Goin' to Town (1935)

Former dance hall queen Cleo Borden, newly rich, falls for and pursues an upper-crust Englishman.

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Marion Morgan (story), George B. Dowell (story),

Stars:

Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Gilbert Emery

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mae West	...	Cleo Borden
Paul Cavanagh	...	Edward Carrington
Gilbert Emery	...	Winslow
Marjorie Gateson	...	Mrs. Crane Brittony
Tito Coral	...	Taho
Ivan Lebedeff	...	Ivan Valadov
Fred Kohler	...	Buck Gonzales
Monroe Owsley	...	Fletcher Colton
Grant Withers	...	Young Stud
Luis Alberni	...	Sr. Vitola
Lucio Villegas	...	Señor Ricardo Lopez
Mona Rico	...	Dolores Lopez
Wade Boteler	...	Ranch foreman
Paul Harvey	...	Donovan
Joe Frye	...	Laughing Eagle (jockey)

Storyline

When her fiancée Buck Gonzales is killed, dance hall queen Cleo Borden inherits his wealth. Included are oil wells supervised by British engineer Carrington, whom Cleo sets out to win by becoming a "lady." She races her horse in Buenos Aires, gains social position by loveless marriage to bankrupt Colton, and even sings in an opera. But when she meets Carrington again, he's become the Earl of Stratton...

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Plot Keywords:

horse racing | wisecrack humor | murder | satire | apostrophe in title | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

How Am I Doin'?

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emanuel Cohen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

When Edward Carrington brings the maps to Cleo's ranch house Cleo lights a cigarette, smokes a few puffs, and flicks the cigarette away, but the cigarette reappears for a few seconds in the following reverse angle shot.

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Quotes

Ivan Valadov: My darling, my sweet, my lovely one!
Cleo Borden: Never mind that. I got all the erl I want.
Ivan Valadov: Darling, I just found out that it's you I'm in love with. You are the only one for me, after all.
Cleo Borden: After all what?
Ivan Valadov: Oh, darling, I must have you! I love you! I love you! I must have you!. Marry me!
Cleo Borden: Listen, I-van, you're all right to play around with, but as a husband you'll get in my hair.
Ivan Valadov: But, darling...!
Cleo Borden: Besides, we're intellectual opposites.
Ivan Valadov: What do you mean?
Cleo Borden: Well, I'm intellectual and you're opposite.
[...]

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Soundtracks

"MON COEUR S'OEUVRE A TA VOIX"
from "SAMSON ET DALILA"
Music by Camille Saint-Saëns
Sung by Mae West and Vladimar Bykoff

User Reviews

The Cattle Queen of Society

Going' TO TOWN (Paramount, 1935), directed by Alexander Hall, from the story by Marion Morgan and George B. Dowell, with screenplay and dialog by MAE WEST, in her only theatrical release of 1935, repeats the formula of sorts from her hit comedy, I'M NO ANGEL (1933), but not as successfully. Once more, she plays a woman who wants to crash into and be accepted amongst the swells of high society, only to get snubbed by the grand dames but admired by the millionaire gents.

Mae West plays a saloon singer named Cleo Borden ("A woman of very few words and lots of action"). She is first seen kissing a young cowboy (Grant Withers) behind a semi- closed curtain, then serenades him on the dance floor with a song before Buck Gonzalez (Fred Kohler Sr.), a wealthy rancher by day and cattle rustler by night, enters the scene. So much in love with her, he proposes marriage. Instead of giving him an answer, Cleo decides to gamble on her decision through a crap game. Losing, she consents on becoming his wife, on the condition that he'd wait two weeks to prepare herself. During those two weeks, Buck is caught cattle rustling (a profession very few people had known), and shot and killed in the process by the sheriff (Francis Ford), who had his suspicions on him. On her wedding day, Cleo arrives at Buck's ranch to learn of her future husband's death. Because she was willing to keep her part of the bargain, she learns from Winslow (Gilbert Emery), Buck's financial accountant, that he had awarded Cleo his entire fortune, making her the wealthiest woman in the state. While inspecting an oil field, which has become part of her inheritance, Cleo takes notice on a geological engineer named Edward Carrington (Paul Cavanaugh). She tries to become the object of his affection, but the no-nonsense Englishman appears to have a strong will and ignores her. After Carrington transfers to Buenos Aires, South America, Cleo reads an article on Mrs. Crane Brittony (Marjorie Gateson), a wealthy matron, in a society magazine. Taking Winslow's advice by winning the heart of Carrington is to become refined and cultured, Cleo heads for Buenos Aires. While there, Cleo enters her horse, Cactus, in the big race, beating the horse owned by Mrs. Brittony, who takes an immediate dislike towards the "cattle baron's widow." Unable to nab Carrington, who defends her honor against malicious gossip, Cleo acquires the affections of Fletcher Colton (Monroe Owsley), Mrs. Brittony's nephew, whose main weakness is gambling. When Colton loses his entire fortune, Winslow talks him into a marriage of convenience with Cleo. Now husband and wife, the couple settle in Southampton, New York. Mrs. Brittony schemes on hiring Ivan Veladov (Ivan Lebedeff), a handsome gigolo, to discredit her and a private detective (Paul Harvey) to expose her low morals standpoints, later leading Cleo as a murder suspect.

Going' TO TOWN is the kind of movie in which the contributors to the screenplay couldn't make up their minds which direction the story is heading. Is it western, comedy or social drama? By the looks of it, all three combined. It starts off promisingly as a full- fledged modern-day western, consisting of shoot-em-up cowboys riding horses, gathering in a local saloon where they indulge themselves with either drinking beer or being around Cleo (West), where the story should have remained throughout. However, after twenty minutes or so, the locale shifts to Buenos Aires where horses continue to take part of the stock, this time at the races, and finally to Southampton, New York. According to the theatrical trailer that precedes the movie in the 1992-93 video release, Mae West has not ONE, but SEVEN male co-stars. With Cavanaugh as her British co-star, West might have selected better known debonairs as Herbert Marshall or Melvyn Douglas, for example, for stronger box-office appeal.

Unlike her previous screen efforts, Going' TO TOWN has its limitations when it comes to song numbers. West first sings "He's a Bad Man" while on the dance floor with Grant Withers, with his profile looking directly at her while the camera catches West's face is full view. Later on in the story while trying to be accepted to high society, she sings "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice" in the SAMSON AND DELILAH opera. Interestingly, she doesn't spoof opera, as one might expect, but plays it straight. Before the fadeout, she sings, "I'm a Lady" (with part of her lyrics being her catch phrase of "Come up and see me sometime") as she walks downstairs with her new husband by her side. The camera this time ignores her male co-star and takes full focus on West while singing her closing number. There were a couple of times in the story where West did appear to be preparing herself for another moment of vocalization, one at a social function and another where she puts on the radio playing instrumental music. Expecting her to go into a song, this scene soon goes into a fade-out.

In spite of mixed reactions towards Going' TO TOWN, this fifth Mae West feature has become a rare find these days. Unseen in the television markets since the 1970s, it was distributed on video cassette in 1992. Credited at 74 minutes, video presentation runs at 70. West's one liners still makes the movie (WEST: "For a long time I was ashamed of the way I lived." GRANT WITHERS: "You mean you reformed?" WEST: "No, I got over being ashamed"; or her reference to Ivan Lebedeff: "We're intellectual opposites. I'm intellectual and you're opposite."). Mae West certainly has her moments on screen, but from the basis of the script, is passable entertainment. (***)