Oddball Films presents Mae West, Young Man! a night dedicated to the beauty, brains and belly laughs of one of the most entertaining comediennes in history. Mae West was more than a beautiful buxom blonde, she was a quick-witted and gifted comedienne that often wrote her own snappy dialogue including some of the best one-liners of all time. The centerpiece of the evening, I'm No Angel (1933) is a racy romantic musical comedy starring West and Cary Grant. Mae West sizzles as Tira, a down-on-her-luck circus performer who must face death by putting her head in a lion's mouth to find fame, and face even more dangerous situations to find true love. Her sharp tongue and bodacious curves light up the Big Top in this raucous Pre-Code feature that Mae wrote herself. Filled with more than enough hilarious zingers and sexual innuendos to have you quoting Miss West for weeks to come. Before the feature, we will be screening West's strangest television appearance as she plays herself in Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (1964). And if you just can't get enough Mae, come early (7:30 pm) for a comedic look at her stellar career in an ultra rare episode of Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate Look at... Mae West (1965). Come on up and see the wit, beauty and talent of the incomparable Mae West!
Date: Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
I'm No Angel (B+W, 1933)
"Well, it's not the men in your life that counts, it's the life in your men."
A fabulous (and racy) Pre-Code circus comedy starring the hilarious and voluptuous Mae West and Cary Grant. Mae West shines with all her sass and showmanship playing a sideshow beauty that hits it big and finds fame as Tira: The Incomparable, a Circus Performer that sings, rides elephants and tames lions with a whip and a gun. Her claim to fame is her death-defying act of putting her head in a lion's mouth, along with her killer bod and biting tongue. Always saucy, Mae West truly is “incomparable”, and to prove it, she even wrote the film. Directed by Wesley Ruggles and considered to be one of the best films (if not the best) of Mae West's career.
Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (B+W, 1964)
The 1960s were a hard time for many of the great stars of the 1930s and 40s. Joan Crawford made a turn towards schlocky horror, and Mae West headed for the horse stables of Television. In this bizarre episode of the classic TV program, Mae West sweeps into town and requests that Wilbur redesign her horse stable, with all the luxury fit for a Hollywood Queen. Ed overhears the conversation and begins to resent his own surroundings, shabby by comparison, but soon realizes pampering isn't what it's all cracked up to be.
Come on up Early Sometime (7:30) for:
Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate Look at Mae West (1965)
Wayne and Shuster were a Canadian comedy duo that had a brief summer series extolling the virtues of the kings (and queen) of comedy. The series combines commentary, comedy and documentary to salute the funniest of the Blonde Bombshells and the only woman to be profiled by the short-lived show.
About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.
