She Done Him Wrong

Last updated
She Done Him Wrong
She Done Him Wrong (1933 poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Lowell Sherman
Screenplay byHarvey F. Thew
John Bright
Based on Diamond Lil
1928 play
by Mae West
Produced by William LeBaron
Starring
Cinematography Charles Lang
Edited by Alexander Hall
Music by John Leipold (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • January 27, 1933 (1933-01-27)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200,000 [1]
Box office$2.2 million [2]

She Done Him Wrong is a 1933 pre-Code American crime/comedy film starring Mae West and Cary Grant, directed by Lowell Sherman. The plot includes melodramatic and musical elements, with a supporting cast featuring Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Rochelle Hudson, and Louise Beavers. The film was adapted from the successful 1928 Broadway play Diamond Lil by Mae West. The film is famous for West's many double entendres and quips, including her best-known "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?". [3] She Done Him Wrong was a box-office success and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Contents

Plot

The story is set in New York City in the 1890s. A bawdy singer, Lady Lou, works in the Bowery barroom saloon of her boss and benefactor, Gus Jordan, who has given her many diamonds. But Lou is a lady with more men friends than anyone might imagine.

What she does not know is that Gus traffics in prostitution and runs a counterfeiting ring to help finance her expensive diamonds. He also sends young women to San Francisco to be pickpockets. Gus works with two other crooked entertainer-assistants, Russian Rita and Rita's lover, the suave Sergei Stanieff. One of Gus's rivals and former "friend" of Lou's, named Dan Flynn, spends most of the movie dropping hints to Lou that Gus is up to no good, promising to look after her once Gus is in jail. Lou leads him on, hinting at times that she will return to him, but eventually he loses patience and implies he'll see her jailed if she doesn't submit to him.

A city mission is located next door to the bar. Its young director, Captain Cummings, is in reality an undercover federal agent working to infiltrate and expose the illegal activities in the bar. Gus suspects nothing; he worries only that Cummings will reform his bar and scare away his customers.

Lou's former boyfriend, Chick Clark, is a vicious criminal who was convicted of robbery and sent to prison for trying to steal diamonds for her. In his absence, she becomes attracted to the handsome young psalm-singing reformer.

Warned that Chick thinks she's betrayed him, she goes to the prison to try to reassure him. All the inmates greet her warmly and familiarly as she walks down the cellblock. Chick becomes angry and threatens to kill her if she double-crosses or two-times him before he gets out. She lies and claims she has been true to him. Gus gives counterfeit money to Rita and Sergei to spend. Chick escapes from jail, and police search for him in the bar. He comes into Lou's room and starts to strangle her, breaking off only because he still loves her and cannot harm her. Lou calms him down by promising that she will go with him when she finishes her next number.

After Sergei gives Lou a diamond pin belonging to Rita, Rita starts a fight with Lou, who accidentally stabs her to death. Lou calmly combs the dead woman's long hair to hide the fact Rita is dead while the police search the room for Chick Clark. She has her bodyguard Spider, who "would do anything for you, Lou" dispose of Rita's body. She then tells Spider to bring Chick, who's hiding in an alley, back to her room upstairs. Then, while she sings "Frankie and Johnny", she silently signals to Dan Flynn that he should go to her room to wait for her, even though she knows Chick is in there with a gun. Chick shoots Dan dead and the gunfire draws a police raid. Cummings shows his badge and reveals himself as "The Hawk", a well-known Federal agent, as he arrests Gus and Sergei. Chick, still lurking in Lou's room, is about to kill Lou for double-crossing him, when Cummings also apprehends him.

Cummings then takes Lou away in an open horse-drawn carriage instead of the paddywagon into which all the other criminals have been loaded. He tells her she doesn't belong in jail and removes all her other rings and slips a diamond engagement ring onto her left ring finger. [4]

Cast

Mae West in the film Mae West in She Done Him Wrong.jpg
Mae West in the film

Production

The film was directed by Lowell Sherman and produced by William LeBaron. The script was adapted by Harvey F. Thew and John Bright. Original music was composed by Ralph Rainger, John Leipold and Stephan Pasternacki. Charles Lang was responsible for the cinematography, and the costumes were designed by Edith Head.

