Nutshell Review: The Women (1939)
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard
Studio: MGM
Viewing: Warner Home Entertainment DVD
Plot: Mary Haines (Shearer) is blissfully married. A Park Avenue housewife waited on by servants & surrounded by ‘good’ friends at daily luncheons and fashion shows. Gossip, jealousy & backbiting, however, are the heart of the group & Syliva Fowler (Russell) is the ringleader, always out to wreak havoc like a whirlwind. When she finds out about Mary’s husband’s infidelity with a shop girl named Crystal (Crawford) she sets the plot in motion tout suite, tricking Mary into hearing the news first hand. Adhering to her mother’s advice to ignore the infidelity, Mary pretends all is well in the Haines household, until running into Crystal at a fashion show. Confronting her in a dressing room, Mary dressed in an evening gown, Crystal in lingerie, Mary creates a scene that makes the newspapers, spreading her shame for all to see. Before she exits the dressing room, Shearer & Crawford engage in a perfect example of the wit and biting commentary of the screenplay (Anita Loos & Jane Murfin):
Shearer (referring to Crawford’s lingerie): “If you’re dressing to please Stephen not that one, he doesn’t like such obvious effects.”
Crawford: “Thanks for the tip, but if anything I wear doesn’t please Stephen I take it off.”
The news in the press is a gross exaggeration of what actually occurred, but it is enough to move Mary to start divorce proceedings, even after considering the consequences for her daughter Mary. A train ride to Reno to wait for the divorce ensues. En route, she meets the Countess DeVale (Mary Boland) & Miriam Aarons (Goddard) also on their way for quickie divorces. For the Countess, with her repeated refrain of “l’amour” divorce is a mere bump in the pursuit of true romance. For Miriam, it is a rescue project because she is in love with Howard Fowler, the tortured wife of Sylvia. Both women try to convince Mary to return to Stephen, but is it not until Sylvia herself arrives, having been threatened with divorce by Howard, that Mary momentarily allows herself to believe she & Stephen can reconcile. A phone call announcing his marriage to Crystal crushes that dream & Mary admits that but for her pride she would be back in Stephen’s arms, but now it is too late.
Flash forward 18 months & the bloom is off the rose for Crystal’s marriage to Stephen. Taking a phone call from her new lover while lounging in the tub she is confronted with the brutal truth of her hypocrisy. She pays no attention, but when Syliva barges in and reinforces the same message, as well as undermines her affair with The Countesses new husband, Crystal reacts by making a pact with Sylvia to keep secrets.
The finale: When her daughter confides that Stephen is unhappy and Crystal is having an affair, Mary concocts a plan to confront both Crystal & Sylvia and get Stephen back, telling her mother, “I’ve had two years to grow claws mother, jungle red!” The ladies lounge at the local club provides the perfect environment to lay her trap. Tricking Sylvia into betraying her affair with her shrink, Mary threatens to betray her confidences all over town, noting Crystal as the source of the dirt. Sylvia’s frustration leads to her betrayal of Crystal’s lover, who then spills the beans on the restaurant floor, shattering Crystal’s marriage and sending her infuriated into the ladies lounge. Her humiliation is only complete when she realizes her suitor is penniless. Tough and crude to the last moment Crystal utters her famous last line as she exits: “By the way there’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society, outside of a kennel…”
Mary , on the other hand, runs towards Stephen, finally realizing that she doesn’t care about pride, but would rather have love!
Thoughts: The opening credits immediately set the tone with each actress superimposed over a corresponding animal that represents their character; Mary, over a deer, Crystal over a leopard & Sylvia over a cat, for instance. Cats, both predatory and duplicitous are a central theme that extends beyond the credits, like when Mary notes she’s grown claws and Edith commenting to Sylvia that it “looks like you’ve been tearing into someone’s neck” in reference to her jungle red nail polish. Pitting Joan Crawford & Norma Shearer opposite one another as rivals was also a jungle-like construct, given their years old rivalry. In fact, the credits themselves offer a little insight into the rivalry when Norma, in a flash of generosity suitable for her character Mary, agreed to have Crawford’s name the same size as hers on the first title card (Rosalind Russell’s would be no greater than 50% that size).
