Universal Pictures
The glamorous Mae West stars as a ‘kept’ woman who flees to Alaska and the Gold Rush of the 1890s in Klondike Annie. After the beautiful Rose Carlton (West) escapes from the clutches of the wealthy and possessive Chan Lo (Harold Huber), she finds herself on a ship bound for greater pastures. The ship’s captain, Bull Brackett (Victor McLaglen), instantly falls for Rose but she is distracted by her new cabin mate, Sister Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy). Exchanging philosophies, the unlikely pair develop a meaningful friendship before Sister Annie becomes sick and passes on. In desperation, as her past starts to catch up with her, Rose changes her identity with her deceased friend and is inspired to a new calling. West is at her best as she brings the immoral townspeople to their knees with her unconventional style of evangelism in this spirited tale of divine transformation. Co-written by West and directed by the great Raoul Walsh.
REVIEW
After experiencing the first two pre-Code Mae West films recently released by Kino Lorber (She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel), I knew it was going to be very interesting to get into Klondike Annie which was filmed after the Hays Office went after Hollywood’s ‘immoral’ films. Right from the start you can feel that this is a very different West, much more subdued without her saucy one-liners to rely on. It may be disappointing if that’s what you’re expecting, but in the long run it actually makes for a better performance from her because now she is forced to rely on the character and not just the dialogue. West gets to give two very different, yet powerful performances here. At the start of the film she’s the ‘Diamond Doll’ (again playing off of her Diamond Lil character), crooning a song in a scene that would be considered very problematic today, a white woman in a sea of Asian men with her lover portrayed by a White actor in ‘yellowface’. Seeing it through the lens of 1936, the song and her performance of it is a hoot, but after she’s off stage, ‘The Doll’ shows she is a strong woman tired of being holed up (could there be a suggestion of white slavery here?) by Chan Lo. She’s got all she could want for, except her freedom and there are consequences if she’s even seen talking to a White man.
But through a series of events we never see, ‘The Doll’ (her name is Rose but she’s always called Doll) boards a ship with her maid Fah Wong (Soo Yong) to escape San Francisco to head north to Nome, Alaska, site of the 1890s Gold Rush. Fah Wong wants to be dropped off in Seattle, and it’s there that the captain of the ship — who is already smitten with Rose — learns that Rose is wanted for the murder of Chan Lo. As a viewer we’re left to wonder if she really killed him, or if this is just a ploy to get her back because we never see how she got away from him. But Captain Brackett will do anything to protect his Doll and tells the police he hasn’t seen anyone fitting that description. Things get a bit easier for them when Sister Annie boards the ship, becomes friends with Rose, then dies after a ‘bad heart attack’ (as noted in the ship’s log), allowing Rose to adopt the identity of Annie, assuring her safe passage to the Klondike. This is where West gets to really show a different side of herself, even if Annie’s plain black dress suddenly becomes a form-fitting gown when worn by Rose, now fired up to be a ‘good’ woman to honor her friend, truly wanting to make the mission Annie was to help build a success. Knowing how to get an audience, Rose/Annie drops a few veiled threats to the woman who runs the music hall, and she succeeds in getting the whole town to Sunday services. But Rose’s past is catching up to her as a local police officer (a Mountie, I assume, since Alaska was not a state during the film’s time period or at the time this film was made) begins to fall for her, and then learns her true identity. Now she’s torn between two men, and a guilty conscience, leading into an ending that was almost certainly imposed upon the film by the Hays Office.
Klondike Annie is a very good film because it’s so different from West’s other work, forcing her to be more creative with her dialogue and character, showing that she really could act when given the chance. It was always an uphill battle with the Hays Office, and West only made a handful of films after this before focusing her attention back on the stage where she didn’t have to fight censorship (much). The film also has some good performances from Victor McLaglen as Brackett, and Helen Jerome Eddy as Sister Annie. West’s costumes at the beginning of the film are the lavish spectacles one would expect, and the production design from the nightclub to the ship’s cabin to the town of Nome are all top-notch. With the Hays Office putting so much pressure on the production, they still managed to make lemonade from lemons, turning out a very entertaining film.
Universal Pictures
BLU-RAY
This Kino Lorber Blu-ray looks good but doesn’t seem to have undergone an extensive restoration as the previous films. There are signs of fine lines in the film here and there but nothing to suggest bad damage, and the image has a heavier film grain and slightly softer image than expected. But it still looks better than it ought to considering the film’s age and history, originally produced for Paramount Pictures then acquired by Universal. The mono soundtrack is sharp and clear, however, with voices front and center and any music or sound effects nicely balanced in the background, never over-powering the dialogue. This disk has the same collection of Kino Lorber trailers for the other Mae West films in their catalog, with the one major extra being a feature length commentary track from film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. I can’t recommend this track enough for its wealth of information.
Watch the movie first then listen to the commentary as they go deep into West’s battles with the Hays Office — which really seemed to target her for destruction. Listening to the things that West had to fight over to get her movies made makes any admiration I had for her grow even more. It’s a bit tragic what they did to her, and one could argue that it was the Hays Office Production Code that deprived us of more Mae West performances on film. One very interesting note her about how the Code interfered with the film comes with the revelation that eight minutes were ordered removed from the film, which included the pivotal scene where The Doll stabs Chan Lo in the back, confirming she did indeed murder him. Sadly, with the transfer of the film from Paramount to Universal, all of the outtakes were trashed so this scene is assumed to be lost forever. The commentary offers a wealth of information and is a valuable addition to the disk.
OVERVIEW
Klondike Annie is a very different film for Mae West, and those expecting the bawdiness she was known for may be disappointed. But looking past that, her performance here is one of her best, perhaps ever surpassing that of She Done Him Wrong, which I enjoyed very much, because of the restrictions placed on her. West very easily could have given up on Hollywood at this point, but she forged ahead and proved she was more than a gimmick. This may not be the Mae West you’re looking for, but in the end you’ll be happy you found her after watching Klondike Annie.
Kino Lorber generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
Klondike Annie has a running time of 1 hour 20 minutes and is not rated.
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