Blonde Venus (with Marlene Dietrich) and Madame Butterfly (with Sylvia Sidney), both predate She Done Him Wrong but West always claimed to have discovered Grant for her film, claiming that until then Grant had only made "some tests with starlets".[ citation needed ]

The Hays Code declared the play Diamond Lil banned from the screen and repeatedly demanded changes to remove associations with or elements from the play, including suggested titles with the word "diamond". The adaption was finally allowed under the condition that the play not be referred to in publicity or advertising. [5]

Rafaela Ottiano, who portrayed Russian Rita in the Broadway version, was cast on West's recommendation in the same role, which led to work with West throughout her career. [6]

Louise Beavers was the only African-American actress to be brought onto the film by West personally. She wanted a black woman to appear with her. When she did stage and screen work, West made it a point to act with black American actors and actresses, helping to break racial discrimination in entertainment. West's stage shows resulted in her arrest for saucy material and her having black actors on stage was extremely controversial. With this film, she and her Paramount bosses called the shots: Black stars appeared in a few of her films after this one.

Reception

Alternate theatrical release poster with Owen Moore pictured She Done Him Wrong (1932 poster - six sheet).jpg
Alternate theatrical release poster with Owen Moore pictured

The film was a box-office success, grossing $2,000,000 domestically with a budget of $200,000. Variety's "Bige" gave She Done Him Wrong a negative review, stating that Paramount was attempting to rush Mae West to stardom by giving her her own film and top billing, and that the film was not very good without known actors and an entertaining story, [7] despite the presence of extremely well-known actors Noah Beery Sr. and Owen Moore, not to mention up-and-comer Cary Grant.

She Done Him Wrong was nominated for the Academy Award for Outstanding Production, now known as Best Picture. At 66 minutes, it is the shortest film to be so honored.

In 1996, She Done Him Wrong was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [8]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Note

West's famous line to Cary Grant is "Why don't you come up some time and see me?" in She Done Him Wrong. She changed it to "Come up and see me sometime" in her next movie I'm No Angel , released the same year and co-starred Grant.

She Done Him Wrong bears some resemblances to The Bowery , a film released later the same year by United Artists starring Noah Beery's brother Wallace. The two films each include a saloon owner named Chuck Conners as a main character (played by Wallace Beery) in The Bowery and a smaller role (played by Tammany Young) in She Done Him Wrong.

The animated cartoon short She Done Him Right followed in 1933 as a parody spinoff of She Done Him Wrong. [14]

Universal Pictures, through its EMKA division, currently handles distribution of the film.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cary Grant</span> English-American actor (1904–1986)

Cary Grant was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award, received an Academy Honorary Award in 1970, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999.

<i>The Apartment</i> 1960 film by Billy Wilder

The Apartment is a 1960 American romantic comedy-drama directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. It stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, David Lewis, Willard Waterman, David White, Hope Holiday and Edie Adams.

<i>Grand Hotel</i> (1932 film) Adaptation of William Drake play

Grand Hotel is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by William A. Drake is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum. To date, it is the only film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture without being nominated in any other category.

<i>Of Mice and Men</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Lewis Milestone, Nate Watt

Of Mice and Men is a 1939 American drama film based on the 1937 play of the same name, which itself was based on the novella of the same name by author John Steinbeck. The film stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, and Lon Chaney Jr., and features Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele, and Noah Beery Jr. The film tells the story of two men, George and his intellectually disabled partner Lennie, trying to survive during the dustbowl of the 1930s and pursuing a dream of owning their own ranch instead of always working for others. Starring in the lead roles were relative Hollywood newcomer Burgess Meredith as George and veteran actor Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie. Chaney had appeared in more than 50 films by that point in his career, but Of Mice and Men was his first major role. Betty Field's role as Mae was her breakthrough role in film.

<i>The Philadelphia Story</i> (film) 1940 American film

The Philadelphia Story is a 1940 American romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey. Directed by George Cukor, the film is based on the 1939 Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. The socialite, played by Hepburn in both productions, was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904–1995), a Philadelphia heiress who had married Barry's friend.

<i>Bringing Up Baby</i> 1938 film by Howard Hawks

Bringing Up Baby is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.