The scene for me that captures the rivalry perfectly is in the department store dressing room. The body language between Shearer & Crawford is magnificent, constantly shifting from power to weakness and back. Crawford’s bravado is on full display, brash, uncouth, but a little bit insecure, her physical presence bigger than Shearer’s. Norma, on the other hand, constricts under the initial barrage from Crawford, her shoulders folding in on themselves, but broadens them when she believes that love will eventually conquer lust. Smaller and certainly more classy, Shearer holds her own, but it is clear to me that both women, both actresses, felt a little envy towards the other. Joan/Crystal, the scrappy climber & Norma/Mary, the confident mistress of the lot/movie. Gavin Lambert tells the story behind the scene in his biography of Norma Shearer, where Joan was clicking away on her knitting just off camera while Cukor was lining up Norma’s close up reaction shot, distracting her repeatedly. Finally, Norma broke off mid-shot and asked Joan to stop knitting. Joan responded in her most demure purr that no one had ever minded before. Finally sensing what was happening Cukor sent Joan home, so he could finish the shot. Joan, ever the instigator, sent a telegram of apology to Norma at home that night, but Norma ignored it and the two never spoke again! (p. 278-279)
Mary notes at one time that her marriage is one of equals, an oft repeated theme in Shearer pictures. As in The Divorcee, Shearer’s character here sees marriage as a contract built on mutual respect, partnership & most of all honesty. Unfortunately, as in The Divorcee, indiscretion gets in the way of the marriage ideal. Shearer made a habit of playing chic, sophisticated wives who professed, and in some cases exercised, their independence. They more often than not reflected the struggles of the 1930’s woman, bound to convention, but struggling to chart a more equal and open path. The struggle for her here in The Women is the pedestal that both audiences & MGM’s star machine had placed her by 1939. In role after role in the ‘30’s Shearer played characters with the façade of perfection, but were routinely challenged with self-doubt and regret. Comparing pre-code versions of similar character like in A Free Soul & The Divorcee, with Mary, for instance, shows that those characters were more comfortable on their own, even if they ultimately chose stability over independence in the final reel.
Category: Comedy
See Also: His Girl Friday, Dinner at Eight
Random Notes & Quotes:
-George Cukor, producer Hunt Stromberg’s first choice to direct, was only available because he was fired from Gone with the Wind. Originally, The Women was going to be produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch, but he ultimately passed on it to direct Ninotchka with Greta Garbo.
-While Shearer originally didn’t want the part of Mary, thinking it too virtuous and rife for upstaging by Sylvia & Crystal’s parts, a run in with Louis B. Mayer, the result of an affair with the 16 year old Mickey Rooney, may have played a part in her change of heart (Lambert p. 275)
-Even in one of the greatest years in film history (1939), The Women was named one of the year’s best by the National Board of Review.
-Clare Booth Luce wrote they play on which The Women is based. It ran for 666 shows.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald contributed to the screenplay, but was uncredited.
-Hedda Hopper, the famous gossip columnist, plays gossip columnist Dolly Dupuyster, among her nearly 150 acting credits.
-“Lay off while I unswallow.” -Edith (Phyllis Povah) exiting the room to vomit over the sight of oysters.
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard
Studio: MGM
Viewing: Warner Home Entertainment DVD
Plot: Mary Haines (Shearer) is blissfully married. A Park Avenue housewife waited on by servants & surrounded by ‘good’ friends at daily luncheons and fashion shows. Gossip, jealousy & backbiting, however, are the heart of the group & Syliva Fowler (Russell) is the ringleader, always out to wreak havoc like a whirlwind. When she finds out about Mary’s husband’s infidelity with a shop girl named Crystal (Crawford) she sets the plot in motion tout suite, tricking Mary into hearing the news first hand. Adhering to her mother’s advice to ignore the infidelity, Mary pretends all is well in the Haines household, until running into Crystal at a fashion show. Confronting her in a dressing room, Mary dressed in an evening gown, Crystal in lingerie, Mary creates a scene that makes the newspapers, spreading her shame for all to see. Before she exits the dressing room, Shearer & Crawford engage in a perfect example of the wit and biting commentary of the screenplay (Anita Loos & Jane Murfin):
Shearer (referring to Crawford’s lingerie): “If you’re dressing to please Stephen not that one, he doesn’t like such obvious effects.”
Crawford: “Thanks for the tip, but if anything I wear doesn’t please Stephen I take it off.”
The news in the press is a gross exaggeration of what actually occurred, but it is enough to move Mary to start divorce proceedings, even after considering the consequences for her daughter Mary. A train ride to Reno to wait for the divorce ensues. En route, she meets the Countess DeVale (Mary Boland) & Miriam Aarons (Goddard) also on their way for quickie divorces. For the Countess, with her repeated refrain of “l’amour” divorce is a mere bump in the pursuit of true romance. For Miriam, it is a rescue project because she is in love with Howard Fowler, the tortured wife of Sylvia. Both women try to convince Mary to return to Stephen, but is it not until Sylvia herself arrives, having been threatened with divorce by Howard, that Mary momentarily allows herself to believe she & Stephen can reconcile. A phone call announcing his marriage to Crystal crushes that dream & Mary admits that but for her pride she would be back in Stephen’s arms, but now it is too late.
Flash forward 18 months & the bloom is off the rose for Crystal’s marriage to Stephen. Taking a phone call from her new lover while lounging in the tub she is confronted with the brutal truth of her hypocrisy. She pays no attention, but when Syliva barges in and reinforces the same message, as well as undermines her affair with The Countesses new husband, Crystal reacts by making a pact with Sylvia to keep secrets.
