Review of Go West Young Man (1936) by Edith N — 10 Jan 2007

If Mae West was in real life the way she appears in this movie, it's no wonder Cary Grant didn't like her. She's selfish, callous, and thoughtless. Nothing matters except her own gratification.

I don't think I'll be watching more Mae West after the last one from this box set. It's not that they all have the same plot--they don't, really. She doesn't even always play the same character. She isn't always selfish, for one. But the actions are always implausible and the people are always sparsely-drawn. The interactions are shallow and unbelievable.

That's the problem. I don't believe a thing these people are doing. I don't believe anything about how they're acting. The black character in this--say rather "caricature"--is even less believable than the others, despite the maids we've previously seen. I don't believe the ending, which is okay, because I don't believe the rest of the story, either.

It's not even a pleasant little fantasy. There would be something to be said for that. But no, everyone in this movie is grasping and petty. Our Handsome Young Man (I can't remember any character's name from this!) is just dense. His girlfriend is stupid. Her mother (?) is a snob and a hypocrite.

It makes you wonder, really--Mae West [i]wrote[/i] these movies. Is this how she sees people? Is this who she thinks they are? Or is it just that she thinks they're funny this way? Either way, I like to think she's wrong.