Claire Booth’s stinging play, about the wisecracking cattiness of wives and mistresses of the upper class, was a smash-hit on Broadway. For many, it “confirmed” men’s suspicions (and fantasies) of what women are talking about when there are no men around.
In January 1937, producers Harry M. Goetz and Max Gordon bought the film rights to the play for $125,000. They planned it as a star vehicle for Claudette Colbert, then very popular, to be directed by Gregory L Cava (“Stage Door,” 1937). Then, Norma Shearer and Carole Lombard were to co-star.
But in the end, the film, now under the direction of George Cukor (who had just been fired from Gone With the Wind), had a triple of stars: Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell. Shearer teamed with Cukor the year before on “Romeo and Juliet,” but this was the first of three films the director made with Joan Crawford, and the only one in which he collaborated with Rosalind Russell, who easily gives the most outrageous and funniest performance in the film.
The satire is reminiscent of Dinner at Eight, including the tone of desperation underlying the comedy. Anita Loos wrote most of the script, but George Kauffman was brought in for rewrites; an early draft was reportedly written by Scott Fitzgerald!
Mostly faithful to the play, The Women added an opening sequence and laundered some of the more risque lines due to the strictures of the Production Code.
Unfortunately, a great number of the funniest lines were blue-penciled by Hollywood censors. “The most innocent jokes about sex were banned,” recalled Anita Loos who, along with Jane Murfin, worked on the screenplay. Loos was instructed to sit beside Cukor on the set and ad lib “clean” jokes. This did not prove difficult. Quick and witty, Loos found plenty of humor in the ordinary bitchiness of women. One lively scene, where all the women go to the ladies room at the same time to gossip about their hostess, was invented by Loos on the set.
Director George Cukor knew that the central story was weak, that what was interesting was the circus ambiance and the episodes around it.
The first ten minutes–short, impressionistic scenes that introduce all the ladies going about their business, were his idea. Cukor’s pacing of the dialogue is fast, crisp and beautifully timed.
When the film was made, kept women and marital breakups were big moral questions. In later years, Cukor mused that, given changing times and conventions, if The Women were made now, “everybody would be screwing everybody, and everybody would know about it.” And he envisioned wilder antics among the characters–like Crystal carrying on with another girl rather than being a kept woman. But even by today’s standards, Cukor’s film is remarkably freshand funny.
The all-star cast includes: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard. No men appear in the movie, even in minor roles–a novel idea for 1939. At the end of the story, a male shadow is visible on screen. Cukor reportedly tested three actors for their ability to cast the shadow!
Under Cukor’s direction, the nuances in all the women’s speeches were witty. Uncharacteristically, Cukor even made a few textual suggestions, like adding the famous line of Mary Brian, who played the Countess–“l’amour, l’amour.”
Cukor’s dealings with producer Stromberg were not uniformly positive. Cukor had to compromise his vision, in accordance with MGM’s notions of how to please an audience. Cukor emphasized the satirical elements of the characters. With the exception of Mary, Shearer’s straight, humorless lady, none of the women seem to mind how awful she is–which is why the comedy has aged well. But MGM wished to stress the happy ending, which was meant to assure audiences that a nice woman can always keep her husband.
Cukor also lost the battle with Stromberg over the fashion show scene, which had nothing to do with the film but was inserted to make the picture more exciting. Imposed by the front office, this color sequence reflected Stromberg’s silly wish to give the public something extra-special. This sequence wasn’t very good, and what’s more, it made the black and white footage that followed look bad. Cukor always hated the sequence and demanded (to no avail) to remove it from the film.
For his research, Cukor went to a real fashion show, but he realized that the nuances were difficult to duplicate on screen. Regrettably, color was such a novelty in 1939 that this sequence received considerable attention. But it was too long, about five minutes, and halted the narrative’s dramatic progress.
The Women was actually one of the easiest film Cukor had ever directed. He explained it rather simply: “When one deals with stars, he is dealing with intelligent people. If they weren’t intelligent, they wouldn’t arrive at the star pinnacle. Stars understand the business. They have learned that a show of temper gets them nothing, save perhaps a salary suspension or at least headache.”
At the end of shooting, Cukor sat back and smiled, for he won a new lucrative contract on the merit of The Women, turning hi the highest-paid MGM director.
Cast
Norma Shearer as Mary Haines
Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen
Rosalind Russell as Sylvia Fowler
Mary Boland as The Countess De Lave
Paulette Godard as Miriam Aarons
Phyllis Povah as Edith Potter
Joan Fontaine as Peggy Day
Virginia Weidler as Little Mary
Lucile Watson as Mrs. Morehead
Marjorie Main as Lucy
Virginia Grey as Pat, perfume counter clerk
Ruth Hussey as Miss Watson
Hedda Hopper as Dolly Dupuyster
Florence Nash as Nancy Blake
Cora Witherspoon as Mrs. Van Adams
Mary Beth Hughes as Miss Trimmerback
Dennie Moore as Olga, the manicurist
Uncredited:
Jane Isabell as Edith’s daughter
Butterfly McQueen as Lulu, Perfume counter maid
Barbara Jo Allen as Receptionist
Gertrude Astor as Bath attendant
Marie Blake as Stockroom girl
Theresa Harris as Olive
Barbara Pepper as Tough woman
