Belle of the Nineties (1934)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writer:

Mae West (story)

Release Date:

21 September 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Plot:

Ruby Carter (Mae West), the American Beauty queen of the night club-sporting world, shifts her operations...

Plot Keywords:

Sexually Aggressive Woman | Number In Title

Cast

Mae West	...	Ruby Carter
Roger Pryor	...	Tiger Kid
Johnny Mack Brown	...	Brooks Claybourne (as John Mack Brown)
Katherine DeMille	...	Molly Brant
John Miljan	...	Ace Lamont (owner, Sensation House)
James Donlan	...	Kirby (Tiger Kid's manager)
Stuart Holmes	...	Dirk
Harry Woods	...	Slade
Edward Gargan	...	Stogie (Ruby's agent)
Libby Taylor	...	Jasmine (Ruby's maid)
Frederick Burton	...	Col. Claybourne
Augusta Anderson	...	Mrs. Claybourne
Benny Baker	...	Blackie
Morrie Cohan	...	Butch
Warren Hymer	...	St. Louis fighter

Also Known As:

Babe Gordon (USA) (working title)
Belle of New Orleans (USA) (working title)
Belle of St. Louis (USA) (working title)
It Ain't No Sin (USA) (working title)
It Isn't Any Sin (USA) (working title)
That St. Louis Woman (USA) (working title)
The Constant Sinner (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | USA:Approved (PCA #134)

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Ace Lamont: [eying Ruby] I've Thought of everything
Ruby Carter: I bet you have

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

My American Beauty

When a St. Louis Woman Comes Down to New Orleans

BELLE OF THE NINETIES (Paramount, 1934), directed by Leo McCarey, stars the "calm and collected" Mae West, contributor to the story, screenplay, and bedside manner dialogue ("It's better to be looked over than overlooked"). In her fourth feature film and only 1934 release, it also became the first in a series of Mae West comedy/dramas to have the production seal-of-approval. While not up to the standards as her two previous 1933 efforts of SHE DONE HIM WRONG and I'M NO ANGEL, BELLE OF THE NINETIES has more of a reputation than West herself as being the movie to have gone through numerous production problems. Other than alternate titles (IT AIN'T NO SIN, THAT ST. LOUIS WOMAN, BELLE OF NEW ORLEANS, among others) before the selected choice, and Roger Pryor as the substitute for the original choice of George Raft, BELLE OF THE NINETIES contains several scenes ending with sudden blackouts, making it quite evident that what was to follow wound up on the cutting room in order to meet with the approval to the newly enforced production code, to quicken the pace of the story, or both. Other than that, BELLE OF THE NINETIES ranks one of Mae West's most interesting, if not entirely successful screen efforts, with her witty one-liners making this more memorable than the plot itself.

Set in the Gay Nineties, circa 1892-93, in St. Louis, Ruby Carter (Mae West), a burlesque queen (and "The most talked about woman in America"), is much admired by many male patrons who attend the cafe to watch her perform. She sincerely loves a prizefighter called "The Tiger Kid" (Roger Pryor). Feeling Ruby's affection will complicate the Tiger's chances for the championship fight, Kirby (James Donlan), his manager, schemes to break up their relationship. Unaware of Kirby's set-up, Ruby, who receives a farewell letter from the Tiger, decides to leave St. Louis for New Orleans where she accepts an engagement to work for Ace Lamont (John Miljan) at his Sensation House. While there she stirs up much attention, especially with Ace, causing his mistress, Molly Brant (Katherine DeMille) to become extremely jealous. Having no interest in Ace, Ruby focuses her attention to Brooks Claybourne (Johnny Mack Brown), a young millionaire whom she earlier had a casual acquaintance on the riverboat, now supporting her with expensive diamonds and jewelry. Sometime later, Kirby, along with his star fighter, Tiger Kid, arrive in New Orleans where the Tiger is to fight the Champ in a boxing match being promoted by Ace. Ace, jealous of Ruby's affection towards Brooks, especially after asking him for the week off to be with the young man, hires Tiger to act as the masked bandit to steal the jewelry from a woman who is blackmailing him, the woman Tiger believes to be Molly. On their casual nightly carriage ride, the masked Tiger shows up on schedule to rob the lady, unaware his intended victim to be Ruby, whose face is hidden from inside the dark carriage. Later that night, Tiger is seen conversing with and giving the stolen jewelry to Ace from a distance by Ruby. Suspecting some sort of setup, Ruby avenges herself on Ace, being one step ahead of him, by not only arranging to get her jewelry back, but to play up to both Ace and the Tiger so to have them turn against one other, which eventually leads to the killing of one.

