My Little Chickadee (1940)

Rightly suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee is run out of Little Bend. On the train she meets con man Cuthbert J. Twillie and pretends to marry him for "... See full summary »

Director:

Edward F. Cline

Writers:

Mae West (original screen play), W.C. Fields (original screen play)

Stars:

Mae West, W.C. Fields, Joseph Calleia

Cast

Complete credited 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
Jackie Searl	...	Boy (as Jack Searl)
Fay Adler	...	Mrs. 'Pygmy' Allen
Gene Austin	...	Saloon Musician
Russell Hall	...	Candy (as 'Candy')
Otto Heimel	...	Coco (as 'Coco')

Storyline

Rightly suspected of illicit relations with the Masked Bandit, Flower Belle Lee is run out of Little Bend. On the train she meets con man Cuthbert J. Twillie and pretends to marry him for "respectability." Arrived in Greasewood City with his unkissed bride, Twillie is named sheriff by town boss Jeff Badger...with an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, both stars inimitably display their specialties, as Twillie tends bar and plays cards, and Flower Belle tames the town's rowdy schoolboys...

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Plot Keywords:

bar | bandit | con man | sheriff | masked bandit | 

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Taglines:

She...brought out the WEST in him!...He was a bad man full of Brimstone...until he met this Sagebrush Siren!!

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Lady and the Bandit

Filming Locations:

Railtown 1897 State Historical Park, Jamestown, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

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?"

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Goofs

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.)

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Quotes

Cuthbert J. Twillie: If a thing is worth having, it's worth cheating for.

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Connections

Referenced in Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Willie of the Valley"
Lyrics by Milton Drake
Music by Ben Oakland
Performed by Mae West

User Reviews

Fun Fields and West Comedy Pairing

I love this little gem of a movie. It has two of the great stars of the early cinema, W.C. Fields and Mae West.

Fields is hilarious in his role as con man/card shark Cuthbert J. Twillie, who meets Flower Belle Lee (Miss West's character) on a train bound for Greasewood, a town that is ran by corrupt saloon owner Jeff Badger (Joseph Calleia). Flower Belle was ran out of her previous town and cannot return until she is married and a respectful woman, i.e., not promiscuous. She marries Cuthbert just to give her some respectability and it's hilarious to watch Fields pathetic attempts to try to be with his unwilling bride.

Of course, since this a Mae West film (both she and Fields wrote the screenplay) there are several funny double entendres in the film and Mae gets to sing a song, Willie of the Valley. I love both Mae West and W.C. Fields...they were both legends and I really wish they would have made another film together. The Hollywood rumor mill had it that they actually couldn't stand each other off screen, but if this is true, and I tend to believe that their feud was exaggerated for publicity purposes, you could not tell it by their performances. They had terrific on screen chemistry together.

"My Little Chickadee" is a fun film all the way around.