''Klondike Annie'' is a 1936 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

and

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made sev ...

. The film was co-written by West from her play ''Frisco Kate'', which she wrote in 1921 and a story written by the duo Marion Morgan and George Brendan Dowell. Raoul Walsh directed.

Plot

Mae West portrays a kept woman by the name of Rose Carlton, "The Frisco Doll". She murders her keeper Chan Lo in self-defence and escapes on a steamer to Nome, Alaska, wanted for murder. She is joined mid-voyage by a missionary, Sister Annie Alden. Sister Annie is on her way to rescue a financially troubled mission in Nome, and inspires Rose, but dies en route. Rose assumes the identity of Sister Annie to avoid arrest, dressing her as a prostitute in a scene later deleted by the censors. The Frisco Doll decides to keep Sister Annie's promise of rescuing the mission and raises the money by combining soul-shaking sermon and song with street smarts. She's romanced both by a beautiful young Sheriff being generally investigative, and the blustering, slightly crazy ship's captain, Bull Brackett. Klondike Annie/Rose Carlton/The Frisco doll knows in the end to turn herself in and prove her innocence by way of self-defence. Steaming back to San Francisco with Captain Brackett -- "Bull, ya ain't no oil paintin', but ya are a fascinatin' monster".

Cast

as The Frisco Doll / Rose Carlton / Sister Annie Alden *

as Bull Brackett *

Phillip Reed Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the '' Big Town'' radio series. Early years Reed was a star athlete at Er ...

as Insp. Jack Forrest *

Helen Jerome Eddy Helen Jerome Eddy (February 25, 1897 – January 27, 1990) was a motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1917). Early years Edd ...

as Sister Annie Alden *

Harry Beresford Harry J. Beresford (4 November 1863 – 4 October 1944) was an English-born actor on the American stage and in motion pictures. He used the professional name Harry J. Morgan early in his career. Career Harry Beresford began his acting career i ...

as Brother Bowser *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Chan Lo * Lucile Gleason as Big Tess (as Lucille Webster Gleason) *

Conway Tearle Conway Tearle (born Frederick Conway Levy, May 17, 1878 – October 1, 1938) was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films. Early life Tearle was born on May 17, 1878, in New York City, the son of the ...

as Vance Palmer *

Esther Howard Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career ...

as Fanny Radler *

Soo Yong Soo Yong, (, originally Young Hee (楊喜); October 31, 1903 – October 29, 1984) was a Chinese-American actress. She acted in twenty-three Hollywood films and numerous television shows, mostly in supporting roles. Among them were '' The Good ...

as Fah Wong, Rose's Maid * John Rogers as Buddie * Ted Oliver as Grigsby *

Lawrence Grant Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell ...

as Sir Gilbert *

Gene Austin Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for ...

as Organist * Vladimar Bykoff as Marinoff

Production

Production began on September 16, 1935 and concluded in December of that year. ''Klondike Annie'' was released February 21, 1936 at a production cost of $1,000,000.

Censorship

As usual with West's films, scenes were deleted to make this film presentable in most markets. Eight minutes of the film were deleted. The footage is presumably lost. In this lost footage is the scene in which The Frisco Doll stabs Chan Lo when he was going to stab her instead. The other lost scene is when The Frisco Doll switched identities with Sister Annie and dressed Sister Annie up as a prostitute. The veiled connection of Sister Annie and The Salvation Army made this scene inappropriate to the censors but its deletion made the final print of the film appear choppy. The State of Georgia went so far as to ban this film outright. The film caused a rift between West and

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

, who decided never to print West's name in any of his newspapers. The reason given was the racy material of the film and West's sexual persona in a religious setting. This may seem hypocritical due to his extramarital affair with actress

Marion Davies Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...

. West was quoted as saying "I may have invited censorship into Hollywood, but I also saved the industry and Paramount."

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by

, who also appeared in the film.

Reception

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

gave the film a good review, declaring that "I thought the whole film fun, more fun than any other of Miss West's since the superb period piece, '' She Done Him Wrong''". Acknowledging his view as a minority opinion, Greene noted that his interpretation of West's characterization of Salvationism to have been harmless fun and not as a satire on religion. Greene also praised McLaglen for his performance. (reprinted in: )

References

External links

* * * * {{Raoul Walsh 1936 films American Western (genre) films 1936 Western (genre) films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Raoul Walsh Films scored by Victor Young Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Mae West 1930s English-language films 1930s American films