making real money.

But she’s still on the lookout for that special man. She figures she’s found him when Kirk Lawrence (Kent Taylor) goes backstage to meet her after one of her shows. Kirk is a nice guy, he’s rich and he’s crazy about her. Kirk already has a fiancée, Alicia Hatton (Gertrude Michael), but for Tira winning Kirk away from Alicia is child’s play. Soon Tira is set up in a luxury apartment with all the furs and jewels a girl could want.

Kirk’s family is determined not to let a gold digger circus performer get her hand on Kirk and his money. Kirk’s cousin Jack Clayton (Cary Grant) shows up to try to persuade Tira to let Kirk go. Jack is even richer than Kirk, he’s even better-looking and he’s even nicer. Tira is happy to drop Kirk. She has Jack now. He’s totally crazy about her and he wants to marry her.

For Tira there’s an added bonus. She has actually fallen in love with Jack. But of course there are complications that threaten to wreck her dreams of wedded bliss.

It ends with what is surely the most entertaining courtroom scene in movie history. Tira isn’t on trial. It’s a civil case and she’s the plaintiff. The case is going badly. Until Tira takes over the cross-examining of the witnesses herself. This is Mae West at her best. The whole movie is fun but the courtroom scenes are simply brilliant and dazzling.

Mae West was forty when she made this movie. She was getting a bit old to play a sex kitten. And while Miss West’s figure is impressive it’s the sort of figure that had been fashionable in the Edwardian age and was totally out of fashion in 1933. None of that matters. Mae West believed in herself and she carries off her rôle with ease and with style.

Cary Grant was not yet a huge star but he was definitely a rising one. The two films he made with Mae West (the other being She Done Him Wrong) were massive hits and boosted his career at just the right time. Grant and West make a great team.

There’s plenty of per-code naughtiness here. Absolutely everything in this movie would be forbidden once the Production Code came into effect. It’s not just the sexual innuendos. It’s the fact that Tira is a woman who clearly has sex frequently and with great enjoyment but she isn’t shown as a depraved monster and she doesn’t pay any price for breaking the sexual rules. Even worse (from the point of view of society’s self-appointed moral guardians) is that the movie is totally on her side and she’s shown as being perfectly capable of falling genuinely in love in spite of her wicked past.

This is actually very much a feelgood movie, which of course is something else the Production Code would have taken exception to. Dealing with sex in an open and honest way is shocking enough but to do it in a lighthearted and good-natured way rather than demonstrating that sexual pleasure leads to misery and degradation would have been way too much.

I’m No Angel is just terrific wicked fun. Highly recommended.