<i>A Letter to Three Wives</i> 1949 film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 American romantic drama that tells the story of a woman who sends a letter to three women, saying she has left town with one of their husbands without revealing which one. It stars Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas, Kirk Douglas, and Jeffrey Lynn. Thelma Ritter as "Sadie" and Celeste Holm have key supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Beery</span> American actor (1885–1949)

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.

<i>Sons of the Desert</i> 1933 film by William A. Seiter

Sons of the Desert is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy. Directed by William A. Seiter, it was released in the United States on December 29, 1933. In the United Kingdom, the film was originally released under the title Fraternally Yours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Moore</span> American actor

Owen Moore was an Irish-born American actor, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.

<i>The Mark of Zorro</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

The Mark of Zorro is a 1920 American silent Western romance film starring Douglas Fairbanks and Noah Beery. This genre-defining swashbuckler adventure was the first movie version of The Mark of Zorro. Based on the 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley, which introduced the masked hero, Zorro, the screenplay was adapted by Fairbanks and Eugene Miller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Beery</span> American actor (1882–1946)

Noah Nicholas Beery was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominent character actor Noah Beery Jr. He was billed as either Noah Beery or Noah Beery Sr. depending upon the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Beery Jr.</span> American actor (1913–1994)

Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Nicholas Beery enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.

<i>Only Angels Have Wings</i> 1939 film by Howard Hawks

Only Angels Have Wings is a 1939 American adventure romantic drama film directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, and is based on a story written by Hawks.

<i>Dinner at Eight</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

Dinner at Eight is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Frances Marion and Herman J. Mankiewicz, based on George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's 1932 play of the same title. The film features an ensemble cast of Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Edmund Lowe, and Billie Burke.

<i>Night After Night</i> (film) 1932 film

Night After Night is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring George Raft, Constance Cummings, and Mae West in her first movie role. Others in the cast include Wynne Gibson, Alison Skipworth, Roscoe Karns, Louis Calhern, and Bradley Page. Directed by Archie Mayo, it was adapted for the screen by Vincent Lawrence and Kathryn Scola, based on the Cosmopolitan magazine story Single Night by Louis Bromfield, with West allowed to contribute to her lines of dialogue.

<i>Im No Angel</i> 1933 film

I'm No Angel is a 1933 American pre-Code black comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her films that was not subjected to heavy censorship.

<i>The Bowery</i> (film) 1933 film

The Bowery is a 1933 American pre-Code historical comedy-drama film set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan around the start of the 20th century directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Wallace Beery and George Raft. The supporting cast features Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray, and Pert Kelton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafaela Ottiano</span> Italian-American actress

Rafaela Ottiano was an Italian-American actress. She was best known for her role as Suzette in Grand Hotel (1932) and as Russian Rita in She Done Him Wrong (1933).

<i>A Mormon Maid</i> 1917 film by Robert Zigler Leonard

A Mormon Maid is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Charles Sarver and Paul West. While traveling westward with her family, Dora must face the proposal to become a Mormon elder's sixth wife. The film stars Mae Murray, Frank Borzage, Hobart Bosworth, Edythe Chapman, Noah Beery, Sr., and Richard Henry Cummings. The film was released on April 22, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. The film survives complete.

References

  1. "Box office/business for She Done Him Wrong". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  2. "WHICH CINEMA FILMS HAVE EARNED THE MOST MONEY SINCE 1914?". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. March 4, 1944. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Weekend magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  3. "Did Mae West really say "Come up and see me sometime?" the story of one of Hollywood's famous quotes. | American Masters | PBS". PBS. 15 July 2020.
  4. Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN   0-634-00765-3 page 22
  5. "She Done Him Wrong (1933) - Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  6. Michaud, Michael Gregg. Mae West: Between the Covers. BearManor Media.
  7. Review in Variety's February 14, 1933 issue, carygrant.net; accessed August 9, 2015.
  8. "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  9. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  10. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs" (PDF). American Film Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 24, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  11. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 17, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  12. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes" (PDF). American Film Institute . Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  13. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees (10th Anniversary Edition)" (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  14. The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia: 1933. Archived 2011-05-14. Retrieved 6 June 2019.