Produced by David O. Selznick and directed by George Archainbaud, Thirteen Women is pre-Code psychological thriller starring Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne and Ricardo Cortez.
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Theatrical release poster
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The film is based on the 1930 bestselling novel of the same name by Tiffany Thayer, was adapted for the screen by Bartlett Cormack and Samuel Ornitz.
Several characters were deleted from the final version, including those played by Leon Ames, Phyllis Fraser, and Betty Furness (it would have been Furness’s film debut at the age of 16).
The film portrays only 11 women, not 13, with Fraser and Furness playing the two characters edited from the film.
The film premiered in October at the Roxy Theater in New York City on October 15, 1932,[3] then released in Los Angeles,[4] and a few other cities in November 1932.
A limited national release came in 1933. Originally running 73 minutes, the studio edited 14 minutes from the picture before release.
The film was re-released in 1935 by RKO, hoping to cash on the growing popularity of stars Dunne and Loy.
Thirteen women, sorority sisters at the all-girl’s college St. Alban’s, write to a clairvoyant “swami” who by mail sends each a horoscope foreseeing swift doom. the clairvoyant is under the sway of Ursula Georgi, a half-Javanese Eurasian woman who was snubbed at school by the other women owing to her mixed-race heritage, behavior which eventually forced her to leave school. She now seeks revenge by manipulating the women into killing themselves or each other. She also goads the clairvoyant into killing himself by falling into the path of a subway train.
The victims are killed off one by one until Laura Stanhope, living in Beverly Hills, is one of the few alive. With the help of Laura’s chauffeur, Ursula tries to kill Laura’s young son Bobby, but is thwarted. She follows them as they flee by train, unaware that police sergeant Barry Clive is escorting them.
After confronting Laura, and hypnotizing her into falling asleep, Ursula enters Bobby’s room and is caught by Clive. She then flees to the back of the train and jumps to her death.
Thirteen Women is an early “female ensemble” film, as well as early sampler of the “slasher film” genre.
Peg Entwistle Suicide: Sep 16, 1932 (Hollywood Sign)
It features the only film appearance of actress Peg Entwistle, who became despondent over her career and jumped to death from the Hollywood Sign on September 16, 1932.
The film premiered in New York on October 15 (a month after her suicide), and in Los Angeles in November. Entwistle had a supporting role in the original cut, but after the film’s poor test reception, her screen time was cut to 4 minutes.
The character played by Entwistle, that of Hazel Cousins, is a married woman in the film, who kills her husband and goes to prison. In the book, Hazel remains virgin because she is considered too beautiful; men are too intimidated to approach her, assume she is married or engaged or believe will break their heart. Hazel becomes a lesbian after she is seduced by the wife of the doctor treating her for tuberculosis, and starves herself to death in a sanitarium while suffering the heartache of having been abandoned by her lover Martha. In both the book and movie, May and June Raskob (Harriet Hagman and Mary Duncan) are twin sisters who work in a circus, but in the book they are overweight sideshow attractions rather than trapeze artists as in the film.
Cast
Irene Dunne as Laura Stanhope
Ricardo Cortez as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
Jill Esmond as Jo Turner
Myrna Loy as Ursula Georgi
Mary Duncan as June Raskob
Kay Johnson as Helen Dawson Frye
Florence Eldridge as Grace Coombs
C. Henry Gordon as Swami Yogadachi
Peg Entwistle as Hazel Clay Cousins
Harriet Hagman as May Raskob
Edward Pawley as Burns, Laura’s chauffeur
Blanche Friderici as Miss Kirsten, headmistress
Wally Albright as Bobby Stanhope
Phyllis Fraser as Twelfth Woman (scenes deleted)
Betty Furness as Thirteenth Woman (scenes deleted)
Lloyd Ingraham as Inspector (uncredited)
Credits:
Directed by George Archainbaud
Screenplay by Bartlett Cormack, Samuel Ornitz, based on Thirteen Women 1932 novel by Tiffany Thayer
Produced by David O. Selznick
Cinematography Leo Tover
Edited by Charles L. Kimball
Music by Max Steiner
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date: October 15, 1932
Running time: 59 minutes
Budget $125,000
