There have been various movies about the Klondike gold rush, but this isn't one. Nome, of course, is nowhere near the Klondike, not even in the same country. There was a smaller gold rush to Nome at about the same time. Later, there would be a much better known movie about the Nome rush, called "The Spoilers". I liked the present film, as well. In addition to Mae, the presence of Victor McLaglen as a lead player is a major plus.

I found the song list at this site none too accurate. Most of the songs were performed at a meeting of the Nome mission with town people. Mae did sing "Little Bar Butterfly", but Gene Austin or a small group of men gathered around him, not Mae, sang "Cheer Up, Little Sister", and "It's Better to Give Than to Receive". Also, the unlisted traditional songs Auld Lang Syne" and "There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" were group sings, excluding Mae. Austin composed all the new songs and played the organ for all the songs above. In addition, Mae sang "Mister Deep Blue Sea" and "I'm an Occidental Woman in an Oriental Mood for Love". For this last song, she was on stage in a very fancy outfit and oriental -looking headpiece, with a big sun-like circle behind her, that served to center her.. The first song listed as sung by Mae: "My Medicine Man", I didn't detect.

The Hays Commission did at least one major disservice to the film in cutting out the scene where Mae and her master, Chan Lo, struggle with a knife and she accidentally stabs him a fatal wound in self defense. This sets the stage for the rest of the film, and we only learn about it later. The reason Chan tried to kill her was that he intercepted a note to her relating her ambition to go to Alaska and weasel some of the gold from the miners. Just how she ended up a virtual prisoner of Chan for a year is not discussed. Any way, fearing she will be charged with murder, she flees on the first ship available for Alaska, which is a freighter captained by the always interesting McLaglen, known as Bull Brackett, who takes an immediate liking to her. At first he's angry when he receives a letter saying she's wanted for murder, but he's so infatuated with her, he decides not to turn her in. The same is true of the Nome harbor inspector, who romances Mae some before he discovers she's actually the wanted Frisco Doll, suspected of having gone to Alaska. Mae decides to leave Nome with McLaglen, so that the inspector hopefully won't loose his job for failing to report her.

Between these events, to hide her identity in Nome, she switches clothes with sister Annie Alden and assumes her identity after Annie dies of a heart attack on board the ship. Mae then proceeds to make considerable progress in cleaning up the seamy side of Nome society. She wanted to stay longer, but her problem with the inspector induced her to sail with McLaglen, requesting that he take her to San Francisco to stand trial, hopefully being judged not guilty. Good luck!

As always in her films, Mae struts around like a peacock, throwing out snide remarks here and there. For example, McLaglen says "Ill be back later". Mae replies "The later, the better". When shown a Nome dance hall, she remarks "I suppose they have to dance to keep warm in Alaska".

This is another middling Mae West vehicle: though there's something approximating a plot in its case (involving her taking up the guise of a missionary!), this has the unfortunate effect of producing unwarranted sentimentality – consequently, the star's trademark sauciness gets downplayed – which, frankly, doesn't suit her in the least…or convince us for a second! At least, director Walsh vividly renders the turn-of-the-century atmosphere and changes of locale: we start in Chinatown, where Mae's the kept woman of an Oriental establishment owner, then spend a good deal of time aboard ship with rowdy captain Victor McLaglen – during which the real (and elderly) Sister Annie perishes from a heart attack – and, finally, settle in the titular gold-mining region – where the heroine above all turns the head of a young Mountie (actually after West for the death of her Asian master that occurs off-screen!) even if he believes her to be a pious woman.

Needless to say, West's bubbly personality and smart business sense (acquired via her former capacity of world-renowned torch singer) turns around the mission's formerly pitiful fortunes – which even come to threaten the takings at the local saloon (especially since she's recruited many of the performers there to liven up her own "joint")! I was under the impression that KLONDIKE ANNIE was something like 80 minutes long (the Leslie Halliwell Film Guide even gives the running-time as 83), so that I was surprised when it abruptly ended – by having the star forsake the young career man for experienced lout McLaglen – at a little over 73 minutes in PAL mode (with a bit of research, I was able to determine that Image's presumably long out-of-print R1 DVD actually only ran for 76 minutes).

In the earlier days of Mae West's career, she made a huge name for herself on Broadway. Her shows were very popular...and were perhaps made MORE popular after she was arrested for lewdness for this act! Hollywood during the early 1930s jumped at the opportunity to bring West out west....because in this Pre-Code era, pretty much anything went in films...and West's bawdy humor was perfect. However, bowing to public pressure in mid-1934, a much tougher Production Code was put into effect--and banned all sorts of illicit content. In other words, the new Code pretty much eliminated most of West's appeal! And in her films from 1934 and later, her humor was essentially neutered...and this explains why she really never made that many films. The double entendres and risque plots simply were unfilmable in this Code era...and the few films she did make after this time were pretty dull by comparison.

In the case of "Klondike Annie", Mae cannot be the old Mae at all. She is still seen by men, inexplicably, as a sex symbol...but she's now a sex symbol without that sharp tongue that made her so funny. And, in the case of "Klondike Annie", the film was so neutered that it had little edge at all. Imagine....Mae playing a missionary, of sorts, in rough, tough gold rush era Alaska!

When the story begins, Rose (West) is a performer who is essentially being held prisoner by her evil boss. In desperation, she kills him and runs--hitching a ride on a ship heading to Alaska. But, because it was a Code film, you never see the killing (it was removed from the finished print) and this made the story a bit confusing.

After a missionary on the cargo boat dies on the way to her job in Alaska, Rose poses as Annie in order to avoid the police....and the captain helps her. After all, like most men in these films, he's smitten with her and the plan is for her to disappear from the mission sooner or later...though it ends up being much later than she anticipated.

While I was never a big fan of Mae West, I must admit that her post-Code pictures were mostly a sad lot. This one just seemed all wrong for her and her persona...especially when the stuff she's preaching as a missionary comes to actually change her into a good woman! It's just hard to imagine this sort of thing...and the film suffers from this and is simply too 'nice' for West.

By the way, late in the film, a Chinese man tosses an ax at Mae...and you can clearly see it's actually on a string!