Remakes: The Women

There have been three versions of The Women, the story of marriage, infidelity and gossip among a large circle of friends.  The most popular one was in 1939, certainly the template for the next two.  It was based on the Broadway smash by Claire Boothe Luce.  All three maintain the same basic story and have glittering casts.  One thing that made the play and the first and third movie versions particularly memorable is that there were no men.  In some circles these days, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.

More specifically the comedy-drama centers around a wealthy socialite, Mary, whose husband is playing around with vindictive gold-digging shopgirl, Crystal.  Her friends (sometimes that's questionable) don't have the nerve to tell her about the affair so they (perm and) set her up at the beauty shop where a gossipy stylist, without knowing who the socialite is, disses the breathless news of hubby and his playmate.

It makes for a fun scene when wife and mistress meet.  When Mary fails to convince Crystal to leave her husband alone, she and some of her pals go to Nevada to wait out the six-week divorce rule at a ranch.  While there, another friend, Sylvia, learns that her husband is also cheating on her.  Ultimately Crystal marries her captive (obviously not loving him at all) and then cheats with Sylvia's new boyfriend as well.  Mary ultimately feels sorry for her ex and when he finally leaves Crystal, Mary devises a plan to get her husband back.  Along the way, of course, we learn all about the various friends and their pampered lives.  

While, again, there are no men in two of the three films, certainly they are discussed from start to finish.  There's lots of bitchiness in all versions which leads to some fun dialogue and situations, chief among them a good slapfest.  



The Women (1939)

It comes as no surprise that the great women's director, George Cukor, would steer a picture called The Women and featuring an all-female cast.  He had just been fired from Gone With the Wind and MGM, in charge of both films, quickly put him to better use here.

It famously stars Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Marjorie Main and 124 other speaking parts.  About the only two top MGM female stars to not appear in the movie are Garbo and Loy.  Cukor and others have long reported that it is astonishing that so many women got along so well but it was by no means an unblemished record. 

Both Crawford and Russell had issues with Shearer.  Shearer had
once been queen of the lot, chiefly due to her late husband, Irving Thalberg, being head of production.  That was no longer the case in 1939 (Shearer would, in fact, retire three years later) but she still acted like royalty.  That rankled Crawford who felt she was the new queen and she turned out more films at the time than Shearer.  They remained rather cool toward one another throughout shooting which likely lent an air of credibility to their characters, Mary and Crystal.

Russell was originally not going to be billed above the title but once she saw that her role was as beefy as it was, she demanded to be up there with Shearer and Crawford but Shearer wouldn't hear of it and threw one of her fits.  Russell threw a bigger one by claiming to be sick.  She sat it out at home and wouldn't return to finish her scenes until the situation was rectified.  As you can see, it worked (although the lettering was smaller).

While this is a black and white film, there is a color sequence that features a fashion show organized by one of MGM's famous costume designers, Adrian.  Cukor didn't like the sequence and fought to have it removed but was overruled.  Audiences loved it.

While the film was, I think, surprisingly not nominated for any Oscars, it has certainly long been regarded as one of the great films from the movies' greatest year.  Seen today it still delivers a punch with its bitchy lines, always giving me some laughs.  I think my favorite line is when all the friends harass Crystal at the end of the film.  There's a name for you ladies, Crystal spews, but it isn't used in polite society outside a kennel.



The Opposite Sex (1956)

There were a few changes for this version, aside from the obvious title change. This outing was a musical and men were added to the cast.  Steely-eyed students of the films know several characters had name changes.  Crystal has been upgraded from shopgirl to showgirl.

This was, of course, another sparkling cast... June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood and Joan Blondell.  The two main male characters, two cheating husbands, are played by Leslie Nielsen and Jeff Richards.  Other supporting male roles were filled by comedians Jim Backus and Dick Shawn and bandleader Harry James.

