I'm No Angel (1933)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Wesley Ruggles

Writers:

Mae West (story)
Mae West (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 October 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

"Come up and see me sometime - any time!"

Plot:

The bold Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she...

Plot Keywords:

Fortune Teller | Circus | Lion Tamer | Socialite | Thief

Cast

Mae West	...	Tira
Cary Grant	...	Jack Clayton
Gregory Ratoff	...	Benny Pinkowitz
Edward Arnold	...	Big Bill Barton
Ralf Harolde	...	Slick Wiley
Kent Taylor	...	Kirk Lawrence
Gertrude Michael	...	Alicia Hatton
Russell Hopton	...	'Flea' Madigan
Dorothy Peterson	...	Thelma
William B. Davidson	...	Ernest Brown (as Wm. B. Davidson)
Gertrude Howard	...	Beulah Thorndyke
Libby Taylor	...	Libby (Tira's hairdressing maid)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (2005) | USA:Not Rated (video rating) | USA:Passed (original rating)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Mae West's famous line in this film, "Beulah, peel me a grape," was inspired by West's pet monkey, Boogie. The monkey loved grapes, and one day West noticed that although he would eat grapes by the dozens, he would always peel the skin off each one before popping it into his mouth.

Quotes:

Tira: By the way, honey, you married or single?
Ernest Brown: Married five times.
Tira: Five times? Wedding bells must sound like an alarm clock to you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

Soundtrack:

That Dallas Man

The Men in Her Life

I'M NO ANGEL (Paramount, 1933), directed by Wesley Ruggles, Mae West's second starring feature, with the full of story, screenplay and ALL dialogue credited by Mae West, as listed in the opening titles super-imposed from an overview of a circus, according to the title, might have been a comedy fantasy centering upon a fallen angel, but as the story goes, it's about a freewheeling woman's rise from circus tent to Park Avenue penthouse.

The story centers around Tira (Mae West), a free-spirited woman working as a midway dancer in Big Bill Barton's (Edward Arnold) low class carnival. She is loved by Big Bill, but has a casual lovers, or in another sense of the word, acquaintances with the male population, one of them being "Slick" Wiley (Ralf Harolde), a pickpocket. Tira keeps a hotel room in town where she entertains gentlemen friends. One of her latest pickups is Ernest Brown (William B. Davidson), better known as "The Chump," five times married and with no morals. When Slick enters the scene to make a pinch, posing as Tira's husband, the angry Brown decides to leave and expose the two, but before he can get away, he is knocked unconscious by Slick. Mistaking him for dead, Tira and Slick make their getaway, leaving his body in the hallway, not before Slick decides to steal Brown's expensive diamond ring from his finger. After Brown recovers consciousness, being surrounded by people, one of them being a policeman, he finds that he's been robbed. Along with the police, Brown locates Slick at the sideshow and has him arrested, by which he serves time. To clear herself, Tira borrows a large sum of money from Big Bill in order to hire Benny Pinkowitz (Gregory Ratoff), a prominent New York City attorney, to handle her pending trial. To obtain the loan, Tira agrees to appear as Bill's latest attraction, the star of a lion taming act, climaxed by putting her head into the mouth of the king of beasts. Because of her renewed success, with the act now playing at Madison Square Garden, Tira becomes the talk of the town, entering the social scene after encountering the interest of Kirk Lawrence (Kent Taylor), who happens to be engaged to the jealous Alicia Hatton (Gertrude Michael). When Kirk's relationship with Tira starts to ruin the family name, his cousin, Jack Clayton (Cary Grant) decides to pay Tira a visit and buy her off, but instead wants to acquire this lovely product for himself. All goes well until Big Bill, who was given a two week notice from Tira, hires Slick, recently released from jail, to break up their relationship by making himself seen in Tira's apartment (who has been delayed in New Jersey) by Clayton dressed in nothing but a bathrobe. After Clayton calls off the wedding, Tira decides to take this man to court on a breach of promise suit.

Mae West's supporting players include: Russell Hopton as Flea Madigan; Dorothy Peterson as Thelma; Gertrude Howard as Beulah Thorndyke; Nat Pendleton as Harry; Walter Walker as The Judge; Irving Pichel as Bob, Clayton's attorney; and in smaller parts, Libby Taylor and Hattie McDaniel as Tira's other maids. Look fast for future star actor Dennis O'Keefe as one of the news reporters at the conclusion of the courtroom scene.

Songs credited by Gladys DuBois, Ben Ellison and Harvey Brooks, include: "They Call Me Sister Honky Tonk," "No One Loves Me Like That Dallas Man," "I Found a New Way to Go to Town," "I Want You, Need You," and "I'm No Angel" (all sung by Mae West). The title song, sung by West, is heard during the closing casting credits, and before the fade out, has the final say with, "I'm No Angel ... Believe ME!"

Following the success to SHE DONE HIM WRONG, I'M NO ANGEL, which reteams West with Grant for the second and final time, proved to be an improvement over its predecessor, and to many Mae West fans, her best movie, and it's easy to see why. The courtroom scene where Tira (West) acts as her own attorney in the breach of promise suit, questioning the men in her past and present, and the male jurors who want to become part of her future, is something not to be missed. With the members of the jury seen laughing out loud during Tira's defense sure sure had it's theater audiences doing the same thing back in 1933. During the course of West's longest movie, running at 86 minutes, I'M NO ANGEL is a full of memorable one-liners ("When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better," "Beulah, peal me a grape," "It's not the men in my life, but the life in my men," plus many more), and suggestive scenes leading only to the imagination of its viewers. I'M NO ANGEL is the movie where she introduced her most famous line, "Come up and see me some time," recited after her courtroom battle while on the telephone talking to the (unseen) Juror # 4. This line was spoken to Cary Grant, here, and in SHE DONE HIM WRONG, but each time in different ways. In spite of Grant's name billed second in the cast, his character arrives very late into the story, acquiring the story's final half hour or so, while the first 50 minutes dedicates itself entirely to Mae West with her variety of male co-stars, consisting of fine character actors, including the overly familiar Edward Arnold to the somewhat familiar William B. Davidson. Kent Taylor, a very busy young actor of numerous program productions for many years, given the buildup by Paramount at the time, never achieved super star status as did Cary Grant.

I'M NO ANGEL also consists of Mae West's personal traits. For instance, it's been written that West, born under the sign of Leo (month of August, a "hot" month) usually visited her astrologer for advice and never went through the day without reading her horoscope. Her character of Tira does just that, having her fortune told by the Rajah (Nigel De Brulier), who, while looking into the crystal ball, tells her he sees a man in her life. The surprised Tira responds, "Only ONE!" Later on in the story, one of her maids tells says she's a "one man woman." She quickly quips, "Yeah, one man at a time."

I'M NO ANGEL was thankfully produced before the production code went into effect, thus making this a "pre-code" comedy that has stood the test of time today. It had become one of many Mae West/Paramount comedies of the 1930s to be distributed on video cassette in 1992, to commemorate West's centennial birth (1892). Never presented on American Movie Classics cable channel, where several 1930s Paramount features were shown at one time, I'M NO ANGEL, along with SHE DONE HIM WRONG, became the movie package acquired by Turner Classic Movies, with I'M NO ANGEL having made its premiere on that station on January 6, 2001. For anybody who has never seen a Mae West comedy, especially her two prime comedies released 1933, I'M NO ANGEL should make a good introduction, and a good double bill with SHE DONE HIM WRONG, both with the only leading actor to appear opposite West on screen more than once. His name, of course, being Cary Grant.