Customer Reviews

My Little Chickadee [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Little Chickadee is a very good film starring W.C. Fields and Mae West. Sure, maybe the rumors are true that they didn't like each other; but you'd never know it when you watch this movie. Their on screen chemistry is good and the plot moves along at a good pace. It held my attention every step of the way and the acting is very convincing as well.

The action begins when Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is kidnapped by the masked bandit when he holds up her stagecoach. Amazingly enough, Flower Belle returns that night unharmed--and a love affair starts to blossom between her and the masked bandit! He has even given Flower Belle some of the gold he stole from the stagecoach. The people of Little Bend finally give up on Flower Belle when she is caught after she obviously had another tryst with the masked bandit. She is not allowed to return to Little Bend until she is "respectable"--and married.

Flower Belle boards the train to Greasewood with her escort Mrs. Gideon (Margaret Hamilton) and she fakes a marriage along the way to a ne'er-do-well Cuthbert J. Twillie (W.C. Fields), a complete stranger she meets on the train--but she thinks Cuthbert has money so they have a wedding with a fake preacher just so Flower Belle can get her hands on that money--and she does, only to find out it was as fake as her marriage to Twillie! Flower Belle has some time avoiding Twillie who wants to consummate their "marriage;" but true to form Flower Belle always manages to get out of THAT situation.

Moreover, Flower Belle meets two men in Greasewood who catch her eye--the straight and narrow good guy Wayne Carter (Dick Foran) and the owner of a huge saloon and party club, Jeff Badger (Joseph Calleia). All sorts of interesting scenes ensue as the two men pursue Flower Belle and flirt with her even though they still think she is actually married to Twillie. Badger even makes Twillie the town's new sheriff because that's the quickest way to bump him off--and get Flower Belle to be his wife!

Of course, from here the plot can go anywhere. Will Twillie survive being sheriff? Will Flower Belle eventually be free of Twillie to marry either Badger or Wayne Carter? What about Mrs. Gideon--will she cause trouble for Flower Belle as she flirts with all these men? No plot spoilers here, folks--watch the movie and find out.

Of course, this VHS tape has no extras. This movie is available on a DVD set called Mae West - The Glamour Collection; but even there according to the reviewers there is only the extra of the original trailer for this movie.

My Little Chickadee is an entertaining film with lots of action, comedy, suspense and great acting. Mae West and W.C. Fields fans will love this film; and fans of classic movies in general will also enjoy this movie.

MY LITTLE CHICKADEE was originally released to mixed reviews, but by the 1970s a revival of interest in both W.C. Fields and Mae West sparked renewed attention to the film--and while it is somewhat uneven and does not give us either actor at their best, this single pairing of two of Hollywood's most legendary comics offers enough amusement to keep us watching right through to the end.

By every account available, Fields and West absolutely loathed each other. After Field's death West went to considerable effort to belittle both Fields and his contribution to this film, insisting that she herself wrote the story and the script and Fields was responsible for his personal material only. Ironically, her claims re this are hardly flattering to her talent, for the great weakness of CHICKADEE is the actual story itself, which is remarkable for its lack of imagination: Flower Belle becomes mixed up with an outlaw and is run out of town--and told she can't return until she can prove she is respectably married. The opportunity to do precisely that arrives in the form Cuthbert J. Twillie, an inept con-man who becomes her dupe.

Although uninspired, the plot does have the benefit of allowing both West and Fields to do their own thing both separately and occasionally together--and when it works, it goes off with a bang. Their meeting on the train, their wedding night, and West's unlikely stint as a schoolmarm (teaching the young about figures, of course) are all hilarious bits, and Margaret Hamilton gets in some good moments in the supporting cast. The film only sinks whenever it returns to the storyline of West and her bandit lover--so all in all, although not the best, it is well worth a watch, particularly for Fields and West fans. Recommended, but don't expect too much.

My Little Chickadee is the story of a wild woman (Mae West) who is ejected from her town for her indiscreet behavior. She is only allowed to be accepted by marrying, so she fakes a wedding with a man she meets on a train (WC Fields). However, she does not give up her behavior and avoids her new husband as much as possible. The most powerful man in town takes to the woman and makes her husband sheriff, a position that does not hold members for long.

Mae West's saucy, purring voice can sometimes be annoying, but it is quite pleasing in this film. She is a suave gunslinger who is never surprised adorned with great costumes that show off her ample body. In the one song in the film, she sings "Willie of the Valley" with an excellently utilized vibrato voice with a bluesy style. She is excellent in the film, especially the schoolhouse scene.

WC Fields makes a great entrance into the picture. He has a great personality, and an extravagant, stagy voice, but he is slightly upstaged by West.

West and Fields wrote the screenplay, and it is filled with snappy, sophisticated dialogue. There are several great one-liners, like, "My heart is a bargain today; will you take me?" and "I'd like to see Paris before I die; Philadelphia will do."

There are some racial stereotypes in this film including those aimed at Indians, Spaniards, and Chinese.

The picture of this film is crisp and clear, beautifully photographed.

Overall, this is an excellent film.

