The Women (1939)

Directed by George Cukor. Starring Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, May Boland, Phyllis Povah, Lucile Watson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Grey, Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler.

Can’t accuse this one of false advertising—there are over a hundred speaking roles, and they’re all played by females. Based on Clare Booth Luce’s play, there’s no real story here, just a series of interconnected episodes involving a large group of pampered high society women, and while the artificiality of scenic composition on the stage could make the no-boys-allowed gimmick work, it’s often distracting onscreen. A bit surprising that, with all the ladies involved in its creation (including Anita Loos and Jane Murfin writing the screen story), the film paints such an unflattering picture of the fairer sex (it sure ain’t a proto-feminist treatise)—most of the characters are depicted as catty, gossiping chatterboxes that lean on the comforts of their well-to-do significant others and jump at opportunities to tear each other down. As Crawford’s character pointedly puts it, “There’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society…outside of a kennel.” She’s the doubtless standout in a good cast, and the movie certainly has its wickedly funny and sharply-observed moments, but there’s no reason that the film has to drag on so much—the overlong fashion parade scene, for example, could have easily been snipped. Shouldn’t these ladies know more about the value of “tightening”? Remade in 1956 (as The Opposite Sex) and again in 2008.

62/100