IMDb RATING
6.9/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Circus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.Circus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.Circus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.
William B. Davidson
- The Chump Ernest Brown
- (as Wm. B. Davidson)
Bobby Barber
- Man In Crowd
- (uncredited)
Eddie Borden
- Carnival Sideshow Spectator
- (uncredited)
George Bruggeman
- Omnes
- (uncredited)
Morrie Cohan
- Bartons Chauffeur
- (uncredited)
Monte Collins
- Sailor at Circus
- (uncredited)
Ray Cooke
- Sailor at Circus
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 1935 and 1949, the production code was more rigorously enforced, and the film was not approved for re-release.
- GoofsDuring closeup when Tira sorts through a pile of phonograph records with different titles (That Dallas Man, That Frisco Man, etc.), all the labels have same serial number.
- Quotes
Jack Clayton: You were wonderful tonight.
Tira: Yeah, I'm always wonderful at night.
Jack Clayton: Tonight, you were especially good.
Tira: Well... When I'm good, I'm very good. But, when I'm bad...
[winks at Jack]
Tira: I'm better.
- Crazy creditsBefore the Paramount logo appears on screen in the opening credits, a sign declares that the studio is an NRA (National Recovery Act) member with the text "We do our part" written beneath.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Love Goddesses (1965)
- SoundtracksThey Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk
(1933) (uncredited)
Music by Harvey Brooks
Lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison
Sung by Mae West
Featured review
A strange thing happened with movie stars during the depression. The most popular players weren't the young and beautiful ones; they were homely, middle-aged figures like Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler and Will Rogers, unlikely stars but ones who seemed perhaps a little more earthly and genuine to moviegoers in troubled times. And this trend even had its own sex symbol – Mae West, a plump forty-year-old who became for a few years a Top 10 box office draw on the pull of her considerable sexual magnetism.
West was not possessing of the beauty of contemporaries such as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich (neither of whom ever surpassed her in the polls). Her allure lies in the way she controls her body, a not-so-subtle hinting at what she is capable of in the bedroom, all done without showing so much as an ankle or flash of cleavage. She is perhaps the only female example of what many male stars from Clark Gable to George Clooney have been – an older player publicly seen as sexy thanks to a presence that transcends age. There have been other female stars who have this quality, but I believe West is the only one who thrived on it. As we see from her opening piece in I'm No Angel, she has absolute control over every aspect of her demeanour – a flick of the hips, a roll of the eyes, a set mouth. She could have been a decent straight actress had she turned her hand to drama.
But what is also remarkable about Mae West is that she had an unprecedented level of creative control over her work. Female writers were known but not common, and writer-actors of either gender were almost unheard of at the time. And I'm No Angel demonstrates West's wit and sophistication as much as it does her sexuality. And it's a rare tale for classic Hollywood in which the women are in charge. There's a sense of sisterhood, or at least mutual respect, between Mae and the other female characters. And as she says herself, walking off stage from her opening performance, the men who fall at her feet are just "suckers".
*I'm referring here to the ever-reliable Quigley Poll, which since 1932 has annually interviewed a large section of cinema-goers and asked them for their three favourite stars. Mae West came in at No. 8 in 1933, and No. 5 in 1934.
West was not possessing of the beauty of contemporaries such as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich (neither of whom ever surpassed her in the polls). Her allure lies in the way she controls her body, a not-so-subtle hinting at what she is capable of in the bedroom, all done without showing so much as an ankle or flash of cleavage. She is perhaps the only female example of what many male stars from Clark Gable to George Clooney have been – an older player publicly seen as sexy thanks to a presence that transcends age. There have been other female stars who have this quality, but I believe West is the only one who thrived on it. As we see from her opening piece in I'm No Angel, she has absolute control over every aspect of her demeanour – a flick of the hips, a roll of the eyes, a set mouth. She could have been a decent straight actress had she turned her hand to drama.
But what is also remarkable about Mae West is that she had an unprecedented level of creative control over her work. Female writers were known but not common, and writer-actors of either gender were almost unheard of at the time. And I'm No Angel demonstrates West's wit and sophistication as much as it does her sexuality. And it's a rare tale for classic Hollywood in which the women are in charge. There's a sense of sisterhood, or at least mutual respect, between Mae and the other female characters. And as she says herself, walking off stage from her opening performance, the men who fall at her feet are just "suckers".
*I'm referring here to the ever-reliable Quigley Poll, which since 1932 has annually interviewed a large section of cinema-goers and asked them for their three favourite stars. Mae West came in at No. 8 in 1933, and No. 5 in 1934.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $225,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $159
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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