The Women (1939 film)

***The Women*** is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's 1936 play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code for it to be released.

The film stars Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Lucile Watson, Mary Boland, Florence Nash, and Virginia Grey. Marjorie Main and Phyllis Povah also appear, reprising their stage roles from the play. Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler, Butterfly McQueen, and Hedda Hopper also appear in smaller roles. Fontaine was the last surviving actress with a credited role in the film; she died in 2013.

The film continued the play's all-female tradition—the entire cast of more than 130 speaking roles was female. Set in the glamorous Manhattan apartments of high society evoked by Cedric Gibbons, and in Reno, Nevada, where they obtain their divorces, it presents an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various rich, bored wives and other women they come into contact with. Throughout the film, not a single male character is seen or heard

## Plot

The film is a scathing look at a group of Manhattan women and the scores of women who work for them. It centers on Mary Haines, the cheerful, contented wife of Stephen and mother of Little Mary, and her circle of “friends”. Mary's cousin Sylvia Fowler goes to Sydney's elite salon to get the latest nail color: Jungle Red. Olga, the manicurist, reveals that Mary's husband has been “stepping out”  with a predatory perfume counter girl named Crystal Allen. Sylvia eagerly shares the news with Mary's friends and sets Mary up with Olga.

Mary is shattered to learn about Stephen's infidelity. Her wise mother urges patience and takes Mary to Bermuda with her, so she can take time to think. When they return, Mary goes to a couturier for a fitting. Crystal appears, ordering expensive clothes. Stephen is now keeping her.  At Sylvia's insistence, Mary confronts Crystal, who slyly suggests that Mary keep the status quo unless she wants to lose Stephen in a divorce. Heartbroken and humiliated, Mary leaves. The gossip continues, exacerbated by Sylvia and their friend Edith, who turns the affair into a public scandal by recounting Sylvia's version of the story to a gossip columnist. Mary decides to divorce her husband despite his efforts to make her stay. As she packs to leave for Reno, Mary explains the divorce to Little Mary, who weeps alone in the bathroom.

On the train to Reno, Mary meets three women with the same destination and purpose: the dramatic, extravagant Countess de Lave; Miriam Aarons, a tough-cookie chorus girl; and, to her surprise, her shy young friend Peggy Day, who has been pushed into divorce by Sylvia. They all settle in at a Reno ranch, where they get plenty of commonsense advice from Lucy, the gruff, warm-hearted woman who runs the ranch. The Countess tells tales of her multiple husbands and seems to have found another prospect in a cowboy named Buck Winston. Miriam has been having an affair with Sylvia Fowler's husband and plans to marry him. Peggy discovers that she is pregnant, calls her husband and happily plans to hurry home. Sylvia arrives at the ranch; Howard is suing her, thanks to recorded evidence of mental cruelty. When she discovers that Miriam is the next Mrs. Fowler, she attacks her, and a fight ensues.

Mary's divorce comes through, but Miriam tries to convince her that she should forget her pride and call Stephen. Before Mary can decide, Stephen calls to inform Mary that he and Crystal have just been married.

Two years later, Crystal, now Mrs. Haines, is taking a bubble bath and talking on the phone to her lover, Buck Winston, now a radio star and married to the Countess. Little Mary overhears the conversation before being shooed away by Crystal. Sylvia picks up the phone and hears the voice of Crystal's lover.

Mary hosts a dinner for her Reno buddies and her Manhattan friends—excepting Sylvia—celebrating Buck and the Countess's two-year anniversary. The Countess, Miriam, and Peggy urge Mary to come along to a nightclub, but she stays home. Little Mary inadvertently reveals how unhappy Stephen is and mentions Crystal's "lovey dovey" talk with Buck on the telephone. Mary is transformed, crying "I've had two years to grow claws, Mother—Jungle Red!"

In the nightclub's ladies' lounge, Mary worms the details out of Sylvia, and gets the news to a gossip columnist (played by Hedda Hopper). Mary tells the Countess that her husband Buck has been having an affair with Crystal, then informs Crystal that everyone knows what she has been doing. Crystal does not care. Mary can have Stephen back, since she will now have Buck to support her. The weeping Countess reveals that she has been funding Buck's radio career and that without her, he will be penniless and jobless. Crystal resigns herself to the fact that she will be heading back to the perfume counter, adding: "And by the way, there's a name for you ladies, but it isn't used in high society—outside of a kennel." Mary, triumphant, heads out the door, arms wide open to receive Stephen.

