When Ladies Meet (1941 film)
When Ladies Meet (television broadcast title: Strange Skirts) is a 1941 American romantic comedy film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greer Garson, Herbert Marshall, and Spring Byington in a story about a novelist in love with her publisher. The screenplay by S.K. Lauren and Anita Loos was based upon a 1932 play by Rachel Crothers. The film was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who also co-produced the film (with Orville O. Dull). The film was a remake of the 1933 pre-Code film of the same name, which starred Ann  Harding, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, and Frank Morgan in the roles played by Garson, Crawford, Taylor and Marshall. Plot. Mary Howard is a novelist with advanced ideas about love and marriage, and is in love with her married publisher, Rogers Woodruf. She decides the only logical thing to do is to lure him away from his wife and marry him. Mary's friend, Jimmy, however, is convinced he's the right man for her and pursues her. He sees through her rationalizations and wrong-thinking and decides to throw Mary and Woodruf's wife Clare together at the house of  a friend. The two women do not know each other, but during their chats, Mary appreciates and respects Clare's maturity and wisdom. When Mary learns Woodruf is a philandering womanizer of long standing, she realizes she cannot love him and welcomes Jimmy's attentions. Reception. Howard Barnes of the "New York Herald Tribune" wrote, "Even when [Crawford] is wearing spectacles, she is not particularly convincing in the part." Box office. According to MGM records the film earned $1,162,000 in the US and Canada and $684,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $607,000. Awards and nominations . The film earned an Academy Award nomination for art directors Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell and Edwin B. Willis. Home media. "When Ladies Meet" was released on Region 1 DVD on March 23, 2009 from the online Warner Bros. Archive Collection.