With a smooth mix of newer songs (by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow) and nostalgic tunes from the nineties era, such as "And the Band Played On" (better known as "The Strawberry Blonde"), introduced through underscoring during the opening credits, the soundtrack to BELLE OF THE NINETIES includes: "Here We Are" (sung by chorus); "My American Beauty" (sung by Gene Austin with Mae West appearing in tableaus posing as a butterfly, rose, bat, spider and finally the Statue of Liberty); "When a St. Louis Woman Goes Down to New Orleans," "I Hate to Wait," "My Old Flame," "Those Memphis Blues" (by W.C. Handy) and "Troubled Waters" (all sung by West). With the tunes presented and performed, "My Old Flame," stands out as the film's best song. First sung by West, it is later heard instrumentally on numerous occasions, especially during West's scenes opposite Pryor. "Troubled Waters" is a notable number, set at night, in which West, smoking her cigarette as she stands on the outside terrace from her upstairs bedroom, watching her maid and beau (Libby Taylor and Sam McDaniel) taking part of Brother Eben's prayer meeting, singing while the spiritual group of Negroes are seen waving their arms as they are being saved in having their sins washed away in the river. The use of super imposing effects between West and the attendees of the prayer meeting, along with shadowy images reflection from the river, comes off quite effectively as if this were the "Ol' Man River" production from Jerome Kern's SHOW BOAT. Even the rich baritone voice from the middle-aged actor playing Brother Eben sounds like Paul Robeson, but it's not. Watch for it.

The supporting cast includes: Stuart Holmes as Dirk; Harry Woods as Slade; Libby Taylor as Jasmine ("What kind of husband do you think I should get? Ruby: "Why don't you get a single man and leave the husbands alone"); Edward Gargan as Stogie; Benny Baker as Blackie; with Warren Hymer ("Hi, Ruby, this is your Bunny Boy." Ruby: "Bunny Boy? I don't know any rabbits"), and Morrie Cohen. Duke Ellington and his Orchestra can be seen in the background in two scenes, especially the "Memphis Blues" number.

Although Mae West is usually the central focus in all her starring features, with her co-stars acting as background material, veteran actor John Miljan (1892-1960) as the villainous Ace Lamont, who stops at nothing to get what he wants, nearly steals the movie his leading lady. West's onscreen character description of Ace is summed up with this amusing quote: "That guy's no good. His mother should have thrown him out and kept the stork." In their "love" scene, Ace (Miljan) compliments Ruby about her "golden hair, fascinating eyes, alluring smile, lovely arms ..." Ruby quickly responds, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Is this a proposal or are you taking inventory?" One particular scene does show Miljan's true evilness to good advantage where he socks his unwanted mistress, Molly (DeMille) in the jaw, places her in a closet where she lies unconscious, with the intention of burning down his own casino with her in it so he wouldn't have to pay off a large gambling debt that would wipe him out financially. Miljan's sinister laugh and dark curly hair add to his snarling meanness. Roger Pryor as the lovesick prizefighter, is showcased well, but not enough to elevate him to major staring ranks. Pryor, best known as one of actress Ann Sothern's off-screen husbands, spent most of his movie career in forgettable second features. The third billed Johnny Mack Brown is offered little screen time, with chances he being the victim of the editing process, along with Frederick Burton and Augusta Anderson appearing briefly as his parents. Brown, who, like Miljan, was formerly a contract player at MGM during the early 1930s. He soon reached the height of his career as a popular movie cowboy of matinee westerns for the next twenty years or so, extending his first name from John to Johnny.

As with SHE DONE HIM WRONG, BELLE OF THE NINETIES is very authentic in capturing the flavor of the 1890s era, right down from period settings to costumes, compliments of costume designer, Travis Banton. As for Mae West's hair style, it appears more platinum blonde than from her previous screen efforts.

BELLE OF THE NINETIES, which went on video cassette in 1992, to commemorate Mae West's centennial year of birth, includes an added bonus of a theatrical trailer featuring certain key sings along with her singing "My Old Flame" differently from what was used in the final print. Nearly a decade later, BELLE OF THE NINETIES became the first Mae West feature from her Paramount years to be distributed on DVD. To date, both VHS and DVD formats have been discontinued. While this is so, Mae West ceases to amaze with her stories set from long ago with "ahead of her time" methods for its time in screen entertainment.