The finale: When her daughter confides that Stephen is unhappy and Crystal is having an affair, Mary concocts a plan to confront both Crystal & Sylvia and get Stephen back, telling her mother, “I’ve had two years to grow claws mother, jungle red!” The ladies lounge at the local club provides the perfect environment to lay her trap. Tricking Sylvia into betraying her affair with her shrink, Mary threatens to betray her confidences all over town, noting Crystal as the source of the dirt. Sylvia’s frustration leads to her betrayal of Crystal’s lover, who then spills the beans on the restaurant floor, shattering Crystal’s marriage and sending her infuriated into the ladies lounge. Her humiliation is only complete when she realizes her suitor is penniless. Tough and crude to the last moment Crystal utters her famous last line as she exits: “By the way there’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society, outside of a kennel…”
Mary , on the other hand, runs towards Stephen, finally realizing that she doesn’t care about pride, but would rather have love!
Thoughts: The opening credits immediately set the tone with each actress superimposed over a corresponding animal that represents their character; Mary, over a deer, Crystal over a leopard & Sylvia over a cat, for instance. Cats, both predatory and duplicitous are a central theme that extends beyond the credits, like when Mary notes she’s grown claws and Edith commenting to Sylvia that it “looks like you’ve been tearing into someone’s neck” in reference to her jungle red nail polish. Pitting Joan Crawford & Norma Shearer opposite one another as rivals was also a jungle-like construct, given their years old rivalry. In fact, the credits themselves offer a little insight into the rivalry when Norma, in a flash of generosity suitable for her character Mary, agreed to have Crawford’s name the same size as hers on the first title card (Rosalind Russell’s would be no greater than 50% that size).
The scene for me that captures the rivalry perfectly is in the department store dressing room. The body language between Shearer & Crawford is magnificent, constantly shifting from power to weakness and back. Crawford’s bravado is on full display, brash, uncouth, but a little bit insecure, her physical presence bigger than Shearer’s. Norma, on the other hand, constricts under the initial barrage from Crawford, her shoulders folding in on themselves, but broadens them when she believes that love will eventually conquer lust. Smaller and certainly more classy, Shearer holds her own, but it is clear to me that both women, both actresses, felt a little envy towards the other. Joan/Crystal, the scrappy climber & Norma/Mary, the confident mistress of the lot/movie. Gavin Lambert tells the story behind the scene in his biography of Norma Shearer, where Joan was clicking away on her knitting just off camera while Cukor was lining up Norma’s close up reaction shot, distracting her repeatedly. Finally, Norma broke off mid-shot and asked Joan to stop knitting. Joan responded in her most demure purr that no one had ever minded before. Finally sensing what was happening Cukor sent Joan home, so he could finish the shot. Joan, ever the instigator, sent a telegram of apology to Norma at home that night, but Norma ignored it and the two never spoke again! (p. 278-279)
Mary notes at one time that her marriage is one of equals, an oft repeated theme in Shearer pictures. As in The Divorcee, Shearer’s character here sees marriage as a contract built on mutual respect, partnership & most of all honesty. Unfortunately, as in The Divorcee, indiscretion gets in the way of the marriage ideal. Shearer made a habit of playing chic, sophisticated wives who professed, and in some cases exercised, their independence. They more often than not reflected the struggles of the 1930’s woman, bound to convention, but struggling to chart a more equal and open path. The struggle for her here in The Women is the pedestal that both audiences & MGM’s star machine had placed her by 1939. In role after role in the ‘30’s Shearer played characters with the façade of perfection, but were routinely challenged with self-doubt and regret. Comparing pre-code versions of similar character like in A Free Soul & The Divorcee, with Mary, for instance, shows that those characters were more comfortable on their own, even if they ultimately chose stability over independence in the final reel.
Category: Comedy
See Also: His Girl Friday, Dinner at Eight
Random Notes & Quotes:
-George Cukor, producer Hunt Stromberg’s first choice to direct, was only available because he was fired from Gone with the Wind. Originally, The Women was going to be produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch, but he ultimately passed on it to direct Ninotchka with Greta Garbo.
-While Shearer originally didn’t want the part of Mary, thinking it too virtuous and rife for upstaging by Sylvia & Crystal’s parts, a run in with Louis B. Mayer, the result of an affair with the 16 year old Mickey Rooney, may have played a part in her change of heart (Lambert p. 275)
-Even in one of the greatest years in film history (1939), The Women was named one of the year’s best by the National Board of Review.
-Clare Booth Luce wrote they play on which The Women is based. It ran for 666 shows.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald contributed to the screenplay, but was uncredited.
-Hedda Hopper, the famous gossip columnist, plays gossip columnist Dolly Dupuyster, among her nearly 150 acting credits.
-“Lay off while I unswallow.” -Edith (Phyllis Povah) exiting the room to vomit over the sight of oysters.
