NFR Project: 'She Done Him Wrong' (1933)

 

NFR Project: ‘She Done Him Wrong’

Dir: Lowell Sherman

Scr: Harvey F. Thew, John Bright

Pho: Charles Lang

Ed: Alexander Hall

Premiere: Jan. 27, 1933

66 min.

Mae West was, in the parlance of her time, a temptress and a vixen. In today’s world she would be seen as incredibly liberated – and would probably still cause as much of a fuss as she did in her heyday.

She was born in Brooklyn in 1893. Her father was a cop. She was a performer from her youth, but she rapidly developed an outlook and a persona that stood out. She had a snappy style, she was funny, and she could write. Soon she developed, produced, wrote, and directed the play Sex, which got her sent to jail for six days for corrupting the virtue of New York.

She thrived on the publicity, and kept it up. Her suggestive and bawdy plays were hits, especially 1928’s Diamond Lil. It was this property that was turned into She Done Him Wrong.

Her persona was rough and tumble, a woman who had seen the worst in men, and who deigned to overcome them and live life on her own terms, sexually frank, available only to those she wanted – the complete opposite of what the well-brought-up young lady was taught. She cracked wise out of the corner of her mouth, her double entendres ricocheting around the room.

In this film, she is the lady Lou, songstress at an 1890’s beer hall. (West belts out three sexy songs, quite provocatively, during the film.) She is queen of the joint, and she juggles the many men in her life without breaking a sweat. The plot, such as it is, concerns illegal activity around the place and the police effort to squelch it. Lou, dripping with diamonds, knows all the principals in these transactions, but manages to keep above the fray.

Now what could be wrong with such a story? It’s full of dirty jokes, for one, as many as West could get past the censors. (It is said that this film triggered the strict enforcement of the Production Code.) The first shot we see of Lou is the completely nude painting of her over the bar – a gentleman’s head blocks the pubic area. She is constantly putting the make on a young Cary Grant, who plays a social reformer. She is relentless.

Ultimately, no one could handle her sexual candor, and her films became more and more tame, controlled buy the studio. She was kicked off radio for a sexy “Adam & Eve” skit she performed with Charlie McCarthy. Her opportunities dried up, so she turned to writing and to llive appearances. She was still performing, and making suggestive comments, in her 80s.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Snow White.