The Women
(1939)
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A no-holds-barred comedy about the eternal battle of the sexes (both inter- and intragender) and starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, THE WOMEN is based on the play by Clare Boothe Luce and is set in high-society 1930s New York. Although no men appear in the film, they are its primary subject matter--cheating men, in particular--and hell hath no fury like a group of women scorned....! |
“There's a name for you ladies, but it's not used in high society outside of kennels.” This is just a taste of the marvellous dialogue in this enjoyable and witty MGM comedy, immaculately cast without any men — even down to the sex of the featured animals. Adapted from Clare Booth Luce's Broadway hit, the complicated plot centres around divorce and infidelity, with star Norma Shearer upstaged by the magnificent Joan Crawford — playing queen bitch Crystal Allen to whom Shearer loses her never-seen hubby — and the utterly superb Rosalind Russell (as a particularly venal gossip). “Woman's director” George Cukor was in his element with this cast and such strong source material, and this particular print keeps intact the famous fashion sequence in Technicolor. The 1956 musical remake entitled The Opposite Sex introduced men and was markedly inferior.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Bitchy comedy drama distinguished by an all-girl cast ('135 women with men on their minds'). An over-generous slice of real theatre, skilfully adapted, with rich sets, plenty of laughs, and some memorable scenes between the fighting ladies.