Day #34 - The Women

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This might be one of my favorite movies yet! Today I watched The Women, a 1939 movie directed by George Cukor with an ALL female cast including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine and Paulette Goddard. This movie was recommended to me by my mother-in-law Julie - thank you!! It was on TCM and what was really nice about it was that...oh what was his first name...whatever his name Osborne comes out and gives a little intro to the movie which I appreciated. He said that George Cukor, the director, was great at working with women and so this movie was quite ideal for him. He was only available to direct it as he had just gotten fired from directing Gone with the Wind. Hmm...wonder why? Gotta remember to look that up.... Anyhoo, in 1939 at MGM, their big time divas were Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Norma and Joan especially were huge rivals and were always vying for the big scripts and attention of the studio bosses. This was their first movie together so it was always in the back of my mind as I watched them.

Rosalind Russell I had not actually heard of before but she was my favorite in this movie!!! She was SO funny and ridiculous and over the top. Every time I see Joan Fontaine I just think of Olivia Dehaviland - they were sisters, right? She's soooo pretty. Let's talk for a second about Joan Crawford - that woman scares me! You think maybe she's okay but then once she turns on bitch mode it seems to come allllllllltogether quite easy and I think in real life she would be beyond intimidating. I actually found her to be much prettier than I imagined as I had never seen her in a movie before this one. Norma Shearer was very endearing and also very pretty but different than the other women and I can't quite point out how. I loved seeing all of these women together - what a powerhouse!

In a nutshell, this movie is basically about rich upper east side-y women who spend their time gossiping and talking about their husbands and everyone one else's. The focus of the story is really on Mary, who seems to be in a unique position where she deeply loves her husband and she knows that he feels the same - she thinks they have something special and while the other women go on and on about men being scum, she holds firm on her belief that her husband is not one of those men. Come to find out, the gossip mill turns out her husband and she finds that he has been seeing another woman, the perfume girl at "Blacks" aka Saks - this woman, Crystal, is played by Joan Crawford. Now although that is the PLOT, the STORY is really about women and their friendships, how they interact with each other, their motives, manipulation and trust. Something I found VERY interesting was that there was not a SINGLE man in this movie - not anywhere! All supporting cast, extras, you name it - everyone was female. Even with all the talk of women's husbands, not a single husband had a scene.

This is a long video but worth it if you are interested - someone put together clips of Rosalind Russell in this movie and I think it's hysterical - especially the fight she has with Paulette Goddard's character :) Enjoy!