DVD/150: I'M NO ANGEL (Wesley Ruggles, 1933)

I'M NO ANGEL is my favourite Mae West film: it's sassy, funny, and Mae is at her most assured before the censorship battles began.

Tira dances in a carnival while her pickpocket lover 'Slick' steals from her audience, sharing the proceeds with the carny owner, Bill.  After Slick attacks one of Tira's fans, she asks Bill for help who suggests she becomes the lion tamer in his Manhattan circus - and she agrees!

Now the talk of the town, a wealthy playboy starts buying Tira gifts and a luxury apartment.  His cousin Jack, trying to save the playboy's engagement, visits Tira to end the relationship.  He is soon her new lover!

Jack proposes and Tira tells Bill she is quitting; Bill and Slick pursuade Jack that he and Tira are still together.  After Jack cancels the wedding, Tira sues him and defends herself against her male adversaries in the courtroom climax.

Shelf or charity shop?  Mae rules the roost in my plastic DVD storage box.  Wesley Ruggles deftly keeps the action moving and surrounds Mae with a fine company of actors including Edward Arnold as the conniving carny boss, Gertrude Michael as the snobbish fiancée who Mae reads to filth, Gertrude Howard as her maid Beulah - "Oh Beulah, peel me a grape" and, in one brief scene, Hattie McDaniel.  Repeating their onscreen partnership from SHE DONE HIM WRONG, Mae and Cary Grant work very well together but it's Mae's movie: with her sauntering walk and weaving stance, she is in practically every scene and you cannot watch anyone else. Her famous one-liners land effortlessly - when an admirer tells her he's a politician she replies "I don't like to work either" and is also an absolute feminist heroine: she wrote the script and dialogue and onscreen is nobody's fool - as she slinks off the carnival stage in her see-through gown and veil, she says "Am I making myself clear boys?" and as they whoop and holler, she says to herself "Suckers".

DVD/150: SADIE McKEE (Clarence Brown, 1934)

MGM knew what Joan Crawford's fans wanted and SADIE McKEE is the quintessential 1930s Crawford vehicle.

Her persona changed from the silent era's Bright Young Thing to Depression Heroine, a working-class girl who achieves the man of her dreams and glamorous Adrian-designed gowns.

Sadie McKee is the daughter of a cook for a wealthy family, growing up with the family's son Michael  She overhears him denouncing her boyfriend Tommy who has been fired suspected of theft and, after denouncing him and his guests, Sadie impulsively elopes with Tommy to Manhattan.

Through cabaret performer Opal they find a room but the next day Sadie is left alone when Tommy takes a last-minute singing job touring with their sexy neighbour Dolly.

Sadie becomes a dancer where Opal works, and there meets the affectionate but alcholic millionaire Jack Brennan and his lawyer... Michael.

To spite Michael, Sadie unhappily marries Brennan...

Shelf or charity shop?  SADIE McKEE is a keeper.  Directed by one of her favourites Clarence Brown, Joan acts with a steely determination as if, despite the plot contrivences, you WILL believe the storyline.  Needless to say, Adrian's costumes are glorious. Crawford's then-lover Franchot Tone knows his place and Edward Arnold makes the most of the sozzled Brennan. The supporting cast is peppered with cracking performances: Jean Dixon as big-hearted but cynical Opal, Esther Ralston as the singer Dolly, Leo G Carroll as Brennan's disapproving butler, Zelda Sears as the salty boarding-house owner, Akim Tamiroff as the excitable cabaret manager and Candy Candido as a manic double-bass player!  It was a delight to spot - in one scene with no dialogue but plenty of sour facial expressions - Ethel Griffies, best remembered as the sceptical ornithologist in Hitchcock's THE BIRDS.  Sadly Gene Raymond's performance as Tommy hasn't dated well, acting with the eye-wobbling woodeness of a ventriloquist dummy.  Oh and if you like are the song ALL I DO IS DREAM OF YOU this is the film it was composed for and it is repeated endlessly!