(80 min) Released 1936-02-21
Director: Raoul Walsh
Stars: Mae West, Victor McLaglen, Phillip Reed
Genres: Comedy | Drama* | Music* (*mine)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027851/
Mae West plays her usual character - savvy man-manipulating entertainer, but repents for a while - or does she adopt her new persona to hide from the law? And does it matter? Don't we watch her movies to see her? Unfortunately, while she's in disguise, we don't get her usual fabulous gowns and jewels; she still manipulates men, but not with the usual sexual aggression.
We finally get an established actor who is an appropriate partner for her: Victor McLaglen (b. 1886). His virility matches her strong femininity, and the actor is 7 years older than MW (b. 1893). Her other love interest, Phillip Reed (b. 1908) who echos Cary Grant in She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (both 1933), is a another handsome policeman; the actor is 15 years her junior.
The plot is strange; we don't discover until 23 minutes in that she murdered someone before leaving San Francisco (about 13 movie minutes ago), although she doesn't confirm or deny it. And we don't learn who she murdered until 79.5 minutes, when we hear "the house of Chan Lo must be avenged." (Chan Lo was the man keeping Rose (MW) in the opening reel.) Is this due to missing footage? (IMDb says 80, both prints I have is 76.5 minutes.) Censors? Deliberate obfuscation?
Rose is saddened by the death of fellow passenger Annie, but the arrival of police looking for her motivates Rose to quickly switch identities with Annie. When she goes ashore to meet Annie's party (those running a settlement house), she hears Annie's purpose and decides to stay in her new character "to pay a debt to Annie."(Debt? Promise maybe.) Rose's showbiz savvy makes a success of the settlement house. She even preaches from the good book Annie gave her, "Settlement Maxims." When she finally leaves town, she carries the book with her.
Paramount, dir. Walsh; 6
