I'm No Angel: Difference between revisions
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Tira begins as a sideshow performer where she shimmies and sings for crowds of admiring men. She has a collection of expensive jewelry from various admirers with expensive tastes. When her sleazy ex-boyfriend Slick causes her legal trouble, she becomes a lion tamer to earn extra money to pay for a lawyer. (West did some of her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring.) Putting her head into a lion's mouth makes Tira a circus star and affords her a fancy residence and servants. |
Tira begins as a sideshow performer where she shimmies and sings for crowds of admiring men. She has a collection of expensive jewelry from various admirers with expensive tastes. When her sleazy ex-boyfriend Slick causes her legal trouble, she becomes a lion tamer to earn extra money to pay for a lawyer. (West did some of her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring.) Putting her head into a lion's mouth makes Tira a circus star and affords her a fancy residence and servants. |
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Tira's fame in the big show takes her to New York City where adoring fans are introduced to her nightly. Among them, cousins Kirk Lawrence (played by Kent Taylor) and Jack Clayton (Cary Grant), are two New York City socialites who requested to meet her. Despite his prestige and current engagment to another woman, Kirk becomes enamored with her. He showers Tira with presents. Kirk's outraged fiancé regards Tira as a “guttersnipe” and confronts her. Not long after the confrontation Kirk's cousin Jack takes an interest in his cousin's affair and decides to interfere. Against Kirk’s wishes, he goes to see Tira to ask her to leave Kirk and his fiancé alone. While he is there, they fall madly in love. Tira and Jack’s romance leads to a wedding engagement. Tira tells her boss she’s quitting to get married. Knowing that he is about to lose his biggest money making act, her boss plots against her, and manages to break off the engagement, leaving her heart broken and confused. Jilted, 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 the judge |
Tira's fame in the big show takes her to New York City where adoring fans are introduced to her nightly. Among them, cousins Kirk Lawrence (played by Kent Taylor) and Jack Clayton (Cary Grant), are two New York City socialites who requested to meet her. Despite his prestige and current engagment to another woman, Kirk becomes enamored with her. He showers Tira with presents. Kirk's outraged fiancé regards Tira as a “guttersnipe” and confronts her. Not long after the confrontation Kirk's cousin Jack takes an interest in his cousin's affair and decides to interfere. Against Kirk’s wishes, he goes to see Tira to ask her to leave Kirk and his fiancé alone. While he is there, they fall madly in love. Tira and Jack’s romance leads to a wedding engagement. Tira tells her boss she’s quitting to get married. Knowing that he is about to lose his biggest money making act, her boss plots against her, and manages to break off the engagement, leaving her heart broken and confused. Jilted, 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 the judge and jury and wins back Jack's heart. |
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A triumphant Tira ends up with her wealth, her fame, and a handsome husband. |
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==Context== |
==Context== |
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Revision as of 23:25, 18 July 2009
| I'm No Angel | |
|---|---|
| File:I'm No Angel poster.jpg I'm No Angel poster | |
| Directed by | Wesley Ruggles |
| Written by | Mae West |
| Produced by | William LeBaron |
| Starring | Mae West Cary Grant Gregory Ratoff Edward Arnold Ralf Harolde |
| Cinematography | Leo Tover |
| Edited by | Otho Lovering |
| Music by | Karl Hajos Herman Hand Howard Jackson Rudolph G. Kopp John Leipold |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | October 6, 1933 |
Running time | 87 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $225,000 (estimated)[1] |
| Box office | $2,850,000 (USA)[1] |
I'm No Angel (1933) is Mae West's third motion picture. West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays the male lead. This was one of the few Mae West films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Ms. West plays Tira, a circus performer who becomes a socialite.
Plot summary
A story about a gal who lost her reputation - and never missed it!
Tira begins as a sideshow performer where she shimmies and sings for crowds of admiring men. She has a collection of expensive jewelry from various admirers with expensive tastes. When her sleazy ex-boyfriend Slick causes her legal trouble, she becomes a lion tamer to earn extra money to pay for a lawyer. (West did some of her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring.) Putting her head into a lion's mouth makes Tira a circus star and affords her a fancy residence and servants.
Tira's fame in the big show takes her to New York City where adoring fans are introduced to her nightly. Among them, cousins Kirk Lawrence (played by Kent Taylor) and Jack Clayton (Cary Grant), are two New York City socialites who requested to meet her. Despite his prestige and current engagment to another woman, Kirk becomes enamored with her. He showers Tira with presents. Kirk's outraged fiancé regards Tira as a “guttersnipe” and confronts her. Not long after the confrontation Kirk's cousin Jack takes an interest in his cousin's affair and decides to interfere. Against Kirk’s wishes, he goes to see Tira to ask her to leave Kirk and his fiancé alone. While he is there, they fall madly in love. Tira and Jack’s romance leads to a wedding engagement. Tira tells her boss she’s quitting to get married. Knowing that he is about to lose his biggest money making act, her boss plots against her, and manages to break off the engagement, leaving her heart broken and confused. Jilted, 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 the judge and jury and wins back Jack's heart.
A triumphant Tira ends up with her wealth, her fame, and a handsome husband.
Context
"I'm No Angel" was released immediately after She Done Him Wrong, when Mae West was the nation's biggest box office attraction and its most controversial star. In the early 1930s Mae West's films saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy. Depression era audiences responded to the fantasy rise of a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Cary Grant stars opposite her for the second and final time. The film makes little use of his talents. West's ribald satire outraged moralists. Film historians cite her as one of the factors for the strict Hollywood production code that soon followed. The Hays Office forced a few changes including the title of the song "No One Does It Like a Dallas Man", changed to "No One Loves Me Like a Dallas Man".
Memorable lines
Rajah (a fortuneteller): Ah, you have a wonderful future. I see a man in your life.
Tira: What, only one?
Tira: Beulah, peel me a grape.
Tira: It's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men.
Tira: When I'm good I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.
Jack Clayton: Look darling, you need a rest and so do I. Let me take you away somewhere. We'll...
Tira: Would you call that a rest?
Jack Clayton: What are you thinking about?
Tira: Same thing you are.
Tira: I ain't never done this before. Marriage is a new kind of racket for me.
Cast
- Mae West as Tira
- Cary Grant as Jack Clayton
- Kent Taylor as Kirk Lawrence
- Gregory Ratoff as Benny Pinkowitz
- Edward Arnold as Big Bill Barton
- Hattie McDaniel as Tira's manicurist
See also
Notes
- ^ a b "Box office / business for I'm No Angel". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
Bibliography
- When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment, by Marybeth Hamilton (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). ISBN 0-520-21094-8
- 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). ISBN 0-313-24716-1
- The Complete Films of Mae West, by Jon Tuska (Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1992). ISBN 0-8065-1359-4
External links
- I'm No Angel at IMDb
- Reel Classics
- The New York Times
- Cary Grant.net republished original Variety and New York Times reviews
- Filmsite.org review