The Women (1939)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Clare Boothe Luce (play)
Anita Loos (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

The Female Of The Species . . . when the men aren't watching !

Plot:

Wealthy Mary Haines is unaware her husband is having an affair with shopgirl Crystal Allen. Sylvia Fowler...

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Dude Ranch | Gossip | Train | Marriage

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Norma Shearer	...	Mrs. Stephen Haines (Mary)
Joan Crawford	...	Crystal Allen
Rosalind Russell	...	Mrs. Howard Fowler (Sylvia)
Mary Boland	...	The Countess De Lave
Paulette Goddard	...	Miriam Aarons
Phyllis Povah	...	Mrs. Phelps Potter (Edith)
Joan Fontaine	...	Mrs. John Day (Peggy)
Virginia Weidler	...	Little Mary
Lucile Watson	...	Mrs. Morehead
Marjorie Main	...	Lucy
Virginia Grey	...	Pat (perfume counter clerk)
Ruth Hussey	...	Miss Watts (Stephen's secretary)
Muriel Hutchison	...	Jane (Mary's maid)
Hedda Hopper	...	Dolly Dupuyster (columnist)
Florence Nash	...	Nancy Blake

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

France:U | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) (1939) | UK:U (re-rating) (2004) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #5546)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Although uncredited, F. Scott Fitzgerald contributed to the writing of the screenplay.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the fashion show, the hands of the model in the red gown and fur stole noticeably change position between the long shot and the close-up.

Quotes:

Sylvia Fowler: Our friend, Mrs. Stephen Haines, simply dotes on this... Her husband picked it out for her... Perhaps you waited on him?
Crystal Allen: I'm afraid I don't remember. You see, there are so many men who come in here.
Sylvia Fowler: Awfully good looking... I'm sure you wouldn't overlook him.
Crystal Allen: I'm sorry, but when one's mind is on one's own business...
Sylvia Fowler: Of course... And as you say, you have so many men.

Movie Connections:

Featured in From the Ends of the Earth (1939)

Soundtrack:

On Top of Old Smoky

A Legendary Comedy Available On DVD

The female of the species goes jungle red in tooth and claw in this brilliant screen adaptation of Claire Boothe Luce's famous Broadway play--a wickedly funny portrait of 1930s society women whose lives revolve around beauty treatments, luncheons, fashion shows, and each other's men. Socialite Mary Haines is the envy of her set: rich, beautiful, and happily married... but when her husband steps out on her with a gold-digging perfume counter sales clerk, Mary's so-called friends dish enough dirt to make divorce inevitable whether Mary wants it or not.

The script is wickedly, mercilessly funny, fast paced, razor sharp and filled with such memorable invective that you'll be quoting it for weeks and months afterward: "He says he'd like to do Sylvia's nails right down to the wrist with a buzz-saw;" "Why that old gasoline truck, she's sixty if she's a minute;" "Gimme a bromide--and put some gin in it!" And the all-female cast, which includes every one from Cora Witherspoon to Butterfly McQueen to Hedda Hopper, plays it with tremendous spark.

This was the last significant starring role for Norma Shearer, one of MGM's greatest stars of the 1930s, and she acquits herself very well as the much-wronged Mary Haines. But the real winners are the members of the supporting cast. Joan Crawford is truly astonishing as Crystal Allen, the shop girl who leads Mary's husband astray, and Rosalind Russell gives an outrageously funny performance as the back-biting gossip whose nasty comments precipitate Mary's divorce. Indeed, it is hard to do anything except rave about the entire the cast, which includes such diverse performers as Marjorie Main, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, and Lucille Watson. Even the smallest bit parts score with one-liners that have the impact of a slap in the face, and director George Cukor does an incredible job of keeping everything and every one in sharp focus.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about THE WOMEN is the way in which director Cukor ties the behavior of its characters to their social status. Possessed of absolute leisure and considerable wealth, their energies are inevitably directed into competition for the ultimate status symbol: a successful man. Cukor allows us to sympathize with Mary (Shearer) and laugh at Sylvia (Russell), but he also requires us to pity them--and indirectly encourages grudging admiration for the devious Crystal (Crawford) and the savvy Miriam (Goddard), characters who are considerably more self-reliant. Consequently, not only does THE WOMEN paint a poisonously funny portrait of women as a sex, it takes a hatchet to the society that has shaped their characters as well.

Unfortunately, this landmark comedy has not received the full benefit of what DVD offers. Although the print is crisp, the film has not been restored, and the extras are spurious and hardly do the film justice; while I would recommend the DVD simply because you're likely to wear out a VHS, the DVD has no great advantage over the VHS release. But whether you have it on VHS or DVD, this is one title that you must have in your collection: you'll watch it again and again. A must-have! Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer