When Ladies Meet (1941)

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Rachel Crothers (play)
S.K. Lauren (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 August 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Mary, a writer working on a novel about a love triangle, is attracted to her publisher. Her suitor Jimmy...

Plot Keywords:

Publisher | Interior Decorator | Sailing | Novelist | Eyeglasses

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Mary 'Minnie' Howard
Robert Taylor	...	Jimmy Lee
Greer Garson	...	Mrs. Claire Woodruff
Herbert Marshall	...	Rogers Woodruff
Spring Byington	...	Bridget 'Bridgie' Drake
Rafael Storm	...	Walter Del Canto
Mona Barrie	...	Mabel Guiness
Max Willenz	...	Pierre, Bridget's Summer House Handyman
Florence Shirley	...	Janet Hopper
Leslie Francis	...	Homer Hopper

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7593)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Based on the play, "When Ladies Meet" by Rachel Crothers that was produced by John Golden and opened at the Royale Theatre in NYC on 6 October 1932 and closed 4 March 1933 (173 performances). Stage cast included Frieda Inescort, Walter Abel, Spring Byington, 'Herbert Rawlinson' and Selena Royle. Byington was also in the film version.

Quotes:

Claire Woodruff: I've discovered it doesn't pay to be capable. Husbands don't approve.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Bad beyond belief

Romance novelist Joan Crawford falls in love with married publisher Herbert Marshall. Crawford meets his wife, Greer Garson, at the home of loopy blabbermouth Spring Byington. Hard to say which is sillier, the acting, the plot, the dialog, the furniture or the clothes. Bad beyond belief. Hollywood at its phoniest. Reissued with the title "Strange Skirts," this has to be a drag queen's dream come true and a feminist's worst nightmare. A women's picture in the worst sense of the phrase. At one point, Greer Garson says "I've discovered it doesn't pay to be capable. Husbands don't approve." Herbert Marshall, supposedly a Don Juan, acts more like an undertaker. Points of interest: the producer's name is Dull, Joan Crawford and Greer Garson duet on a tune that's possibly the worst movie song ever, Robert Taylor and Herbert Marshall drive the exact same car, Spring Byington's rather effeminate male escort is her "decorator," and Joan Crawford's spacious Manhattan apartment is in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge but she blithely leaves her front door unlocked while she gardens and sprays DDT wearing white elbow length gloves that match her dress and hat. Unintentional laughs galore.