Mae West: The Glamour Collection

A sex symbol from the days when sex symbols weren't ubiquitous, Mae West delighted and scandalized movie audiences with her come-hither looks, pouty purrs, and hourglass figure. In film after film she not only used her over-the-top sexuality but flaunted it—at least to the limited degree allowed by censors in the 1930s. Achieving silver screen stardom smack dab in the middle of the Depression, West dazzled her admirers with suggestive situations and saucy dialogue, constantly flirting on the edge of what was then considered good taste. This two-disc set collects five of her movies, beginning with her 1932 debut film Night After Night (which she stole from nominal leads George Raft and Constance Cummings), followed by her 1933 turn as a buxom lion tamer in I'm No Angel, the rags-to-riches tale Goin' to Town (1935), her riotous romp in the hinterlands Go West, Young Man (1936), and her unforgettable 1940 teaming with the irrepressible W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee, which—while not strictly a star vehicle for West—featured some of her funniest scenes, cleverly contrived as self-parody. Presented extra-less, aside from a pair of trailers, this bargain-priced collection is recommended. [Note: also newly available are Carole Lombard: The Glamour Collection and Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection.] (E. Hulse)