In this version the spurned wife is an ex-singer on radio who returns to singing (in nightclubs) and with Allyson in that role, she does most of the warbling here although it's not much.  Actually, saying this is a musical remake of The Women is a bit misleading.

One of the most unusual pairings of actresses to headline a movie certainly has to be Allyson and Collins.  I can't imagine two actresses being more different and it's even a stretch for me to think a movie character (Nielsen) would be attracted to such disparate types.  Allyson was also nearing the end of her career and Collins was at the beginning of her American career.

Their first confrontation scene is beyond yummy.  Who doesn't know that guys like to see women get into it with one another?  I like the slap, punch and maul versions that end up with rolling around on the floor as in Destry Rides Again with Dietrich and Una Merkel.  Here we are talking of a single slap (Allyson to Collins) but damn it is a doozy.  And actually it is, too.  Collins was supposed to pull back during the slap but Allyson was still to make it look real.  But something went wrong and Allyson walloped Collins so hard that the latter's earrings flew off.  Collins' face had to rest a few days and she pouted, believing Allyson's moves were intentional.

Another odd pairing involved Allyson and Blondell considering that singer-actor-director Dick Powell had been married to both of them.  Allyson was currently married to him but there was little time in between their marriage and his divorce from Blondell.  Was Allyson the other woman?  How wickedly funny, if true, considering infidelity is at the heart of this film.  The two women did not get along in real life but smoothed it all over for the movie, even sharing a sweet scene together.

Blondell hadn't worked in years and The Opposite Sex was a comeback for her.  On the other hand, this would be the penultimate film for both Sheridan and Gray.  I loved Sheridan (but knew her career had slipped because she had fourth billing) and I could barely tolerate Gray.   She was a Broadway performer who only made four films and although she was always too superior-acting and full of herself for my tastes (and glamorous but hard looking), this is a good role for her.  There may be a trivia question here for Miller.  This might be the only film she ever made where she neither danced nor sang.

David Miller is largely an unknown director but he guided some films in the fifties that I very much enjoyed... The Opposite Sex, among them.  It's certainly not as famous as its predecessor, but it's totally fun and enjoyable.



The Women (2008)

One thing this version has in common with the other two is a starry cast.  Let's consider Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergen, Carrie Fisher and Cloris Leachman.  As a group I think they suffer by comparison with the earlier casts but in 2008 this was pretty starry.  And this, such as it is, is the good news.

The main thing wrong here is that it's just not very funny.  Director-writer Diane English (famous for writing and producing TV's Murphy Brown ) had a brief foray into movie directing/writing here.  Regrettably she doesn't tap into the comedy vein that should have been here although it may not have as much to do with her directing as it does her writing.

What English did was to update the story to current-day New York and it didn't work.  Why?  The comedy comes largely from how divorce is viewed.  In the late 30s and even to a similar degree in the 1950s, divorce was not an easy thing to come by.  It was nearly impossible in New York.  Schlepping out to Nevada was a common thing.  But this was not the case in 2008.  And without that divorce dilemma, the core, comedy and poignancy all but vanish.

The three lead actresses are also not exactly gifted comediennes.  Those of you who knelt at the foot of Ryan back in the day when she made all those (gooey) rom-coms may disagree but I say she hasn't a comedic bone in her body.  She could occasionally read some funny lines but she is not funny.  Bening is probably one of the most gifted actresses of this or any other day, but this wasn't one of her better moments.  I will look forward to reading her take on this film when she one day writes her autobiography.  

Mendes, as Crystal, however, must have been making another film.  If she is funny, then Ryan and Bening are Lucy and Ethel.  Mendes is vulgar, hard and far too menacing for this story. Did she think she was making a melodrama?  What was she thinking?  It didn't occur to anyone to rein her in?

Bravo to some of the rest of the cast on comedy including Bette Midler who would one day make a far better film on a similar subject.  It is called The First Wives' Club.  See it instead.


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A good 30s film