''I'm No Angel'' is a 1933 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by

Wesley Ruggles Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. Life and work He was born in Los Angeles, California, younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a doz ...

, and starring

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

and

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her early films, and, as such, was not subjected to the heavy censorship that dogged her screenplays after

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

began enforcing the

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...

Plot

Tira sings, struts and gyrates in the

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...

of Big Bill Barton's Wonder Show, while her current boyfriend,

pickpocket Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...

"Slick", relieves her distracted audience of their valuables for Big Bill. One of the rich customers, Ernest Brown, arranges a private rendezvous, during which Slick barges in and attempts to run a

badger game The badger game is an extortion scheme or confidence trick in which the victims are tricked into compromising positions in order to make them vulnerable to blackmail. Its name is derived from the practice of badger-baiting. Description In its ...

on the customer. The customer threatens to call the cops, so Slick whacks him over the head with a bottle. Mistakenly thinking he has killed the man, Slick flees, but is caught and jailed. Fearing that Slick will implicate her, Tira asks Big Bill for a loan to retain her lawyer, Bennie Pinkowitz. He agrees on condition that she does her

lion taming Lion taming is the taming and training of lions, either for protection or for use in entertainment, such as the circus. The term often applies to the taming and display of lions and other big cats such as tigers, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, ...

act, which includes putting her head into the mouth of one of the beasts, promising her that it will get her (and him) to the "Big Show". It does. (West did some of her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring). Tira's fame takes her to New York City, where wealthy Kirk Lawrence is smitten, despite being engaged to snobbish socialite Alicia Hatton. He showers her with expensive gifts. Kirk's friend and even richer cousin, Jack Clayton, goes to see Tira to ask her to leave Kirk and his fiancée alone. He ends up falling for her himself. Tira and Jack’s romance leads to a wedding engagement. Tira tells Big Bill she is quitting to get married. Unwilling to lose his prize act, he has Slick, recently released from prison, sneak into Tira's penthouse suite, where Jack finds him in his robe. As a result, Jack breaks off the engagement. Tira sues Jack for breach of promise. The defense tries to use her past relationships to discredit her, but the judge allows her to cross examine the witnesses herself and in doing so she wins over not only the judge and jury, but also Jack. Jack agrees to give her a big settlement check. When he goes to see her, Tira tears up the check, and the two reconcile.

Cast

as Tira *

as Jack Clayton *

Gregory Ratoff Gregory Ratoff (born Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner; ; April 20, c. 1893 – December 14, 1960) was a Russian-American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was best known for his role as producer "Max Fabian" in ''All About Eve'' (195 ...

as Benny Pinkowitz * Edward Arnold as "Big Bill" Barton *

Ralf Harolde Ralf Harolde (born Ralph Harold Wigger, May 17, 1899 – November 11, 1974) was an American character actor who often played gangsters. Between 1920 and 1963, he appeared in 99 films, including ''Smart Money (1931 film), Smart Money'' with ...

as "Slick" Wiley * Kent Taylor as Kirk Lawrence *

Gertrude Michael Lillian Gertrude Michael (June 1, 1911 – December 31, 1964), sometimes nicknamed Beck Michael, was an American film, stage and television actress. Biography Lillian Gertrude Michael was born in Talladega, Alabama to Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Mich ...

as Alicia Hatton *

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

as "Flea" Madigan *

Dorothy Peterson Bergetta "Dorothy" Peterson (December 25, 1897 - October 3, 1979) was an American actress. She began her acting career on Broadway before appearing in more than eighty Hollywood films. Early years Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota, the ...

as Thelma * William B. Davidson as Ernest Brown (as Wm. B. Davidson) *

Gertrude Howard Gertrude Howard (October 13, 1892 – September 30, 1934) was an American actress of the silent film, silent and early sound film eras. Biography Born in 1892, Howard performed in the chorus of ''The Wife Hunters'' (1911) on Broadway. She broke ...

as Beulah Thorndyke, Tira's main maid * Libby Taylor as Libby, Tira's hairdressing maid *

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) was an African-American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the f ...

as Tira's manicurist (uncredited) *

Irving Pichel Irving Pichel (June 24, 1891 – July 13, 1954) was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career. Career Pichel was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Pittsburgh. He attended ...

as Clayton's lawyer (uncredited) * Walter Walker as the judge (uncredited)

