On paper it was a brilliant idea... cast two of the era's most idiosyncratic stars together and watch the comedy gold flow. The reality was different...
Mae West had left Paramount in 1937, the studio that her early films had saved from bankruptcy, but Universal agreed to her usual stipulation of writing her own lines.
It must have concerned her that, for the first time, she would be sharing the screen with a star of equal magnitude, especially as Fields was a drinker and in ill-health.
West was unhappy when she heard Fields would be writing his own lines and share top billing, and they took an instant dislike to each other and boy, does it show...
Their unease with each other means the film never establishes a rhythm; you keep waiting for the stars to get out of the film's way and let it take off but no.
Shelf or charity shop? A resident of the DVD storage box, I'll hang onto it for Mae West's sheer take-no-prisoners personality - although she was working under the deadening strictures of the Production Code censors who had come down on her films since the mid-30s. Her character, Flower Belle Lee, is the driver of the film and she is a delight throughout - her scene teachng a school-room of surly boys is particularly fun. Fields walked off the set for three weeks and two of his major scenes are played by an obvious stand-in which does nothing for the film's dynamic. Fields writes himself a totally disposable scene where he is tending a bar, despite playing the town sheriff. That it is a comedy western is enough to give one pause. Needless to say it was a big box-office hit.
No comments:
Post a Comment