Review of Reviews: She Done Him Wrong

by Melanie Cross

The 1933 Paramount Pictures film, She Done Him Wrong, was based on the hit Broadway play, “Diamond Lil”, written by Mae West. The movie was directed by Lowell Sherman and the screenplay was written by Mae West, Harvey Thew, and John Bright; although some sources do not credit West as having written the screenplay.  Set in the 1890’s, the story follows Lady Lou, played by Mae West, as she works as a Burlesque entertainer and singer in the local saloon. Lou is a blonde bombshell, always adorned in diamonds and evening gowns.  She has a larger than life, bad-girl persona and the men adore her, lust after her, and compete for her attention. Captain Cummings/The Hawk, played by Cary Grant, opens up a mission next door to the saloon and appears to be the only man not completely susceptible to her charms. It seems as if Lady Lou may have met her match!  After skillfully juggling all the other men and would-be suiters in the movie; including a convict ex-boyfriend who escapes from prison to determine her fidelity, a gangster involved in a counterfeit operation, and a loyal body-guard, to name a few, Lady Lou gets her man in the end, as she always does.  Rather than being arrested by Cummings, who turns out to be an undercover officer, she is whisked away in a carriage and he proposes to her instead. 

West gives an over-the-top performance chock-full of one-liners drenched in sexual innuendo, delivered in her trademark nasally twang and accompanied by her seductive strut. As the genre of silent films gave way to films with spoken dialogue, it was West’s signature voice that helped to skyrocket her to popularity on the silver screen.  In Mordaunt Hall’s review in the New York Times on February 11, 1933 this film was described as “a hearty and blustering cinematic cartoon” and West was described as filling the “screen with gaudy humor”. http://www.carygrant.net/reviews/wrong.html  This was West’s second film and the first in which she had a leading role. 

The theater release of this film was January 27, 1933.  It brought in 2.2 million dollars at the box office.  The film won critical acclaim and was honored as one of the10 Best Films in 1933 by Film Daily.  She Done Him Wrong was nominated for Best Picture by both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 1932-1933 and by the National Board of Review in 1933. It was also added to the Library of Congress U.S. National Film Registry in 1996. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024548/awards?ref_=tt_awd 

Some critics felt that West was a bit too old to be playing opposite to a younger Grant, she was 39; but audiences didn’t seem to mind or notice. http://classicfilm.about.com/od/dramaandbiography/fr/SheDoneHimWrong.htm The film, although considered racy and bawdy at the time, was wildly popular with audiences.  The huge success of the film helped a struggling Paramount Studios make a comeback and this role, although not Cary Grant’s first, propelled him into the role of Hollywood leading man. It also solidified Mae West’s place as a Hollywood starlet.  She Done Him Wrong impacted Hollywood for years to come in another way; it provided ammunition for the League of Decency to push for censorship with an addendum to The Motion Picture Production Code in 1934 that required all motion pictures to be certified according to the code before release. http://aurorasginjoint.com/2012/10/14/she-done-him-wrong-will-hays/  Although her overwhelming popularity initially caused censors to look the other way with regard to her overtly sexual dialogue and persona, after her second film with Cary Grant, I’m No Angel, even West was subject to the ‘rules’ and her later films were lacking some of the characteristic raciness her fans had come to love and expect.