MEA WEST & FIELDS TOGETHER FOR A GREAT MOVIE FIELDS IS FAST ON THE GUN AND WEST IS FASTER GOOD ONE LINERS YOU WILL REMEMBER FOR A LIFE TIME A MUST SEE

MY LITTLE CHICKADEE paired the two great anarchic comedians of the 1930's, Mae West and W.C. Fields, for their one and only co-starring appearance. By all accounts they couldn't stand each other, but you'll get no impression of hostility while watching this breezy, infectious western comedy.

Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is run out of town after she's seen kissing a masked bandit in her bedroom. On the train bound for the wild west city of Greasewood, she meets Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields), a fast-talking con man. She brings a new meaning to the term "shotgun wedding", when, after an action-packed Indian attack, she manages to bribe a phoney minister and marry Twillie, so she can get her hands on his carpetbag stuffed with cash--later revealed to be as fake as the man carrying it! Once in Greasewood City, Flower Belle dumps her 'husband' like a sackful of potatoes, but Twillie plugs away, determined to impress his beautiful bride using any means he can...

It's not Mae West's finest hour, but MY LITTLE CHICKADEE is inexplicably one of her most popular titles. West and Fields each had screenwriting credit, and the script has lots of comic schtick so both can shine. But when they come together, it's completely charming (especially during the Indian attack, and that great scene with the goat). W.C. Fields was a compulsive drinker and would often turn up on the set with foul-smelling breath, much to the annoyance of Mae West, who refused to be subject to his drinking habit on any level. You'll notice that Fields and West never actually get very close at all in the movie. That's the reason. Mae looks a treat in her Vera West-designed costumes, and button-nosed W.C. Fields has lots of physical comedy gags.

Mae West sings "Willie of the Valley". The supporting cast includes Margaret Hamilton, Dick Foran, Joseph Calleia, Donald Meek, Ruth Donnelly, and Fuzzy Knight.

MY LITTLE CHICKADEE paired the two great anarchic comedians of the 1930's, Mae West and W.C. Fields, for their one and only co-starring appearance. By all accounts they couldn't stand each other, but you'll get no impression of hostility while watching this breezy, infectious western comedy.

Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is run out of town after she's seen kissing a masked bandit in her bedroom. On the train bound for the wild west city of Greasewood, she meets Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields), a fast-talking con man. She brings a new meaning to the term "shotgun wedding", when, after an action-packed Indian attack, she manages to bribe a phoney minister and marry Twillie, so she can get her hands on his carpetbag stuffed with cash--later revealed to be as fake as the man carrying it! Once in Greasewood City, Flower Belle dumps her 'husband' like a sackful of potatoes, but Twillie plugs away, determined to impress his beautiful bride using any means he can...

It's not Mae West's finest hour, but MY LITTLE CHICKADEE is inexplicably one of her most popular titles. West and Fields each had screenwriting credit, and the script has lots of comic schtick so both can shine. W.C. Fields was a compulsive drinker and would often turn up on the set with foul-smelling breath, much to the annoyance of Mae West, who refused to be subject to his drinking habit on any level. You'll notice that Fields and West never actually get very close at all in the movie. That's the reason. But when they come together, it's completely charming (especially during the Indian attack, and that great scene with the goat). Mae looks a treat in her Vera West-designed costumes, and button-nosed W.C. Fields has lots of physical comedy gags.

Mae West sings "Willie of the Valley". The supporting cast includes Margaret Hamilton, Dick Foran, Joseph Calleia, Donald Meek, Ruth Donnelly, and Fuzzy Knight.

The legendary teaming of W.C. Fields and Mae West has some hilarious moments, but does not make for classic cinema. "My Little Chickadee" (1940) is an unsuccessful patchwork of two comedic styles that simply do not mesh. In fact, the Western satire works best when the stars keep their distance by doing their own thing. Not surprisingly, the film was more successful for Fields than for Miss West - who detested the Great Man until the day she died. Worth seeing solely for historical purposes.

I'm so happy this movie is available on its own instead of having to buy boxed sets. I've always been a huge fan of Fields more than West but the teaming of these two comedy legends was genius. The scene on the train between the two of them and the classroom scene with West filling in as the teacher are classic. In between is just a lot of fun watching these two greats do what they do best.......make us laugh.

Fields last 4 movies are in my opinion the greatest contribution to comedy in american film history. Add Mae west and this one is a knockout!

This sweet little movie has an undeserved terrible reputation. I think it is due to the fact that the combo of Mae West and W. C. Fields is so perfect one expects the resulting film should be a rival to SOME LIKE IT HOT or THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK. Instead it's just a nice little average comedy movie but one fans of either star should cherish. The movie is particularly not popular with West fans used to their diva completely dominating the screen, covered with diamonds and pawed on by young handsome hunks like Cary Grant and Gilbert Roland. Here Mae has a leading man actually older than her! Yet her original script (she was peeved that Fields received co-writer credit when he simply inserted one of his comic routines for a scene) has some of her sharpest, most political barbs, addressing her critics by deliciously naming Margaret Hamilton's self-righteous women's group The Ladies Vigilante Committee or by becoming a substitute teacher (the prude's worst nightmare, Mae West influencing young America). Reading off the blackboard, "I am a good boy. I am a good girl", Mae snaps "What is this? Propeganda?" If the rest of the movie had this sort of bite, CHICKADEE would be ranked with the greatest social comedies ever made.