Lady Lou, from the film She Done Him Wrong, is a woman who is concerned with nothing other than her own success, survival, and satisfaction. Like many of Mae West’s characters, Lou uses humor and sex to appeal to people – men in particular – throughout the entirety of the film. About 26 minutes into She Done Him Wrong, directed by Lowell Sherman, we see a scene (25:54-29:12) in which Lou walks through a jail to visit an old flame, Chick Clark. Lou exemplifies her quick wit while going down a line of suitors to get to Chick’s cell. Though the dialogue does turn threatening, the production elements of this scene inform the audience of the extent to which Lou fears Chick. Through composition, sound, and lighting, Sherman constructs a formal norm, and an exception to this norm, for Lou’s relationships with men.
Looking at the composition of this scene, we can gather a lot about Lou’s character and her relationship to men. The first shot of the scene (25:54) features a row of jail cells, demarcated by iron-bar doors, along the right side of the frame. In the lower left corner of the frame, Lou enters the jail with her male friend and confidant, Spider Kane. When she steps into frame (25:57), the set creates a visual arrow to her. In this all-male prison, Lou is the center of attention. Everything in frame points to Lou as the focus, such as the slanted wall on the right, the horizontal iron bars on the cell doors, the handrail on the second floor above them, and the diagonal bar on the door Lou is walking through to enter. This focal positioning continues as Lou walks down the line of prison cells, consistently positioned in the center of the frame, stopping to speak to each man along the way.
When we first see Chick (26:44), he is sitting down, waiting for Lou. He is the only man who waits instead of going to his door. This is significant, because by going to the door to say hello to Lou, the other men have visually trapped themselves for Lou in a box of iron bars. She holds the power by being consistently unobstructed. Chick is not visually trapped, he is positioned in the center of the frame; here, the focus shifts from Lou to Chick. When Lou enters (26:49), she and Chick split center: Lou on the left of the frame and Chick on the right. On the wall behind Lou and Chick, there is a horizontal bar that runs parallel between them, visually placing them on the same plane as equals. This positioning of their bodies within the frame serves as a visual cue to the audience that Chick is the only man in this scene who challenges Lou’s power and confidence. Whenever both Lou and Chick are in the shot onward, even if the focus is on one or the other, their bodies continue to split the centerline of the frame. Thus power is constantly being challenged. Only in the last shot of Chick (29:06) does power shift: Chick goes to his door. By visually trapping himself in a box of iron bars, Chick renders himself as powerless to Lou as all of the other men.
Lou’s rule is further constructed through Sherman’s use of sound. First and most noticeably, unlike much of the rest of the film, this scene has no music. This serves to expose Lou, a musical performer, as out of her element. This lack of soundtrack also emphasizes and gives power to the voice, particularly Lou’s voice and how it changes.
During the first part of the scene (25:53-26:44), Lou is met with many different men speaking many different ways. One man (26:00) speaks with a cockney accent, a choppy cadence, and slow pace. Another man (26:11) speaks at a slow pace, smooth cadence, and soft volume. Another still (26:27) speaks fast paced, high pitched, and loud volume. The wide variety of auditory characteristics in the men’s voices is juxtaposed by Lou’s regularity of characteristics. No matter the delivery from each man, Lou responds with an unswerving delivery. Her voice is high in pitch, quick in pace, and a controlled slightly loud speaking volume. These characteristics feed into the quick wit and humor that can be expected from Lady Lou throughout She Done Him Wrong, and the broader Mae West persona.
As Lou utters the first word in her interaction with Chick (26:49), her sound changes. Her voice drops in volume, pitch, speed, and cadence. She is more succinct when speaking to Chick, as well as low pitch, quiet, and slow. This shift implies Lou’s caution around Chick, refusing to quip and instead choosing to carefully select her words. Chick does most of the speaking with his deep pitch, slow pace, and soft volume. His voice carries a rasp that adds a roughness to his sound before considering his words, which are also rough. Other than voice, we hear locks as Lou enters (26:44) and as she leaves (29:02). These lock sounds may seem environmental, but are crucial to denote both the danger and the safety of Lou’s relationship with Chick. She is unable to talk her way out of involvement with Chick, so she is locked into her situation. But she is only safe as long as Chick is locked up.
Additionally, Chick’s unique role in Lou’s social pattern is further reinforced by Sherman’s use of lighting. Though the lighting is low key and shadows can be found on the set and on other characters’ faces, when we first see Lou’s face (25:58), she is immediately illuminated. Her presence is unabashed by her encounters with men, and the full light on her face exemplifies that trait. The men she passes in their cells have shadows of the iron bars cast on their faces, the light source seemingly coming from Lou. These shadows elicit the interpretation that Lou affects these men; she has made a lasting impression on their lives.
As Chick sits, waiting for Lou (26:44), he is divided by shadow. The top half of his face is in shadow, and the bottom half in light; but the light does not come from Lou. Instead, when Lou enters, she too is divided by shadow (26:56): the right side of her face in shade and the left side in light. This is the only time in the scene that Lou is not fully lit. Chick is the only man in this context that has made a lasting impression on Lou.
In conclusion, Sherman uses mise en scène, sound, and lighting to construct Lou’s attitude toward men. Each of these production elements sets up a pattern of repetitive behavior between Lou and the row of men. This ascertains a standard before breaking it through Chick, emphasizing him as an outlier to the other men in Lou’s life. This scene holds importance within the grander film by establishing the power Chick holds over Lou, and Lou’s need to escape him for her own success and survival.