I'm no Angel (3 Stars)

I watched this film on the recommendation of a friend who said it's her favourite film. Furthermore, she says she's a Mae West fan and owns all her films. I sat down tonight with the intention of enjoying the film, but at the end I felt disappointed. I feel that the problem isn't with the film, it's a problem with me, so I should use this review as an attempt to judge myself.

The film was made in 1933. It was Mae West's third film, and her second film in a lead role. She also wrote the screenplay, a remarkable feat for a new actress. She plays Tira, the singer in a travelling carnival. While she's on stage singing her boyfriend Slick mingles with the crowd, picking the pockets of the men staring at her. That isn't enough for Tira. She dreams of marrying a rich man and leaving the carnival life behind her.

One night she winks at a man in the audience when she sees the big diamond ring on his finger. She invites him to her room, but Slick is jealous and bursts in. He's a married politician from Texas, and Slick threatens to blackmail him. When the man says he'll call the police Slick knocks him unconscious. Slick is arrested and goes to jail.

The carnival goes on the road. Tira is the main star, working as a lion tamer. In New York she's wooed by a millionaire businessman, Kirk Lawrence. He showers Tira with gifts. There's a $6552 price tag on a necklace he buys her, just one of the gifts, which is the equivalent of $125,000 today. Tira gladly accepts his gifts, but she doesn't love him. Then she meets his business partner, Jack Clayton, and she's convinced he's the man she wants to marry. It helps that he's even richer than Kirk.

But Slick gets out of prison and is still interested in Tira.....

Mae West was a scandalous figure in the 1930's. Supposedly all her films needed to be censored. They weren't in any way sexually explicit. There was no nudity or explicit violence. The problem was the dialogue. She specialised in playing a sleazy character, always making sexual innuendos. Was she playing herself or an exaggeration of herself? Probably the latter. This was a problem for the age she lived in. The sexual innuendos might have been acceptable if spoken by a man, but it was shocking for a woman to be self-confident in her sexuality. Most critics say her films would have been better without the censorship. Maybe they're right, but I suspect that she wrote the sexual lines in order to provoke controversy. If there had been less censorship she wouldn't have felt the need to shock people and her lines would probably have been tamer. We'll never know.

But what about me? Why can't I relate to the film?

I think it's the rich vs poor lifestyles shown in the film. Tira and her friends work hard for very little money, while Kirk and Jack sit in comfortable offices and earn millions. Referring to inflation again, a millionaire in 1933 would have at least $20 million today. Remember that 1933 was in the middle of America's Great Depression. Half of the population was without work, but there were still millionaires sitting securely in their cosy little offices. These millionaires shamelessly flaunt their wealth by buying gifts for carnival girls that were worth more than a year's salary.

I like Tira's strong attitude that she wants to be successful, monetising her body and her beauty, but I don't like her attitude to wealth. She already thinks like a rich person. She values trinkets like gold and diamonds. Why? They don't make people happy. Why wear a diamond necklace to look beautiful? A glass necklace would look just as good. Speaking personally, I would rather look at a woman's bare neck. If I owned gold or diamonds my first thought would be to sell them to buy something useful with the money.

Maybe I'm being too narrow-minded. It's only a film, so I don't have to take the message too seriously. If you like this film, please leave a comment and tell me why you think my rating is too low. I always like to hear opinions that are different to my own.

Success Rate:  + 10.7

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk