Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 15: Go West

It would be unheard of today for a film of little over an hour to be released never mind be nominated for an Best Picture Oscar but that's what happened in the 1934 ceremony when She Done Him Wrong got a nod. The main reason for this is Mae West, this is basically her film as she transplants her Broadway role of Diamond Lil to the Big Screen and changes the name to Lady Lou. The story is concerned with West's Lou and her relationship with saloon boss Gus who treats her with diamonds and various other gifts, when she sings in his bar. However Gus is a shady character and traffics in prostitution as well as other illegal activities. There is a Salvation Army like mission next to the bar manned by Cary Grant's Captain Cummings. Cummings is actually an undercover fed trying to investigate the goings on in the bar and what Gus is up to. There is also a subplot involving Lou's former boyfriend who escapes from jail in order to try and reunite with her.

West owns the screen with her double entendre and sexy quips she whips up all the men into a frenzy. It's a wonder why she didn't get a Best Actress Nomination for her role in the film she even delivers a couple of lovely numbers. It's all a bit rushed and cliched but I'm guessing especially men of the time enjoyed the saucy antics of Lou (a nude picture of her in the bar is the first time she is seen) and the action in the final scenes. The film is historic in that its Box Office was enough to save Paramount from bankruptcy. West also apparently always took credit for discovering Cary Grant, however he had already appeared in several films and had a leading role in Blonde Venus opposite Marlene Dietrich. Grant is actually very stoic in the film, he has to play the straight man alongside all the antics that are going on elsewhere and you can almost sense him dying to flex those acting muscles a little more. If nothing else, She Done Him Wrong is an entertaining picture but a Best Picture Nominee it certainly shouldn't have been.