Review of She Done Him Wrong (1933) by Rick R — 18 Nov 2011

She Done Him Wrong (1933).

I never was a big fan of Mae West, mostly because she was this ancient-old, fat, woman trying to make a come-back in the 70s. Now that I'm an old fart myself, I've learned to appreciate this old Vaudeville routine "Diamond Lil" that was re-written a few times to sneak past the early movie codes.

Mae West was always the queen of double entendre, so she was able to sneak some nasty zingers in her act, and frankly, she's at the top of her form in this movie. The fact that men fell all over themselves to get with her was all part of her diva act. Naturally, you need to bring in some very handsome young men like a very young Cary Grant and Gilbert Roland for her to bounce lines off of.

The plot of this movie is pretty simple and basic. She's Diamond Lou, the arm candy of a local tavern owner and political boss, Gus Jordan (Noah Beery) competing over turf with Dan Flynn (David Landau). Captain Cummings (Grant) has a little store-front Salvation Army next door and is more interested in Lou's soul than her body. And, then of course, there's her other boy friend, Chick Clark (Owen Moore) who's in jail; the one she's doing wrong, who wants to break out and get even with everyone.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention her singing numbers, "That Easy Rider" and "Frankie and Johnny" aren't too bad either. This movie and her other, "I'm No Angel" really saved Paramount from going bankrupt.