Craig's Wife (1936)

Director:

Dorothy Arzner

Writers:

George Kelly (play)
Mary C. McCall Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A domineering woman marries a wealthy man for his money, and then uses her position to further her own ambitions for money and power. |

Plot Keywords:

Pulitzer Prize Source | Based On Play

Cast

Rosalind Russell	...	Harriet Craig
John Boles	...	Walter Craig
Billie Burke	...	Mrs. Frazier
Jane Darwell	...	Mrs. Harold
Dorothy Wilson	...	Ethel Landreth
Alma Kruger	...	Ellen Austen
Thomas Mitchell	...	Fergus Passmore
Raymond Walburn	...	Billy Birkmire
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Landreth
Robert Allen	...	Gene Fredericks
Nydia Westman	...	Mazie
Kathleen Burke	...	Adelaide Passmore

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Version of Harriet Craig (1950)

Timeless American Theme

A very interesting film! I saw it at a university's film archive; to my knowledge, it is not often screened on cable or broadcast TV.

For Rosalind Russell fans, the film is quite a change of pace from those who may know her best from the screwball comedy "His Girl Friday." She's very good in "Craig's Wife," (as is the supporting cast) and her performance gives you an appreciation for her range as an actress.

I say the film addresses a timeless American theme, which is the tension between American culture's focus on materialism (an issue even way back in the 1930's, clearly) versus a person's more human needs, such as emotional intimacy. The character of Harriet Craig clearly resists any show of vulnerability and, as the film progresses, increasingly reveals a depth of coldness that's also chilling for the audience to witness, and is mirrored in the uneasiness the supporting characters display as they interact with her.

What gives the film its lasting impression is that there are almost certainly many of us today who have met someone like the character. Furthermore, in the present day, we often see similar themes (love vs. money) played out in American films.

The theme was a common one, I think, in the 1930's, partly because the Depression and its aftermath made it hard for anyone (particularly women, for whom few career opportunities were available, let alone accepted) to ignore the economic expediency and comfort that finding a wealthy husband could afford. In that era, the hardships that may have accompanied being a romantic and marrying for love (without regard for money) were not trivial.

For a comic take on this same thematic vein, catch "Midnight" with Claudette Colbert, which is a delightful movie that I think screens fairly often on the AMC (American Movie Classics) cable channel. Less from a money-based viewpoint, but very much from an emotional standpoint, the character Mary Tyler Moore plays in 1980's "Ordinary People," a drama, has some of the same elements as Rosalind Russell's Harriet Craig here.

Another variant, which centers on the ambiguous intentions of a man toward a wealthy young woman, can be found in "The Heiress" with Olivia de Havilland, remade (with the title of the Henry James novel both films were based on) as "Washington Square" in the 1990s, with Jennifer Jason Leigh.

So, I view "Craig's Wife" as a surprisingly unflinching view of how one woman walled herself up within a prison -- both material and emotional -- of her own making. Highly recommended.