They don't make em like they used to. Just discovered Mae West. She's now become one of my all time favourite movie actors. Imagine if she was able to link up with Tarantino. Wish there was more actors like her. Gonna watch more of her stuff. This has been a great place to start. Some of her one liners are the best I've ever seen in the movies. Highly recommend.

Broadway stage star Mae West was a fascinating woman. She came to Hollywood at almost forty, twice the age of the typical starlet. However, she made her mark, not only as an actress, but also as a screenwriter. In "She Done Him Wrong" she had her first starring role. She dominates the screen with her bawdy innuendos and double-entendres and facial expressions. West plays singer Lady Lou, loosely modeled after the leading lady of her Broadway stage hit "Diamond Lil," but not as notorious. She loves her gems and has power over men. Her patron is Gus Jordan (Noah Berry, Sr.), who owns a Gay Nineties saloon in New York's Bowery. He keeps Lou around by keeping her well-supplied in diamonds. To do so, he also deals in counterfeit money and white slavery, but without her knowledge. Now Lady Lou has had many men regardless of age, so before Gus there was the gangster Chick Clark (Owen Moore). But Clark's in prison for a jewel heist after he was exposed by shaky ward boss / politician Dan Flynn (David Landau). The latter now plots to get Lady Lou for herself after he gets rid of Jordan. Among others into the mix there is Salvation Army Captain Cummings (Cary Grant), who runs the mission next door. Cummings constantly annoys Jordan because he is always coming into his place attempting to reform the customers. When Lady Lou sets her eyes on Cummings, she tells him, "Why don't you come up some time and see me?" But, as it turns out, he is an undercover cop ("The Hawk") in charge of eliminating corruption in the Bowery, and he is investigating Jordan. Things come to a head when Clark breaks out of jail, looking for Flynn and Lady Lou. When it is all over the cops catch the surviving bad guys, and Lou is left with the reforming Cummings. Will he place her in handcuffs? Earlier he had told her that her diamonds were cold and had no soul. Quick-witted West, in tight-fitting dresses to accentuate her hourglass figure, stole every scene she was in. The star of theater knew how to put on a show. She had style, and was unlike any other screen personage. An example of her one-liners:Pearl: "Your bath is ready, Miss Lou." Lady Lou: "You take it; I'm indisposed" (meeting with handsome Serge, young Gilbert Roland).West manages to belt out several saloon tunes, including "Frankie and Johnny," which unfortunately she never gets to finish because of a shooting. "She Done Him Wrong" is a drama with a rather thin plot, but one that captures the atmosphere and spirit of the late 1890s. It is a generally well-paced and dated but interesting curio. Cary Grant does not shine yet, but he will in time. By the way, Grant was a decade younger than the leading actress. This picture earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture of the year, the only one for Miss West.

Written by, and starring Miss West her very own self. A title card at the beginning tells us that, tho filmed in 1933, the story takes place in the 1890s. Noah Beery and Cary Grant (ten years younger than Mae!) co-star in this fun, naughty, saucy story. Lu (M. West) comes back to town, and although the town women disapprove of her, she is in town to stir things up, and be the social center of so many gentlemen. Some very clever double entendres....my favorite is when someone compliments a painting of her, and she replies she wishes that they hadn't hung it up over the "free lunch"! Lu and her friends help out a young lady who has run into trouble. Also some fun lines from Louise Beavers, who plays Lu's maid Pearl. They sure pack a lot into 66 minutes, although the version I'm watching on netflix is a couple minutes shy of that. Must be to keep it "family friendly"... directed by Lowell Sherman; one of the last films he directed... he died just two years later at 46 from pneumonia. Definitely watch this one if you can catch it - Loads of fun, and a look at pre-code film.

She Done Him Wrong staring Mae West is one of those old black and white flicks that entertains as well shows off a little "naughtiness". It was said that this is the film that saved Paramont Studios when they were having financial woes. The film is a reproduction of a Broadway play called Diamond Lil. She Done Him Wrong has a fine cast of players ranging from Cary Grant(an unknown at the time but made a star) But the real star is a tough Brooklyn born actress named Mae West.Mae came from a rough and tumble background. A daughter of boxer named "Battlin" Jack West and her mother, a corset maker with Burlesque connections, Mae grew up in a challenging environment. But she loved the Burlesque theater so much that she left school and performed on the stage. She wasn't a raving beauty, a bit overweight and not so much a voice but Boy! she seemed to steal the scenes with a sexy purr, gorgeous clothes and a erotic glow with her eyes. Mae knew how to use her rubinesque physique to walk off the scenes with captivating sexuality that one of her co-stars remarked "she stole every scene including the camera" * a note to the young Believe it or not, this film was considered risqué at the time and the Hays Decency code in Hollywood watched Mae West like a hawk so she wouldn't violate any decency public laws. Compare it to the films of today, you hardly believe that some people thought this film was indecent. I think that is part of the magic of Mae West. She appeared naked or did hardcore sex scenes in her films but she showed a sexual being in a very original and stylistic character that it is still copied somewhat today.So I would say see this little gem! Come up and see me! and let the fun begin!