Customer Reviews

The Heat's On [VHS]

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4 star:		(3)
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Mae looks and dances the Rumba (even showcasing a little Xavier Cugat). She is excellent and beautiful. Unfortunately the non-Mae West 'musical numbers' - especially the victory garden music number should have been cut. They make the picture drag. When Mae is on she sparkles and there is never a dull moment. Just when she starts getting really hot doing the Copa Cabana number the movie ends.... leaving you wanting more of Mae...

One of Mae's lesser seen movies,The Heat's On, made in 1943, was perhaps her hope for a come back in a new era of film making that had changed drastically from her heyday in the 30's. Mae is lovely and sparkles each time on screen. Alas, Mae is only on screen in this picture a mere 24 minutes of the total 83 minute running time. I believe that if Mae had been willing to change her patented Diamond Lil image and had the right people behind her for the transition, she could have had a great second career in the 40's even with the censorship police. She was still a beautiful, talented, unique and one of a kind actress. While not her best movie, The Heat's On is still entertaining,albeit the intrusive musical numbers detract from the story line. If filmed as a Mae West vehicle that made her the centerpiece this would have been a success. Still worth a look nonetheless for marvelous Mae.

Seldom seen, Mae West's 1943 film, "The Heat's On" although universally panned by critics at the time of its original release, its still able to generate some heat today, mostly due to the several stunning musical numbers.
It's a lot of fun, Mae looked fabulous it in, perhaps the most beautiful of all her films. She looked incredibly trim and adopted a current hair style which suited her very well. Her musical numbers were top notch, the only problem being the most dramatic musical production, for the "Lure" number was deemed too disturbing to censors and was cut from the film. West wears a very risque outfit, which she would be wearing when the police were supposed to have raided her show. The dress was entirely made of coruscating blue sequins, except for portions of skin-colored net intended to photograph as real flesh. The outfit featured a fantastic headdress in the form of a coiled snake, studded with blue sequins, its glittering head spitting out at me. From behind the snake a mass of peacock feathers spread in all directions. Over her forehead swung three strands of large, fake pearls. Under her chin, from ear to ear, dangled three more strands of pearls.
Stills that survive of this stunning gown attest to the high camp appeal the scene likely would have generated if it hadn't been excised. Ironically, when the video version of the film was finally released in 1993 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of West's birth, the packaging featured a still from the deleted scene, her Lucite finger nails predating Edward Scissorhands' claws.
If one watches the DVD of the film, which I obtained from amazon.UK in a box set, you see the police bursting into the theatre where Mae's Faye Lawrence character's play "Indiscretons" is raided, and the performers on the stage are running off as the police burst down the aisle. Unfortunately nothing is seen of Mae in her exotic costume.
Over the years, several stills of the infamous Walter Pluckett gown have surfaced, but if this musical number which was reportably banned were to be reinserted, Mae's running time of 25 minutes in this 80 minute film would be boosted and it would make for essential viewing.
Jazz pianist Hazel Scott, musical numbers are extremely good, and very well photographed. Unfortunately, racism often reared it's ugly head in the 30's and 40's and musical numbers featuring African-American performers were often shot as so to be removed from a film print that played in white southern movie theaters.
The film was donated to the U.S. Government by Columbia Pictures as part of the war effort and prints were unavailable for several decades. It was re-released in the late 1940's to capitalize on the popularity of Lloyd Bridges, who played a minor role in the film at the time of it's original release.
During the centennial of Mae West's birth in 1993, Columbia jumped on the bandwagon and released "The Heat's On," to complete the "Mae West Collection" released by Paramount, but it was quickly deleted in the VHS format. To date, not all of Mae's Paramount films have been released in DVD format and currently The Heat's On is not slated for the North American market. However, I found "The Mae West Collection" on DVD available from Amazon.UK and am able to watch it on my computer after resetting the region code.

The movie arrived soooner than was promised and in good condition.
I will definitely purchase from this seller again.