She Done Wrong (1933) - Lowell Sherman

Lady Lou is an incredibly successful saloon singer at local politician Gus Jordan's establishment.  Lou is a very popular woman among the men of the town but she has a thirst for various men as well.  Lou does have a boyfriend in Chick Clark, a man who has spent the last several years in prison.  Chick is a very jealous man, constantly sending word to warn Lou that if she double corsses him she could find herself paying the ultimate price - her life.  While Gus Jordan showers Lou with diamons to keep her happy, Lou begins to show an interest in Captian Cummings, a boyscout of a man, who warns Lou that she's on the road to perdition.  Lowell Sherman's She Done Wrong features two early performances by Mae West and Cary Grant but unfortunately the film itself doesn't bring much to the table besides that.  She Done Wrong is rather uninteresting from a cinematography perspective, feeling quite like the stage play it is based on.  The strength of this film lies almost solely on Mae West's performance and a solid screenplay.  Only Mae West's second feature film, She Done Wrong fully takes advantage of her strengths, with a character that is incredibly sassy, sexy, witty, and strong-minded.  Her screen presence is undeniable throughout this film as she plays a character whose presence towers over everyone else in the film.  She is a character that I can only imagine was very risky to portray at the time, making it even more impressive that this film is the one responsible for skyrocketing her to stardom.  At times, She Done Wrong's screenplay tries to hard instead of relying on Mae West, making it very clear that Lou is loved and envied by everyone, with every guy wanting her, and every girl wanting to be her.  Lowell Sherman's She Done Wrong isn't a bad film by any means but it certainly suffers from feeling inadequate and almost unnecessary outside of Mae West's engaging performance.

---