Woman's World (1954)

An executive plans to fill a high-ranking position by interviewing the candidates' wives.

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Claude Binyon, Russel Crouse

Stars:

Van Heflin, Lauren Bacall, Cornel Wilde

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Clifton Webb	...	Ernest Gifford
June Allyson	...	Katie Baxter
Van Heflin	...	Jerry Talbot
Lauren Bacall	...	Elizabeth Burns
Fred MacMurray	...	Sid Burns
Arlene Dahl	...	Carol Talbot
Cornel Wilde	...	Bill Baxter
Elliott Reid	...	Tony Andrews
Margalo Gillmore	...	Mrs. Evelyn Andrews
Alan Reed	...	Tomaso
David Hoffman	...	Jabernowski

Storyline

Needing to fill the position of general manager of his company, and believing that an executive's wife is crucial to her husband's success, auto industry mogul Gifford brings three couples to New York to size up: Jerry and Carol: he hard-driven and self-reliant, she willing to use her beauty to further her husband's career; Sid and Elizabeth, he ulcer-ridden and torn between achieving success and restoring their troubled marriage, she positive that his job will kill him, but gamely agreeing to play the good wife for the duration; and down-to-earth Bill, whose good-natured Katie fears that his promotion would spell the end of their idyllic familiy existence.

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | executive | promotion | manager | company | 

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Taglines:

The Worldy Story of Three Deadly Females and the Men in Their Lives!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Woman's World

Filming Locations:

Mill Neck Manor, Mill Neck, Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical prints) 4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) (magnetic prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Ford Motor Company concept cars or "dream cars" that appear in Woman's World are the black Ford X-100, the white Mercury XM-800, and the red Lincoln XL-500.

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Goofs

The office building Gifford is driven up to at the start of the film is on Park Avenue in Manhattan. However, in the succeeding shot of him inside the building, the street seen outside is definitely not Park Avenue but another, narrower, Manhattan street.

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Connections

Featured in La noche de...: Negociador (2016)

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Soundtracks

It's a Woman's World
Music by Cyril J. Mockridge
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Performed by The Four Aces

User Reviews

Car Lover's Alert

Last night I saw Woman's World: The plot concerns three hot shot salesmen who have been summoned to New York for consideration as the general manager of a fictional automobile company. They salesmen are asked to bring their wives along as the company president believes his executives need the proper kind of wife to be an effective senior manager. Much intrigue, drama, and hilarity ensue.

Ford motor company participated significantly in this movie. In addition to a large number of 1954 Ford products, the movie featured two Ford fiftieth anniversary concept cars from 1953: the X-100 and the XL-500

At the beginning of the movie, one couple is shown driving to New York in a Mercury Monterey.

The lead character played by Clifton Web is the president of 'Gifford Motors. Gifford Motors' cars all resemble Ford Motor Company cars. In one scene, the lobby of the Gifford building is shown with the X-100 and the XL-500 displayed. A Gifford manager is demonstrating the features of the X-100 to a member of the public. The Plexiglas roof panel is shown automatically sliding into position as the windows rise to prevent the interior from being damaged in case it rained while the car was left open. Apparently this was a big problem in the 50s as 'automatically closing in case of rain' was a feature of many concept cars including the Buick LeSabre.

Later, the three wives are given a tour of New York in the X-100 with street scenes of the car in front of the New York Public Library and the United Nations among other locations.

Throughout the movie, company executives come and go in a Lincoln sedan and a convertible.

In one scene the president take the three potential general managers to the 'proving grounds' where we see a variety of Fords whizzing around a banked oval at high speeds with appropriate sound effects.

Another scene shows a futuristic feature being demonstrated by three large-scale tabletop models of prototype cars: one model drives forward, stops, makes a whirring sound, and then moves sideways into a parking space between the other two models. Presumably it was lowering dolly wheels when it made the whirring sound. This was a 50s approach to solving the age-old parallel parking problem for which solutions are still being pursued today – see the latest Lexus automatic parallel parking feature. A boardroom scene also shows a tabletop model although it's not clear if it's different from the previous three. There is also a scene in the interior design department with many prototype seats of varying color and design.

In addition to being a great movie, it is a real treat for lovers of early 50s Ford products.