This is one of those movies where everything around the movie I find more interesting than the movie itself. It's the shortest Best Picture nominee ever, for example, at just a hair over an hour. It's Mae West's big Hollywood debut and adapted from a play she wrote. This is sort of a fine-tuning movie for the Hays Code era. They had to cut and edit this thing repeatedly before it was approved by the censors. Even still, it managed to sneak in some of West's signature sauciness. It's frustrating how, without proper context, it's possible to think they didn't invent swearing in America until the 1960s. As bad as the MPAA are, the Hays Code makes it seem downright liberal. I think the movie itself it fine. West is good and I like seeing a young Cary Grant. I can feel the censors' hands on all of it though. It's hard to watch this without constantly thinking, "I wonder what that line was supposed to be?"
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment