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I'm No Angel (1933) is Mae West's third motion picture. Mae West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays the male lead. This was one of the few Mae West films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Ms. West plays Tira, a circus performer who becomes a socialite.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Context 3 Memorable lines 4 Cast 5 See also 6 External links 7 Bibliography

A story about a gal who lost her reputation - and never missed it!

Tira begins as a sideshow attraction where she shimmies and sings for crowds of admiring men. She has a collection of expensive jewelry from various admirers and expensive tastes. When her sleazy boyfriend Slick goes to jail, she becomes a lion tamer to earn extra money. (West did her own stunts, including riding an elephant into the ring and putting her head into a lion's mouth.) This makes Tira a circus star and affords her a fancy residence and servants.

Tira's quest for respectability introduces her to cousins Kent and Jack Taylor, two New York City socialites. Despite his pedigree, Kent's interest in her is much the same as any other man's. He showers Tira with presents. Kent's outraged fiancee regards Tira as a guttersnipe. Soon Kent's cousin Jack (Cary Grant) takes an interest. After a brief romance, a misunderstanding leads Tira to believe Jack has jilted her. She sues for breach of promise - an outrageous suit considering her past - and cross examines the witnesses herself. When Jack lets her win in court, she realizes he is really in love with her and she with him. A triumphant Tira ends up rich and famous, with a handsome husband.

"I'm No Angel" was released immediately after She Done Him Wrong, when Mae West was the nation's biggest box office attraction and its most controversial star. In the early 1930s Mae West's films saved Paramount Studios from bankruptcy. Depression era audiences responded to the fantasy rise of a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Cary Grant stars opposite her for the second and final time. The film makes little use of his talents. West's ribald satire outraged moralists. Film historians cite her as one of the factors for the strict Hollywood production code that soon followed. The Hays Office forced a few changes including the film's title, originally It Ain't No Sin.

Rajah (a fortuneteller): Ah, you have a wonderful future. I see a man in your life.
Tira: What, only one?

Tira: Beulah, peel me a grape.

Tira: It's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men.

Tira: When I'm good I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.

Jack Clayton: Look darling, you need a rest and so do I. Let me take you away somewhere. We'll...
Tira: Would you call that a rest?
Jack Clayton: What are you thinking about?
Tira: Same thing you are.

Tira: I ain't never done this before. Marriage is a new kind of racket for me.

Mae West as Tira
Cary Grant as Jack Clayton
Gregory Ratoff as Benny Pinkowitz
Edward Arnold as Big Bill Barton

• List of United States comedy films

• IMDB
• Reel Classics
• The New York Times
• Cary Grant.net republished original Variety and New York Times reviews
• Filmsite.org review

• When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment, by Marybeth Hamilton (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). ISBN 0-520-21094-8
• Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, by Mae West (Avon: 1959). ASIN B0007HCX2O
• Mae West: A Bio-Bibliography, by Carol M. Ward (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989). ISBN 0-313-24716-1
• The Complete Films of Mae West, by Jon Tuska (Secaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 1992). ISBN 0-8065-1359-4