The Women

Rating:
Summary: Own it, so you don't miss a line...
Review: Even better than the Luce play upon which it was based, THE WOMEN holds up as well as its infamous contemporaries, THE WIZARD OF OZ and GONE WITH THE WIND. There's something for everyone here and the all-star female cast members are all at the top of their games. You will have to watch it a few times to make sure you don't miss a single witty remark, double take or physical bit. A real gem of a comedy with surprisingly significant insights into the strange dance between the sexes!

Rating:
Summary: DROPS OF BRILLIANT TECHNICOLOR
Review: Yes, this most overblown film of the 30s couldn't convey the feeling of the period to you any better if it were injected into your vein. It's everything - dialogue, fun, emotions, posh clothes and beautiful women - 135 of them, if the trailer is to be belived. The fashion show sequence in Technicolor is an absolute delight, even though the fashions are a bit overblown as well. The DVD quality is top, and there are some interesting and well presented extras. By the way: none of the reviewers note the apperance of Virginia Gray, one of the most beautiful women in the films of the period, scarcely to be seen nowadays. She is wearing a rather heavy and stange hairdo, but I trust it is because she has scenes with Joan Crawford, who probably never allowed a more beautiful younger woman to appear in the same frame with her, let alone steal it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie, great picture quality, not a lot of extras
Review: For those who are wondering about the quality of the transfer (and already know that the quality of the movie itself is excellent): the picture is exceptionally bright, and I'm not sure if it's because of the way it was lit or because of the transfer itself. Picture is not grainy at all, though you occasionally see some film artifacts (like a blob just before Rosalind Russell falls into a container at the department store). Also, there is no commentary, and the documentary isn't about the movie itself.

Rating:
Summary: BETTER ON DVD -- NOT CAMP; A GOOD MOVIE
Review: This is a better experience on DVD, because if you see it in a theater, it becomes a distorted experience with people carrying on and hissing. It has become a camp classic, but it's really a classic, and when you see it alone, you realize certain things about it that are not apparent in a screaming audience.
1) Shearer's performance is excellent -- and in the least flashy role.
2) The whole movie is a case of bizarre casting that worked surprisingly well. Three examples:
a)Shearer. She didn't play women like this usually. She played sexually sophisticated ladies -- even after the Production Code. But she brings a probity to this role that has become inextricably linked with her cinematic image (to a degree that has actually done her a disservice) mainly because she is so good here.
b) Crawford. She is supposed to be sexy young thing who steals away Shearer's husband. But Crawford was at least ten years older than the role, and a good five years too old for the part. At 35, she looked like a hard 40, and no younger than Shearer. It's hard to conceive of any man dumping his family for such an obvious barricuda -- especially one who looks like a guy in drag. And YET -- she's great in the role. A lot of fun. And Crawford, as she often did, brings all of her bitterness and resentment to the role, and it works.
c) Rosalind Russell. Who'd have ever thought she had THAT in her.

Also check out Paulette Godard, again, different from anything else she ever did (and looking better than anybody in the movie.) Now GODARD is what Crystal was SUPPOSED to look like -- not like Wallace Beery in a bathtub.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Movie For Women
Review: This is a movie that every woman must see. Each character in this movie reminds me of someone in my own life. There are absoultely no men anywhere, yet they are talked about everywhere. Norma Sheer is a wealthy housewife with what seems as the perfect type of life. She has a little girl, and of course friends prone to gossip. Joan Crawford is the wicked shopgirl who begins to have an affair with Norma's husband. Like many of us, Norma leaves her husband, who then marrys Joan Crawford. Its ending is just and happy. I love this movie, it has humor, love, drama, everything you could ask for in a chick flick. Even though it is made in the thirties, nothing has changed in the last seventy years.

Rating:
Summary: Cat Fight In B&W, but with a splash of Technicolor
Review: Screen queens, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosiland Russell round out the leads in this scathing comic bobble from MGM that is a riot and a half. Legendary film director, George Cukor directs his all female cast in a witty adaptation of Clare Booth's off Broadway smash hit. The one liners are plentiful and biting and the slant on divorce that the film takes is remarkably contemporary. Shearer is Mary Haines, a trophy wife who finds herself on the shelf when man trap, Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford) moves in for the kill. Russell is Mary's cousin, Sylvia, but she swings both ways and often sides with Crystal on matters of the heart. Also stars Lucille Watson, Marjorie Main, Paulette Goddard and Joan Fontaine.
Warner Home Video has done an outstanding job on remastering this film for DVD. The black and white picture exhibits fantastic resolution, albeit with a touch of digital noise noticed from time to time but nothing that will detract from your enjoyment of the movie. The Technicolor sequence, a fashion show advertising the designs of resident studio fashion guru, Gilbert Adrian, has been magnificently restored. Colors are vibrant, bold and do not bleed. The extras on this disc included a couple of featurettes that MGM used to put out before their theatrical releases, an isolated musical score that has been wonderfully restored and theatrical trailers. This is a definite must have in every sense and one that will surely become part of any collector's most treasured movies.

