My Little Chickadee (1940)

Director:

Edward F. Cline

Writers:

Mae West (screenplay) and
W.C. Fields (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Western

Tagline:

It's the lafftime of a lifetime ! . . as "Wild Bill" Fields tries to tame the West!

Plot:

Rightly suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee is run out of Little Bend...

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Bandit | Train | Farce | Hotel

Cast

Mae West	...	Flower Belle Lee
W.C. Fields	...	Cuthbert J. Twillie
Joseph Calleia	...	Jeff Badger
Dick Foran	...	Wayne Carter
Ruth Donnelly	...	Aunt Lou
Margaret Hamilton	...	Mrs. Gideon
Donald Meek	...	Amos Budge
Fuzzy Knight	...	Cousin Zeb
Willard Robertson	...	Uncle John
George Moran	...	Milton, Twillie's Indian confederate
Jackie Searl	...	Schoolboy (as Jack Searl)
Fay Adler	...	Mrs. 'Pygmy' Allen
Gene Austin	...	Saloon musician
Russell Hall	...	Candy
Otto Heimel	...	Coco

Also Known As:

The Lady and the Bandit (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | USA:Approved (certificate #6029)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

On lunch break one day, W.C. Fields went to his dressing room to start on a new bottle of whiskey he had saved for that purpose. Apparently someone beat him to it, as the bottle had been opened and about half of it had been drunk. Fields immediately ran outside and roared to the crew, "Who took the cork out of my lunch?"

Goofs:

Continuity: On the train out of town, after Cuthbert gives Flowerbelle the heart shaped charm, his hat starts on his head, but then suddenly its magically in his left hand (so he can use his right hand to hold onto the railing.)

Quotes:

Cousin Zeb: Uh, is this a game of chance?
Cuthbert J. Twillie: Not the way *I* play it, no.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "A Nero Wolfe Mystery: Death of a Doxy: Part 1 (#2.1)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

Willie of the Valley

Pairing of two super egos with flare and fun

You could call it "slapstick" at its best. They don't make them like W C Fields and Mae West anymore. Is that a good thing? Probably. Any imitations could hardly live up to their special brand of comedy. That episode on the train where they get acquainted -- "It is not good for man to be alone" quoth he, from the Bible at that. "Yeah, it's not much fun for a woman either," says she. "Do you think it possible for us to be alone together?" he asks. "Quite possible," is her reply. Who can resist a smile at that dialog!

By the way, for one scene how they could get that billy goat to lie down in bed under blankets, I'll never know! There's also a scene of a young girl coming into the bar slightly tipsy and I'm sure it's a young Celeste Holmes but there are no credits to verify this. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this?

Flower Belle (Mae West) is burning the midnight oil with "The Bandit," who is masked of course. She also encounters a naive editor (Dick Foran) and conquers that territory too to some extent. Well, for Flower Belle it's all in a day's work, you might say. Townsfolk are up in arms and intent on finding the Masked Bandit. Along the way they make W C Fields their sheriff but that doesn't solve anything. Meanwhile down at the saloon...

This movie with Mae is the one I like best.