I’m No Angel, 1933

 First viewing all the way through to the end.

The third of her films, this is the Mae West movie you should see if you don’t see any other one. She is stunning. She made her first film at age forty and often wrote the story, dialogue and screenplay herself. This is the movie with her most famous lines but it has a lot of other lines that have been my favorites for years. When she asks a man she invited to her room “What do you do for a living?” And he says “Sort of a politician” she replies “I don’t like to work either”. It’s this guy. His diamond ring blinds her to his disturbing area.

She starts out as a carnival performer, “The woman who discovered you don’t have to have feet to be a dancer”

and works her way up to the good life through charming rich men and oh, becoming a lion tamer. In pants. She even delivers great lines to the big cats.

Along the way she meets and falls in love for the first time, with Cary Grant, who gets tricked into cancelling their wedding. It ends with a trial for breach of promise that has some of Mae’s best scenes. 

Highly recommended. Definitely soothed my brain after having heavy rain leaking into my apartment overnight, then having a dentist appointment involving needles, then having workmen coming in to see the water damage and leaving very noisy fans and other equipment to run until tomorrow. Just looking at her wardrobe filled me with delight and took some anxiety away.