In this image colorized by Steve Foster, the cast of The Women stand arm in arm. Although there was not a single man cast in the film, this picture includes a man: George Cukor, the director of the film. Pictured from left to right: Florence Nash, Phyllis Povah, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, director George Cukor, Norma Shearer, Paulette Goddard, Mary Boland, and Joan Fontaine.
Colorized by Steve Foster.
The film was adapted by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin from Clare Boothe Luce’s play of the same name. When they were creating the adaptation, they had to make it acceptable for the Production Code, which governed the rules for what was appropriate for American audiences from 1934-1968.
Cukor Knew How To Work With Women
Lobby card. Source: (Wikipedia).
The movie was filmed in black and white, but it includes a six-minute fashion parade filmed in Technicolor. There were more than 130 speaking roles in the film; it maintained the all-female cast of the film, and throughout, not a single male character is seen or heard, not even in the props, with the exception of a drawing of a bull during the fashion show, a framed picture of Stephen Haines as a boy, a magazine advertisement with a picture of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and a figurine on Mary’s nightstand. The film is a scathing criticism of bored high-society women who live in Manhattan and go to Nevada to obtain their divorces. With a cast of 135 women altogether, including three stars who were known for their demanding personalities, he had to come up with techniques to contend with potential drama. Cukor had a true talent for working with women, helping them to feel at ease, and bringing out their best performance on film.
It Starts With Infidelity
Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, and Rosalind Russell. Source: (Classic Movies Digest).
The storyline focuses on Mary Haines, (played by Norma Shearer), the wife of Stephen and mother of Little Mary. When Mary’s cousin Sylvia Fowler goes to Sydney’s elite salon to have her nails painted in the newest color, Jungle Red, she finds out from Olga, the manicurist, that Mary’s husband has been having an affair with a perfume counter girl named Crystal Allen (played by Joan Crawford). Mary finds out and goes with her mother to Bermuda to give herself some time to think. Once she returns, she confronts Crystal when she sees her ordering expensive clothes. Crystal suggests Mary should leave things alone unless she wants to lose Stephen altogether.
Gossip And Scandal
Joan Crawford as Crystal. Source: (IMDb),
As gossip blossoms into scandal, Mary decides to divorce Stephen, and heads to Reno. On the train there, Mary meets the Countess de Lave, Miriam Aarons, and Peggy Day (who Mary’s cousin Sylvia has pushed into divorce). The women commiserate, sharing stories of their relationships, and listening to the advice of Lucy, the woman who runs the ranch. Miriam had been having an affair with Sylvia’ husband, the Countess seems to find another prospective husband in a cowboy named Buck Winston, and Peggy finds out she is pregnant and plans to return home. Sylvia, whose husband Howard is suing her for mental cruelty, arrives at the ranch, where she finds out that Miriam is going to marry Howard, leading to a fight between Miriam and Sylvia.
Two years later, after Mary and Stephen’s divorce was finalized, and Stephen had married Crystal, Crystal begins to have an affair with Buck, who had become a radio star and married the Countess. Eventually, the truth about their affair comes out, and Crystal says that she doesn’t care, and that Mary can have Stephen back, since Buck can support her. However, the Countess had been supporting Buck financially, and she will leave him penniless and jobless. Crystal, resigned, accepts that she will have to return to her work selling perfume, while Stephen and Mary are reunited.
A Happy Ending And A Success
Source: (Foote & Friends On Film).
The film did well at the box office; however, because of the high cost to make it, it lost $262,000. It was well-received critically after it was released, and the critical reception appears to have stood the test of time.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said in 2018, that the film was an “extraordinary, almost Daliesque comedy...the absence of men has its own kind of ethical implication. It is a sort of abandonment, and the drama’s no-men structure is a satirical comment on their emotional distance Around this drama of duplicity and infidelity, Cukor creates a brilliant spectacle, halted by Shearer’s moments of stunningly serious emotional devastation.”