Rating:
Summary: What Goes Around Comes Around!!
Review: This movie is tops, its a classic of gossip, marriages, scandal, he said, she said, knives in backs, cutthroat, but most of all this movie teaches What Goes Around Comes Around. A lot of the movies of 1930s about these same subjects didn't succeed, this one is tops. I love Myrna Loy, I wish Myrna Loy would of been in this movie, I can picture her in this film. I didn't think much of Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer before seeing this movie. But they were very talented actresses. Even though most of the women didn't get along on the set, they all needed each other to make the movie a hit. Virginia Grey and Paulette Goddard were my favorite. Virginia Grey was beautiful, in the little scene she had, she had a presence and her presence is known, I wish she would of done more in the movie and in Hollywood. Rosalind Russell was something else, she was one of the top female comedians, but I wish the fight scene between her and Paulette Goddard could of been more juicy and action packed like the remake of The Women- The Opposite Sex, but anyways I know I'm sure every woman knows Rosalind Russell kind, gossiping about everybody else, but hates when people gossips about her, and most of all her own home isn't taken care of. I love it when her man leave her for another woman, every knows but her, she didn't like it when the tables turned on her. But at least Norma Shearer was a lady, Rosalind Russell acted as a baby. This movie was a stepping stone for such new actresses like Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard, Virginia Grey and others, and this movie was also like a last hurrah for Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer who was about to leave MGM and was considered old by Hollywood standards, the good roles were going to other young starlets. Rosalind Russell was right in the middle of her successful career. One funny thing about this movie, the women who are gossiping don't think their gossiping, they think its INFORMATION. Women can learn something from this film, men cheating on their wives with younger women to make them feel young, so its just a phase, Norma Shearer knew her man would come back, she didn't let her gossiping friends mess with her mind, Norma Shearer had it all planned it out. I was reading some other posts that said some people will think this movie is old-fashion, times change, Cheating mates is and old game, the only difference is women today will fight, women back then was smart like Norma Shearer. Women like Joan Crawford character think they got it all and will win over the wife, but she gets hurt everytime. Women like Rosalind Russell character are still around and acive, I bet we women can name those, we might had them as friends, one thing I know about women like Rosalind Russell character is that they gossip about everybody else business, but their business at home isn't taken care of, and they hate when people gossip about them. There should be more women like Norma Shearer character. This film is good, regardless of age, race, generation. They don't make movies ilke this no more. This was made in 1939. but nothing old-fahion about this movie. The only lesson learned in this movie is What goes around, comes around. Right will win over wrong.

Rating:
Summary: How sad that this is the way people see women!
Review: When I first saw the title, I was excited that I might get to see a movie about women - they are still rare. Of course what I got instead is the twisted, misogynistic (and yes, women can be just as misogynistic as men - brainwashing works on both sexes) ideas of "women are natural enemies" and all they care about is competing for men. The truth is: women love. We love the men in our lives, the children in our lives and, yes, we love the women in our lives. And to one of the earlier reviewers of this film I would like to say that there is not such thing as a "Useless... female." There are people unfortunately, male and female, who don't recognize what's important and don't see the value of themselves or others. Such people create films such as this one.

Rating:
Summary: rosalind russell steals the show
Review: as a big norma shearer fan, i had to like this movie. but rosalind russell steals the show as the gossippy, back-stabbing "friend" who can't keep her mouth shut no matter what the circumstances. it's one of the funniest performances in movie history. also very good is joan crawford whose charm usually eludes me. also very good stuff from paulette goddard. but shearer! so much liquid beauty. some people hate norma, some love her. i am definitely in the latter category. this whole movie is a wonderful romp with one of the greatest casts of all time, despite not having a single man.

Rating:
Summary: DELICIOUSLY WITTY!!
Review: In 1939, a movie year filled with incomparable classics, it would easy for a movie to get lost in the shuffle. Not this one! Without a doubt, The Women is one of the cattiest, funniest, sharpest and wittiest films ever to be captured on celluloid. Filmed during a period when the Production Code was in effect, the film had to rely on double entrendes and sly deliveries by the performers. And does it ever succeed. The lovely Norma Shearer gives one of her final film performances as the devoted and wronged wife, Joan Crawford plays the other woman with social climbing perfection and Rosalind Russell is unforgetable as the gossipy friend of Shearer's who believes in befriending the other woman too. Also in the cast are Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Mary Boland, Lucille Watson, Phyllis Povah and Virginia Weidler. Although much talked about and the center of the storylines are men, there is not a single male player in the film. (Legend has it that the animals in the film were female and all of the books on a library shelf were written by females). It would be hard for this film to come any closer to perfection. There is even a brief, colorized fashion show halfway thru. Do yourself a favor, and pick this one up!