No Place Like Nome!

Cyrn

One interesting aspect that hasn't been touched upon is the fact that Mae's character of Rose actually shows some genuine affection for the real missionary named Annie before Annie's death- a rare thing for Mae to do for another woman in a movie. I wonder if perhaps, Annie may have even been slightly based on Mae's own deceased, supportive mother?

The movie plays like a more lighthearted version of 'Sadie Thompson' with Mae's character using religion rather than vice versa- and it's a good touch that the captain is actually far less of a pushover than many of Mae's other leading men. He actually tries to deny and fight his affection for her (rare indeed in a Mae West movie). But Victor McLaglin was too tough to have been believable as a pushover and it's a nice touch at the end that Rose admits he's 'no oil painting' but that he's 'an interesting monster' when admitting her affection for him.

Also, it needs to be noted that at no point does the action ever venture to the Klondike- despite the movie's title. I suppose they wanted to keep Rose near the ocean (and the captain) instead of having her venture into the interior- giving the captain no reason to stay around. Perhaps 'Nome Annie' didn't suit Mae (who, curiously referred to the movie as 'Klondike Lou' in her autobiography - in spite of there having been no character of that name appearing in the move).

score 7/10

Cyrn 28 March 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2044173/