## Cast

* Norma Shearer as Mary Haines
* Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen
* Rosalind Russell as Sylvia Fowler
* Mary Boland as The Countess De Lave
* Paulette Goddard as Miriam Aarons
* Phyllis Povah as Edith Potter
* Joan Fontaine as Peggy Day
* Virginia Weidler as Little Mary Haines
* Lucile Watson as Mrs. Morehead
* Marjorie Main as Lucy
* Virginia Grey as Pat, perfume counter clerk
* Ruth Hussey as Miss Watson
* Muriel Hutchison as Jane
* Hedda Hopper as Dolly Dupuyster
* Florence Nash as Nancy Blake
* Cora Witherspoon as Mrs. Van Adams
* Mary Beth Hughes as Miss Trimmerback
* Lilian Bond as Mrs. Erskine
* Dennie Moore as Olga, the manicurist
* Jane Isbell as Edith's daughter (uncredited)
* Mariska Aldrich as Singing Teacher (uncredited)
* Butterfly McQueen as Lulu, Perfume counter maid (uncredited)
* Barbara Jo Allen as Receptionist (uncredited)
* Gertrude Astor as Mud bath attendant (uncredited)
* Marie Blake as Stockroom girl (uncredited)
* Theresa Harris as Olive (uncredited)
* Barbara Pepper as Tough woman (uncredited)
* Mabel Colcord as Woman Getting Massage (uncredited)
* Terry as Dog in Salon (uncredited)

## Production

In January 1937, producers Harry M. Goetz and Max Gordon bought the film rights to the play for $125,000 and planned on turning it into a Claudette Colbert vehicle, with Gregory LaCava as the director. In March 1938, Norma Shearer and Carole Lombard were in negotiations to star. In November 1938, it was announced Jane Murfin was busy writing the film's screenplay at MGM. Virginia Weidler was cast on April 24, 1939. F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on the script early on in the process, but was uncredited. Cast member Florence Nash's sister Mary Nash had starred in a 1911 play called *The Woman*.

*The New York Times* reported on Cukor's strategies for managing a cast of 135 women led by three famously demanding stars. He described one technique for dealing with precedence: He made sure that all three stars were called to set simultaneously, either by sending separate staff to knock on their dressing room doors at the identical moment, or by calling "Ready ladies!" so all could hear. This system lapsed only once, and the offended star (not named) remained in her dressing room for a very long time.

### Technicolor fashion showEdit

*The Women* has one sequence in Technicolor, a fashion show. When interviewed by TCM host Robert Osborne, director George Cukor stated that he did not like the sequence and that he wanted to remove it from the film. *New York Times* critic Frank Nugent agreed with this assessment. In his September 22, 1939, review of the film, he reported that “a style show in Technicolor...may be lovely—at least that's what most of the women around us seemed to think—but has no place in the picture. Why not a diving exhibition or a number by the Rockettes? It is the only mark against George Cukor's otherwise shrewd and sentient direction.”

On the other hand, British critic Peter Bradshaw compares this sequence to the nightmare in Alfred Hitchcock's *Spellbound*.

## Reception

The film was commercially successful and was cited as one of the best of the year. Although it received no Academy Award nominations, many critics now describe it as one of the major films of what was a stellar year in Hollywood film production.

The New York Times critic Frank Nugent praised the film with characteristic wit:

“*...(G)oing and coming to syrupy movies, we lose our sense of balance...Miss Boothe...has dipped her pen in venom. Metro, without alkalizing it too much, has fed it to a company of actresses who normally are so sweet that butter (as the man says) would not melt in their mouths.*”
―

Leonard Maltin gives the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars: “All-star (and all-female) cast shines in this hilarious adaptation of Clare Boothe play about divorce, cattiness, and competition in circle of "friends. *Crawford has one of her best roles...”*

In 2018, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave five out of five stars to “this extraordinary, almost Daliesque comedy...the absence of men has its own kind of ethical implication. It is a sort of abandonment, and the drama’s no-men structure is a satirical comment on their emotional distance Around this drama of duplicity and infidelity, Cukor creates a brilliant spectacle, halted by Shearer’s moments of stunningly serious emotional devastation.

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Women holds a 94% "Fresh" rating from 62 reviews.

### Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,610,000 in the US and Canada and $660,000 elsewhere but because of its high production cost ultimately incurred a loss of $262,000. However, the film was re-released in 1947 and earned a small profit of $52,000.

### Cultural impact

In 2007, The Women was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Actress Anna Kendrick considers the film to be her favorite film to watch, calling it “a wildly funny all female cast and a female writer. I revisit it almost every year and my appreciation for the performances and the writing grows.” She reiterated her love for the film several years later.

## Remake

In 2008, Diane English wrote and directed a remake of the same title, her feature film directorial debut. The comedy starred Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, and Debra Messing, and was released in 2008 by Picturehouse Entertainment, a sister company to Warner Bros. (the current owners of the 1939 version through Turner Entertainment). It holds a 13 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.