THE WOMEN (1939) is my favorite film from that golden year

George Cukor is best know as a director of women's films. His deft hand guided many classic films centered on women. Such as Camille, Little Women, The Philadelphia Story, Susan and God, Holiday, Gaslight, parts of Gone With The Wind and of course the 1939 all star classic film The Women. That film had a dream cast of nothing but women as not one single man ever appeared in any parts of this wild and rollicking comedy. But it's ironic because men are all what these ladies talk and fight about. The cast features Norma Shearer as Mary Haines, a loving wife whose husband strays into an affair with the sexy, gold digging Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford in a top notch performance and my favorite character in the film). Mary's friend, Sylvia Fowler (hilariously played by Rosalind Russell) tries to help Mary through this crisis but ends up being the one who likes to stir things up. We all have friends like that don't we?

Sylvia and Edith meeting Crystal...

One loyal friend of Mary is Peggy (a quiet but still good performance by Joan Fontaine). After Mary runs into Crystal and has an argument with her husband, who is kept off camera, and the argument is wonderfully told to the audience by the maid to the cook in the kitchen, Mary heads to Reno for a divorce. There she runs into several more women including Paulette Goddard as Miriam (looking sensational and full of fire) and is seeing Sylvia's husband on the side. We also meet the delightfully eccentric The Countess De Lave (played by Mary Boland) who loves men like most people love candy. She just can't get enough of them.

CATFIGHT!

Once in Reno, the women settle down until Sylvia shows up and says she is getting a divorce too and finds Miriam is the other woman. Which leads to a hilarious catfight with hats, shirts, and skirts soon being ripped to pieces. The Women is an amazing film with Cukor guiding all these talented actresses perfectly and creating a masterpiece. Norma Shearer who started in films in the mid-20's and made several pre-code Hollywood melodramas where she was often cast as the sexy and independent woman is more motherly in this film. And her final screen exit is a little too over melodramatic but for the most part she is good as Mary. Rosalind Russell is a hoot as Sylvia and gets in some choice bits. But it's Joan Crawford who stands out the most as Crystal. Not only is she smart, funny, sexy and gets to deliver most of the film's most memorable lines, she is also drop dead beautiful here. Her classic line at the end of the film is one for the books..."There's a word for you ladies, but it's not used in society..outside of a kennel." Damn. Of course things work out eventually by the end of the movie, but the fun part is getting there to see it.

A meeting of enemies...

Winner of 4 Monties including Best Film, Director, and Supporting Actress (a tie between Roz and Joan).

Photo Of The Day - Roz getting a workout

One of the best scenes from The Women is when Rosalind Russell and Joan Fontaine are trying to exercise...well trying to gossip but the instructor keeps getting in the way with wanting them to exercise..

Congratulations to HIS GIRL FRIDAY for winning 4 MONTIES...

I know it's my own personal awards show, but I had to give His Girl Friday some more praise. I just wrote a post on my main blog All Good Things where my favorite film of all time took home four Monties. AWESOME! all good things

Let's go get our Monties my dear.....

The Women (1939) Catfight clip...

Click on the link below for this funny scene. Whoever posted the video didn't

sync the dialogue with the video, but it's still enjoyable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWNR7CQZ6Xk

The Feminine Touch (1941)

The Feminine Touch (1941). Romantic Comedy. Cast: Don Ameche and Rosalind Russell.

College psychology professor John Hathaway, becomes upset when Dean Hutchinson suggests that the team's star, Rubber-legs Ryan, must pass an exam to be put back on the team. Rubber-legs has eyes for John's wife Julie, John, who is writing a book about jealousy, thinks he is above all that and is not upset. Which does not make Julie very happy. When John and Hutchinson argue over Rubber-leg, John quits and moves to New York with Julie. At the publisher Elliott Morgan office, they meet, Nellie Woods, who is secretly in love with Elliott. While John talks over his book with Nellie, the jealous Julie meets the womanizing, Elliott who does not appeal to Julie. At a party, Elliott admits that he is attracted to Julie, and John says that he should spend time with Julie, while Nellie and John spend time together working. Julie goes sightseeing with Elliott and becomes very upset that John is not jealous. One day, when Julie comes home and sees John and Nellie hugging and drinking champagne, celebrating the sale of his book, Julie's jealousy surprises John. Later, while they are riding a subway, Julie and John jokingly pretend that he is bothering her and bystanders call a policeman. She tries to stop John's arrest but is pushed back onto the subway by the crowd. You have to watch to see what happens next.


I thought this was a very charming romantic comedy. Not heavy on plot, a perfect movie for a summer afternoon with its snappy dialog, especially from Russell and Francis. Another fun part about watching this movie is Julie fun hats. We also look back at 1940's feminism seen though psychology professor eyes but scoffed at by Julie, who says those are the women who are alone at night.