Long before Sex And the City and Desperate Housewives, there was “The Women”. Filmed in 1939, this film is a delightful rendition of the Clare Booth Luce play. Fittingly, no men appear in film; but they certainly are referred to, fought over, chased and sought after throughout the movie. That’s why the tagline to the film is “It’s all about Men”.
Don’t think because this movie is “old” that there’s no relevance to today. Besides being brought back to Broadway in 2001, the truly astonishing revelation here is that people really haven’t changed since 1939. We’re still worried about the same things and we still find that same things funny.
From the beginning this picture relates Darwinism of the animal kingdom to high society by assigning an animal role to each character—from sly fox to gentle lamb. Then metaphorically goes into a sequence of two dogs yapping at each other while the milieu of society queens gossip in the background—simply brilliant.
Basically put, Mary Haines' (Norma Shearer) tidy little Manhattan world is turned topsy-turvy when she learns that her husband has been having a little tryst with Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford). Early on, Mary plays right into the evil hands of Crystal, but soon wises up and protects her home and family with everything she is worth.
There’s only one way to say it, this show is funny and ironic. The complex relationships keep you riveted to the screen and the stars do a superb job of keeping the timing right on queue. My only complaint is a long fashion show sequence in the middle of the film, which really has nothing to do with the screenplay. Understanding that color movies were just beginning to be produced, this sequence is the only portion of the film brilliantly brought to the screen in color—the balance of the film is in black and white as it should be.
Next time you are in the video store and there is nothing new to see, pick up a copy of The Women.
You won’t be disappointed.
Genre: Comedy/Drama
MCAA Rating: NR
Runtime: 2h 13mins
Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell
Director: George Cukor
About The Author: David Zack Holmes provides movie reviews for the great DVDs never found in the New Release section. To read more features see: http://www.davidzackholmes.com
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