This was Paramount’s attempt to star Mae West not as her usual sui generis self, but in a well-made B’way blvd farce. (The play ran a remarkable 501 perfs and gave its original star, Gladys George, a nice Hollywood career in standout character parts.) Unlike the Marx Bros, whose similar try @ RKO in ROOM SERVICE/’38, failed to come off, Paramount really went to bat for Mae. This is a first-class pic (megged by Henry Hathaway, well cast & richly shot by the great Karl Struss) about a famous movie star forced to spend a night amid the hoi polloi at a country inn. Randolph Scott is handsome & charming as the local guy Mae vamps, and Warren William turns out to be just about the best matched consort Mae would ever land. Alice Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, Isabel Jewell & the rest all get tasty character turns to play and if you can bear the racial stereotypes, it’s a kick to see Nicodemus Stewart and recognize the voice of Brer Bear from SONG OF THE SOUTH. Even with all these positive factors, the play feels like it would have worked even better @ M-G-M for Jean Harlow, James Stewart & William Powell. For West, it represents something of a career capitulation. CONTEST: Find another Squib that uses BOTH a Greek & a Latin phrase and win a write-up of any NetFlix DVD of your choosing.
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