This lavish production filmed on the Paramount Hollywood lot in 1933 is a pitch-perfect evocation of the tawdry Bowery in the Gay Nineties with its free lunch saloons, singing waiters, and guys and gals-none harder than tiny Mae West who grew up among these streets and knew these characters when she wrote the hit play that became the film. She is perfectly cast as the cynical seen-it-done-it-all entertainer with a heart as hard as the diamonds she covets. Make knows what she wants and how to get it. Rare for women depicted on screen in those pre-Code days, she is not in the least sentimental. She's tough. There's no heart of gold hidden here. With Mae, when t comes to men, it's all about sex, sex and more sex. It was no wonder that this film was in many ways responsible for the censorship codes that followed the following year.
The film is expertly directed by the much under-rated actor/director Lowell Sherman (What Price Hollywood) who manages to get the best out of everyone in the large case iincluding young Cary Grant in the days when he was usually a bit stiff. Sets and costumes (Edith Head) are authentic and spectacular, as are the songs. In later years, Mae became a major star playing parody of herself, but here she is-if the words can ever be applied to someone so extravagant-both realistic and believable. An unusual film.