Context

''I'm No Angel'' was released immediately after '' She Done Him Wrong'', when Mae West was one of the nation's biggest box office attractions and its most controversial star. In the early 1930s, West's films were an important factor in saving

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

from bankruptcy. During the difficult times of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, many filmgoers responded enthusiastically to West, especially to her portrayal of a woman "from the wrong side of the tracks" achieving success both economically and socially. Cary Grant starred opposite her for the second and final time; their first film together had been ''She Done Him Wrong''. Grant remained annoyed for decades that West often took credit for his career despite the fact that he had made major films before. The smash hit ''

Blonde Venus ''Blonde Venus'' is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall and Cary Grant. It was produced, edited and directed by Josef von Sternberg from a screenplay by Jules Furthman and S. K. Lauren, adapted fro ...

'', starring

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

and Cary Grant, predates ''She Done Him Wrong'' by a year even though Mae West always claimed to have discovered Grant for her film, amusingly elaborating that up until then he had only made "some tests with starlets." She would frequently claim to various reporters through the years that she had spotted him as an unknown walking across a parking lot, asked who he was, and, finding that nobody knew, declared, "If he can talk, I'll use him in my next picture." This tale was routinely incorporated into magazine articles about either West or Grant. West's ribald satire outraged moralists. Film historians cite her as one of the factors for the strict Hollywood

production code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...

that soon followed. The Hays Office forced a few changes, including the title of the song "No One Does It Like a Dallas Man", altered to "No One Loves Me Like a Dallas Man".

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academ ...

claims, in an interview on Parkinson, that the Hays Office changed the title from "It Ain't No Sin".

Reception

The film was Paramount's biggest hit of the year. It was also

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

's favourite film.

Critical response

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

wrote: "Mae West as a lion tamer, Cary Grant as a society lion, lots of adenoidal innuendo, and some good honky-tonk songs ("That Dallas Man, et al."). Arguably West's best film, certainly one of her funniest. When she isn't wiggling in her corsets and driving men wild she's sashaying around and camping it up for her plump black maids (Gertrude Howard, Libby Taylor).... the story, screenplay, and dialogue are by Mae West... "

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

gave it three and a half of four stars: "West is in rare form as a star of Arnold's sideshow who chases after playboy Grant. Builds to a hilarious courtroom climax."

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

gave it three of four stars: "The star's most successful vehicle... remains a highly diverting show with almost a laugh a minute. Released before the Legion of Decency was formed, it also contains some of Mae's fruitiest lines."

Signature Mae West lines

* "Oh, Beulah, peel me a grape!" * "Well, it's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men." This line was nominated for the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

's 2005 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. * "When I'm good I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better."

Soundtrack

* "They Call Me Sister Honky-Tonk" (1933) (uncredited) ** Music by Harvey Oliver Brooks ** Lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison ** Sung by Mae West * "That Dallas Man" (1933) (uncredited) ** Music by Harvey Oliver Brooks ** Lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison ** Played on a record on which Mae West sings * "I Found a New Way to Go to Town" (1933) (uncredited) ** Music by Harvey Oliver Brooks ** Lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison ** Sung by Mae West * "I Want You, I Need You" (1933) (uncredited) ** Music by Harvey Oliver Brooks ** Lyrics by Ben Ellison ** Played on a piano and sung by Mae West * "I'm No Angel" (1933) (uncredited) ** Music by Harvey Oliver Brooks ** Lyrics by Gladys DuBois and Ben Ellison ** Sung by Mae West at the end and during the closing credits

References

Bibliography

* ''When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment'', by Marybeth Hamilton (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). * ''Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It'', by Mae West (Avon: 1959). ASIN B0007HCX2O * ''Mae West: A Bio-Bibliography'', by Carol M. Ward (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). * ''The Complete Films of Mae West'', by Jon Tuska (Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1992).

External links

* * *
Reel Classics

republished original ''Variety'' and ''New York Times'' reviews
Filmsite.org review
{{Wesley Ruggles 1933 films 1930s romantic musical films 1933 romantic comedy films American black-and-white films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films Circus films Films directed by Wesley Ruggles Films set in New York City Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Mae West 1933 musical comedy films American romantic musical films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films Films scored by Howard Jackson (composer) Films scored by Rudolph G. Kopp Films scored by John Leipold Films scored by Heinz Roemheld English-language romantic comedy films English-language romantic musical films English-language musical comedy films