Film

She Done Him Wrong

Name: She Done Him Wrong
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Released: 1933
Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery

Screwball comedy

Mae West's velvet-voiced masterclass in sexual charisma and zingers, a pre-Code romp where a nightclub queen juggles crooks and cops with the ease of a ringmaster. Sixty-five minutes of pure performance—West is the entire show, delivering double entendres that somehow passed censors, flirting her way through a plot that barely matters. For anyone curious how stardom actually works, or who loves old Hollywood at its most unapologetic.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

I'm No Angel1933

Mae West again, same year, playing a circus performer with the same gift for witty self-preservation. If you loved her in She Done Him Wrong, this proves she wasn't a one-hit wonder—she's hilarious in every register.

But It's fractionally more plot-heavy and slightly less focused on West's monologues. Some of the circus sequences feel padded compared to the tighter nightclub setting.

Dinner at Eight1933

The gold standard of pre-Code ensemble comedies: seven storylines braided together, all witty, all moving, Jean Harlow stealing every frame she's in. It captures the same era and the same freedom to say what characters actually think.

But West isn't in it, so you lose that hypnotic central performance. The dinner party structure means you're juggling several tones at once, which some find scattered.

Scarface1932

Same year as West's film, same anything-goes pre-Code energy, but it's the violent mirror: Paul Muni as a gangster who won't stop. It shows what else was possible in 1933—you can see the freedom before the Production Code clamped down.

But It's brutal and repetitive in ways that feel dated. Where West charms you, this relies on shock value that's worn smooth by now.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Baby Face1933

Both films center on women using sex and wit as weapons in a world that has nothing else to offer them, but Baby Face strips away the joke to show the math underneath.

Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who sleeps her way to wealth with the same calculation and amorality as West, but this is a tragedy told as if it's a victory. Pre-Code cinema's most uncomfortable statement about what it actually costs a woman to survive.

But It's bleak in ways West never allows. You're watching a woman use sex as currency and the film never lets you enjoy it—every success feels hollow. Some find it preachy about female ambition.

Trouble in Paradise1932

Ernst Lubitsch directing Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins as sophisticated con artists. The same wit as West, but channeled through elegant deception rather than sexual frankness—shows the full range of pre-Code comedy.

But It's much more restrained and European in tone. If you're drawn to West's bawdiness, this film's sophistication might feel like a comedown.

The Public Enemy1931

James Cagney at the moment stardom invented him, playing a gangster in a film that shocked audiences. It's the serious version of the crime world West winks at—same setting, opposite approach.

But It's genuinely grim and violent. There's no humor to soften it, and the pacing feels slow if you're used to West's snappy delivery.

Twentieth Century1934

John Barrymore and Carole Lombard in a screwball masterpiece about theatrical madness. It captures that same pre-Code permissiveness and sexual confidence, but through pure chaos instead of seduction.

But The energy is exhausting. It's ninety minutes of characters shouting and scheming without West's elegance to anchor it—feels overwound to some viewers.

The Thin Man1934

William Powell and Myrna Loy as married detectives who drink and banter their way through a murder. It has West's confidence in its characters and their sexuality, but wrapped in a proper mystery.

But It's polished and clever rather than raw. You're getting wit filtered through a studio system tightening up after West's film shocked everyone.

Of Human Bondage1934

Bette Davis as Mildred Rogers, a waitress who destroys a man through her indifference. It's the dark side of female sexual power—what happens when the woman using it isn't as clever or kind as Lady Lou.

But It's genuinely dark and ends badly. If you liked West for her triumph, watching this kind of seduction lead to ruin might feel punishing rather than entertaining.

Gilda1946

Both are studies in a woman weaponizing desire, but where West stays in control and laughing, Gilda shows the cost when the woman trapped in that role doesn't get to write the ending.

Rita Hayworth in post-war glamour doing what West did: performing seduction as power, making men orbit around her sexuality while she remains the only one who knows what she actually wants. Glenn Ford can't look away; neither can you.

But It's a full noir, which means it takes itself seriously and ends with moral judgment. Hayworth's performance is controlled tragedy, not joyful performance, so the tone is completely different from West's film.

Chungking Express1994

Both films trust that the audience will watch a character simply because they're magnetic—West through jokes and sexuality, Wong through color and editing. They're both about the spell a performer can cast.

Wong Kar-wai's Hong Kong masterpiece: two stories about desire, connection, and people using charm to navigate impossible circumstances. Shot through neon and rain, it has the same confidence in its characters' ability to seduce and survive through personality.

But It's a visual poem, not a plot. If you come for narrative momentum like She Done Him Wrong gives you, this will feel glacial. The film's beauty is the point, not a vehicle for something else.